The almost hysterical reporting of the record number of A and A star passes in the latest GCSE round was wholly inappropriate, especially as results for those who did not make the grade have been totally ignored.

This despite our government’s oft repeated claim to put levelling up at the heart of their agenda.

The universities’ list of degree courses is wide and varied but nowhere does it offer qualifications in road repairs, bin emptying or bus driving. Without such basic services those who go on to better things will find themselves with no remedy for damaged cars, being threatened by rats and waiting for a bus that never arrives.

As Professor Kenneth Galbraith the noted American economist and author of The Affluent Society once observed: ‘The true worth of anything can be measured by the length of time it takes before its absence becomes intolerable’.

So, in the match between the missing a bus and a degree in media studies there is no contest.

Brian Holmans