THOUGH IT SPENT a lot of time lambasting Britain’s universities, the Conservative government that left office last year did a rotten job of promoting alternatives. The failure of its efforts to boost apprenticeships is the most striking example. In 2017 the government began requiring big firms to set aside money for on-the-job training, in the hope that this would create lots of opportunities for young people. Instead, the number of people starting apprenticeships has shrunk by a third.