London Diary: Overseas students or cash cows?

The British government has been accused of trying to kill the goose that lays the golden egg with its hostility towards foreign students amid an increasingly xenophobic debate on immigration.

The accusation came on the back of a report showing that overseas students who pay up to three times more than their British peers, generating an estimated £40 billion net economic benefit for the public exchequer during their studies.

Students from India form one of the largest cohorts of foreign students but their numbers have been steadily falling because of recent restrictions on student visas and measures to prevent them from bringing in dependants.

Researchers calculated the benefit by looking at tuition fee income, spending by universities and the impact of student spending on the wider economy.

An important finding is that the money brought in benefited every parliamentary constituency of the country. Ironically, the biggest beneficiaries are the constituents of outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who led the crackdown on foreign students. His London constituency (Holborn & St Pancras) is heavily dependent for its development on their largesse.

The report by consultancy firm London Economics claims that the economic activity generated by international students in the 2024-25 cohort supported about 287,300 full-time equivalent jobs.

Cash cows, anyone?

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'Broken Britain' going to pieces

Further to the study on how Brits are leaving the country for greener pastures, it has emerged that the scale of the exodus is much bigger than was suggested and the reasons are not limited to the pursuit of career opportunities.

There is no one single factor that’s driving the flight from a country increasingly referred to as “broken Britain”. And, contrary to previous assumptions, it’s not limited to frustrated middle-aged professionals weighed down by family pressures, but is increasingly affecting a Gen Z struggling with the deepening cost-of-living crisis.

“Lately, when I get together with my friends, conversation goes down a familiar path. It isn’t long before we start lamenting the state of the country, from its dysfunctional public services all the way up to its dysfunctional politics,’ wrote Times columnist Cindy Yu.

Their favoured escape routes head towards the US, UAE, Australia, even those east European countries that once dumped their unemployed men and women on Britain (until Brexit put an end to free movement within the European Union).

Now, these same countries dismissively refer to Britain as a “low-income, high-cost” state — a euphemism for a place no longer fit to live in.

Real wages have remained largely stagnant since the 2008 financial crisis, while inflation has risen, eroding take-home earnings.

Politically, too, Britain has become more unstable, causing the collapse of trust in mainstream politicians and an alarming rise in the popularity of far-right populist parties like Reform UK and Restore Britain.

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Britain’s ‘class warriors’

A unique facet of British class culture, not widely known outside the country, is the tendency among successful Brits to play down their privileged background. This is particularly true of politicians who like to pretend they’re ordinary folk who understand their voters’ concerns.

It has thus emerged that as many as 40 Labour MPs who went to private school failed to declare it in their ‘Who’s Who’ entries. Among them were former defence secretary John Healey and current culture secretary Lisa Nandy.

The revelation has sparked allegations of hypocrisy amid a row over the Labour government’s introduction of a 20 per cent VAT charge on private school fees, which has been blamed for putting more than 100 schools out of business.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has been accused of behaving like a “spiteful class warrior”.

“Labour’s hypocrisy knows no limits,” said Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the opposition Conservative Party. “While they plot around the cabinet table to impose this spiteful tax on education, many Labour MPs have been busy covering up their own private school educations. They have no shame in pulling up the ladder behind them.”

True, for once.

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Muslim International Film Festival in London

To be honest, the first I heard about this film festival was when I received an email announcing this year’s winners.

Apparently, it’s a ‘prominent cinematic event’ dedicated to showcasing films made by Muslim creators, starring Muslim actors, or centring on Muslim life and culture, and it’s in its second year.

Founded by UK Muslim Film, it seeks to amplify ‘authentic’ Muslim voices, offer platforms for emerging talent, and combat negative stereotypes in Western media.

It opened with the screening of Hijra, a Saudi film that follows generations of women crossing the desert toward Mecca. The festival’s prestigious Trailblazer Award was presented to the prominent British casting director Shaheen Baig.

Well-intentioned though the festival may be, the idea of cinema focusing only on the members of one religious denomination doesn’t augur well for an inclusive cinema movement.

What’s next? Separate Hindu, Sikh and Christian festivals?

And finally, this columnist recently received an email from the consulate-general of India, Birmingham, requesting the publication of three articles refuting Pakistan’s ‘fake narrative’ on the Indus Waters treaty — two by name and the third ‘to be published anonymously’.

Wonder who the author is and why the secrecy?