Bridget's City & Islington column: 'It's just December, and I've had my first Christmas card...'

12.00.00am GMT Tue 9th Dec 2003

It's just December, and I've had my first Christmas card, from an old friend. It's twenty years since we started at university. We were lucky. We had good state schools - and the chance to go to university based on our academic ability, not our families' ability to pay. That's all changing for the worse with government plans for top-up fees. Fear of debt will deter many bright students from going to university - or push them into the highest paid jobs. That means fewer teachers and nurses for places like Islington. Islington schools have improving GCSEs, City & Islington College had its best ever A levels this year. We should be making it easier for talented young people to go on to higher education, not harder. Twenty years ago we had a Tory government, but even they did not introduce tuition fees; Labour are now introducing policies that were too divisive for Mrs Thatcher.

At least the Christmas card reached me. My father is still waiting for the birthday card I sent him a month ago. The Royal Mail have now written apologising for the disruption from recent strikes; they are not offering compensation, but as a goodwill gesture they are giving £1M to London's Olympic bid. All very exciting - but I would rather have my post delivered! The strike action is so shortsighted: if companies take their postal business elsewhere, then the Royal Mail will face more cuts - and we will all lose out.

One benefit from the Olympic bid should be more investment in rail services. The government's rail plans, like many of the trains themselves, are running late. Crossrail 1 is not due til 2013, while Thameslink 2000 badly needs a name change. A better bet is the East London Line extension, linking the North London line to the tube. The first phase is due to stop at Highbury & Islington. I'm working with Lynne Featherstone from the Greater London Assembly to try and get one more stop at Caledonian Road & Barnsbury. The trains will pass there anyway to the depot near Kings Cross. Caledonian Road has borne the brunt of rail works in recent years - it's only fair they should get improved connections too.

Islington's buses are among the busiest in London - it's official! A recent ALG study looked at 10 locations and found that buses at Upper Street were the most crowded, with Angel one of the busiest change over points. Added to the 46,000 people exiting the tube each day, this adds to the case for urgent action to improve Angel crossing. It's really shocking to see cars and buses streaming across, while the pedestrian light is still on green. I'm asking Transport for London - who are responsible for the crossing - for an urgent review. We share a commitment to safer roads and better access to public transport, so I'm hopeful they will listen to our demands. Thank you to all the C&I readers who have signed the petition - it's worth the effort!