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We ask you: is Rishi Sunak right to scrap 'rip-off degrees'?

THE prime minister has pledged to replace ‘rip-off degrees’ with high-skilled apprenticeships if he wins the election. Is it a good idea?

Stephen Malley, Conservative voter: “Which will make life more miserable for young people? Stopping them going into higher education or saddling them with lifelong debt? Let’s choose the worst option.”

Sophie Rodriguez, GCSE student: ‘They’re both useless. Once AI has killed the job market, I’ll be scrambling like a rabid dog for scraps of food from bins. Or maybe I’ll be an influencer.”

Roy Hobbs, retired: “Why do they even need an apprenticeship, the spoiled little layabouts? If only we had some coal mines left to send them down.”

Lucy Phipps, unemployed: “It’s insulting to describe some degrees as being a ‘rip-off’. I may have struggled a bit to get a job after doing a degree in floral design, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth paying £40k for.”

Wayne Hayes, plumber: “I think he should keep the rip-off degrees. Means more over-educated, impractical twats for me to rinse when they need a washer changing.”

Kanye and Paul McCartney, and other weird musical collaborations we moved on from far too quickly

THERE are many classic musical collaborations, and then there are some really weird ones that nobody asked for. Like these:

Matt Cardle and Rihanna

Remember the bizarre days when X Factor finalists duetted with famous singers? At the peak of the show’s success, nobody batted an eyelid when soon-to-be-winner Matt Cardle paired with a bonafide megastar who had recently had an international smash hit with Umbrella. But since nobody’s thought about Cardle and his signature flat cap since Christmas 2010, it’s strange to look back and see Rihanna fondling his hips during their intimate performance of Unfaithful.

Paul McCartney and Kanye West

Rihanna was also involved in the song FourFiveSeconds, which was the result of West and McCartney’s unlikely collaboration. What did they talk about in the studio canteen? Did McCartney pitch an acoustic cover of Black Skinhead? Did they discuss a mash-up album? Band on the Runaway? Let It Ye? Anyway, the song they finally did come up with is rubbish, so they may as well not have bothered.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

How does a five-time Grammy winner follow up on three of the biggest solo pop releases of the 21st century? By releasing a collaborative album with 88-year old crooner Tony Bennett of course. And when she wins a further seven Grammys and an Oscar? Release a second collaborative album with 96-year-old crooner Tony Bennett. Of course. Maybe she saw it as a sort of community service to the elderly, like delivering meals on wheels.

James Corden and Dizzee Rascal

Gavin and Stacey fans know that James Corden can rap (American Boy feat. Sheridan Smith, anyone?). But in his cover of Shout for the 2010 World Cup, Corden left the rapping to Dizzee Rascal. Revisiting this release from before Corden turned to the dark side is a bit like watching The Phantom Menace: you know this round-faced blonde will one day become the most loathed man in the galaxy, but he’s just about bearable for now.

Eminem and Elton John

You might think the strangest part of this duet from the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards was the collaboration of LGBTQ royalty Elton John and renowned user of homophobic slurs Eminem. In fact, more jarring is Elton’s strangely bouncy and staccato rendition of the Dido sample in Stan, along with the fact he’s wearing a pink and yellow suit which looks like it’s made from the flayed skin of Mr Blobby. A strange scenario in every way.

Weird Al Yankovic and Kate Winslet

The song is called I Need a Nap, and it appeared on Sarah Boynton’s 2005 album Sarah Boynton’s Dog Train. It has just 212,000 streams on Spotify, which is still more than it deserves as it sounds like a reject from a sub-par Disney film. Kate Winslet also received an Oscar nomination in 2005 for her performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind… which presumably pipped this for her in terms of artistic achievement. She’s never released another song, so it must have done.

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