I HAVE a lot of sympathy with Cumbrian peer Lord Bragg's recent comments about Britain being in danger of becoming a "stupid" country because of a decline in higher education and a threat to the nation's culture.

It's hard to disagree with the noble lord, who for decades has been one of the country's upholders of standards in our cultural life, thanks to his erudite analysis of art and popular culture on programmes such as the South Bank Show.

Lord Bragg, who has been a chancellor of the University of Leeds, is also well-placed to bemoan the falling standards in higher education.

While not elucidating on quite why these standards are falling, many other people are happy to have a crack at explaining why.

Rampant grade inflation, with the number of first class degrees being awarded rising annually is one reason, surely; and another is surely the fact that we have on one hand inferior universities enticing gullible students on to their courses with the implied promise of great careers, and on the other hand litigious students who expect value for money for their £9,000 a year tuition fees and who are more than prepared to sue the universities that don't deliver the degrees they expect. With too many people being funnelled into an (in parts) decidedly inferior system, it is no wonder at all that the likes of Lord Bragg see a worrying decline. And culturally, as Melvyn Bragg despairs, at times it seems as though we are as a nation wading through a self-inflicted morass of moral turpitude, shallow obsession with celebrity and the pursuit of fame at all costs.

Children too often now don't want to be doctors or vets or bus drivers, they want to be famous - as if fame itself were a career choice, rather than a byproduct of success in one's chosen field. Viral videos and dubious fame acquired by appearing in such trashy - and frankly revolting - reality programmes such as Love Island are held up as being admirable and aspirational methods of achieving celebrity; and the nation goes along with it in their millions, if the viewing figures are to be believed. And when an Eastenders actor called Danny Dyer appears on television, calls former prime minister David Cameron a rude word, and there are calls for Mr Dyer himself to become the next prime minister, one can only imagine poor old Lord Bragg holding his head in his hands in despair. So, yes, Baron Bragg of Wigton is absolutely right to be concerned for the future of our country, educationally and culturally. He applauds actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Grant for being the shining lights of our cultural output recently - and anyone who watched Cumberbatch in Patrick Melrose or Grant as disgraced Liberal leader Jeremy Throrpe in A Very English Scandal will agree that we have some very fine actors indeed. But two on-form British actors are not enough by any stretch of the imagination to signal a reversal in our declining cultural standards. Ditching televisual trash such as Love Island would be a very good start, however. I can't see it happening, unfortunately, even if the good Lord Bragg himself, our Cumbrian hero and cultural icon, were to demand it. Still, I hope he gives it a go.