To the sticks, where commuters on the Liverpool Street train are joined each day by Suffolk College music students on the East Suffolk Line as it snakes its way down the coast towards Ipswich.

Now, as well as suits “touching base” with HQ on their mobiles and showing off to each other about how many emails they’ve got in their inboxes, the students talk about music and college in tones that suggest both are equally exciting. Those lecturers must be doing a good job.

I can’t think offhand of any famous musicians to come out of East Anglia - perhaps someone will correct me on that one - but the next pop stars will almost certainly be FE-trained.

“Mick Jagger studied economics and dropped out,” said one to the other last week. “And he’s weird looking. So with our looks and the fact we’re actually studying music, we should be millionaires before we’re 20.”

“Well, I’m not sure your looks are going to do it, mate, or your playing” came the reply, “but at least when you drop out of music you can go back to college and study economics.”

Ah, FE in a nutshell. There for the good, the bad and the ugly. At least the students appreciate it.