Professor Glen O’Hara’s article in today’s Guardian on the threats to the UK’s universities is food for thought; and it strikes me that there are wider and very significant implications for the built environments and economies of towns and cities like Portsmouth, where I live. Social distancing guidelines have resulted in universities moving to online teaching only, from September 2020 onwards; however they are still asking students for full tuition fees of up to £9,250 per annum. (Living costs are extra.) Students and prospective students are increasingly looking at deferring their places, as they stare not only at a bewildering future of debt and unemployment, but also a disintegration of meaningful “student experience”, student support and value-for-money. Overseas students in particular - the universities’ “cash cows” who pay inflated fees - are expected to stay away in substantial numbers. Cities like Portsmouth, dependent on one large and rapidly-expanded university and the tourist vibe to keep its economy afloat, are looking at dark days ahead.