My younger son James wanted to visit Sheffield Hallam University’s open day to have some back-up in case he fails to get into his first choice, which is Nottingham Trent, a firm favourite with many students I speak to, and well oversubscribed.

As we approached the university, I found myself driving down a nearby backstreet as I wasn’t sure where my sat nav was directing me – and inadvertently stumbled across a sealed off crime scene with a police cordon and a white tent. I asked the two people standing on the corner what had happened.

“There was a stabbing last night,” said the tattooed guy, while drawing puffs on his cigarette.

Not the most auspicious start to our day!

We soon found the campus and learned that in spite of uncertainty over future tuition fees which look set to double and has angered students in Nick Clegg’s university constituency, that this does not appear to have deterred prospective students. They welcomed 10,000 visitors over the weekend, quite a staggering number. James is keen to study Business Management, and I learn that UCAS expects to be swamped with record applicants this year wanting to beat soaring university fees, so those vast numbers are not totally unexpected. When fees last increased in 2006 from £1,000 a year to £3,000, applications rose by 7.4% over the previous year, so I would expect a similar reaction. It’s going to be a very tense, nail biting time for us all while we wait to see what places James is offered.

In the afternoon when James felt he had all the information he needed, and buoyed by the sunshine and bright blue sky, we headed for the ferris wheel across the road. Why don’t we have one in Cambridge, offering unrivalled views across the university’s towering spires, I wondered?

The wheel is a great tourist attraction, but I was disappointed to learn that it was manufactured in Germany and Switzerland and shipped to the UK in 25 containers. Why couldn’t it have been made in the UK? We surely have the skills in Yorkshire. I know competition has to be on a pan-European level playing field, but local manufacturers surely have the edge on local projects.