A solution for the age: New Rokos School of Government to begin work The new Rokos School of Government will be opening soon, following a landmark £190m commitment from investor and philanthropist Chris Rokos – believed to be the largest individual donation to a British university in modern history.

The new school aims to prepare future leaders to navigate an increasingly complex global landscape shaped by political instability, technological disruption and structural economic change.

It will sit in the Cambridge West Innovation District, positioning it at the intersection of science, technology and public policy. Rokos, founder of Rokos Capital Management, says the initiative was inspired by a desire to “give something back to Britain” through education.

He describes the School as an opportunity to rethink how governments respond to emerging global challenges, adding that Cambridge’s culture of innovation makes it the ideal home for the project. The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, says the School will bring together experts across disciplines to generate “the insights and solutions needed to respond to our rapidly changing world”.

The school will recruit academics from fields such as economics, political science, engineering and history, while also drawing on expertise from government, finance and public service. It plans to offer Master’s and PhD programmes alongside collaborative research initiatives. Rooted in a commitment to practical solutions and democratic values, the school hopes to become a leading international centre for policy innovation and leadership in the 21st century.

Two-minute Tripos

A MODERN DAY VERSION OF THE TURNPIKE TRUST COULD SOLVE THE POTHOLE CRISIS. DISCUSS

Execrable! Insufferable! Vile! Full of ruts! Break-neck! Totally impassable!

They still haven’t done anything about the potholes on Cherry Hinton Road, then?

Actually, all those words were used by 17th-century diarists, including agricultural reformer Arthur Young and pioneering travel writer Celia Finnes, to describe the awful roads 400 years ago.

That’s all very well, but saying: ‘Well, the roads were much worse 400 years ago!’ is a low bar. That bar’s not just low, it’s sunk beneath the subgrade.

What’s a subgrade?

The natural earth which sits under the sub-base of the entire road structure, of course. You’ve got to know your stuff when you’re complaining about potholes.

Anyway, it seems that potholes are not, in fact, a new problem.

I saw a photo on Facebook of a pothole on the A1301 at Great Shelford that was so big this woman said she could lie down in it.

Indeed. My point is that the pothole complainers of yesteryear did end up with a solution and roads were better.

Tell me after I’ve fired off my latest email to the council.

Turnpike trusts! Trustees levied tolls on everyone who used the road and were required to reinvest all surpluses into keeping the road in good condition.

And it actually worked?

Yes. Roads became much safer and the whole of society benefited. In fact, Professor Leigh Shaw-Taylor, who researched this topic, says that better roads resulted in far greater circulation of people, money and ideas.

So in order to improve roads and therefore wider society I have to pay more money?

Yes.

Well, that’s not going to happen, is it?

No.