On 18 July, David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, attended the University of Sheffield's Politics Department graduation ceremony. After addressing the graduates at the event, Mr Blunkett reflected:

“I’m extremely pleased that so many young people have chosen to study politics, and that they were able to join with their families on a wonderfully sunny afternoon to celebrate their own success and the beginning of a new future.”

“In explaining to the young people that the world really was their oyster despite the economic downturn, I was drawing on the fact that as well as securing lasting employment for themselves, so many people in business, the civil service and diplomacy, as well as in teaching and even international development, will  be able to draw on their learning for the benefit of society.”

Mr Blunkett is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield, in the world's first Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics.