There is a certain dark comedy to the way modern governments operate. It is like watching a magician who is very bad at his job, yet somehow still manages to steal your watch while you are looking directly at his wrist. The latest act in this theater of the absurd comes from the United Kingdom, a place that loves to talk about tradition. Apparently, their newest tradition is trapping young people in a financial hole so deep that they can never climb out, no matter how hard they work.

Let’s look at the facts, because they are more ridiculous than anything I could invent. We have a woman named Helen Lambert. She did exactly what society told her to do. She wanted to be useful. She wanted to help people. She studied to become a nurse in the National Health Service (NHS). In a sane world, we would give her a medal and a comfortable salary. In the real world, we gave her a debt that grows like a tumor.

Helen borrowed £57,000 to get her degree. Since she started working in 2021, she has been a good citizen. She has gone to work, saved lives, and paid back more than £5,000 of that loan. You would think, using basic math and common sense, that her debt would now be lower. If you owe 57 and you pay 5, you should owe 52. That is how numbers work in the real world. That is how numbers work for you and me.

But the government does not live in the real world. In their magical land of student finance, Helen now owes £77,000. Yes, you read that correctly. She paid £5,000, and her debt went *up* by £20,000. It is the kind of math that would get a casino shut down for cheating. But when the state does it, they call it "policy."

How does this happen? It is the miracle of interest rates. The interest on these loans has been as high as 8%. Every month, the government takes about £145 out of her paycheck. That is real money that she cannot use for food, rent, or heating. But while she hands over that £145, the system adds more than £400 in interest to her bill. It is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a teaspoon while someone stands there with a fire hose refilling it. It is hopeless. It is designed to be hopeless.

The irony here is thick enough to cut with a knife. Helen works for the NHS. She is a public servant. The government pays her salary. Then, the government takes a piece of that salary back to pay for the loan. Then, the government charges her interest that creates a profit for… the government. It is a snake eating its own tail, but the snake is also charging the tail a subscription fee for the privilege of being eaten.

We need to stop pretending this is about "education." This is not about learning. This is about control. When you saddle a young professional with a debt that cannot be paid off, you change them. You make them scared. A nurse with £77,000 of debt is less likely to demand better working conditions. She is less likely to quit. She is trapped on a treadmill that is moving just slightly faster than she can run. She is indentured, plain and simple.

It is fascinating to watch the bureaucrats explain this. They will use fancy words. They will talk about "fiscal responsibility" and "market rates." They will act as if this is a force of nature, like the weather, rather than a system they built with their own hands. They built a trap, baited it with the promise of a career, and now they act surprised that people are caught in it.

Think about the message this sends to the next generation. We are screaming for more nurses. The hospitals are understaffed. The waiting lists are long. And yet, we tell young people: "Come and be a nurse! You will work long hours, deal with incredible stress, and in return, we will give you a debt that will ruin your credit score and follow you until you die." It is a terrible sales pitch. I am amazed anyone signs up at all.

This situation with Helen is not an accident. It is the system working exactly as intended. It is designed to turn citizens into permanent debtors. In the old days, the peasants owed crops to the lord of the manor. They could never grow enough turnips to buy their freedom. Today, we don't have lords and turnips. We have student loan companies and compound interest. The graphics have improved, but the game is the same. You work, they take, and you never really own anything.

So, spare a thought for Helen Lambert and the millions like her. They are playing a game that is rigged. They are handing over their hard-earned money every month, not to pay off a debt, but just to service the interest on a fantasy. The debt isn’t real money anymore. It’s just a number on a screen designed to keep them in their place. And the saddest part? The government probably thinks it’s doing them a favor.