Fwiw I totally agree with universities dropping their offers, I'd love them to all do unconditional this year - if grades are not a reliable measure, then why base your entry on grades?
WRT the A Level measures, again, I think they're pretty sensible; there is no way of calculating a 'grade impact' without resorting to a computer algorithm, and I think the head of Ofqual was bang on when she said that these measures give most benefit to the most disadvantaged. It means that in that run-up time, students can concentrate their revision on specific topics, and having extra aids such as vocabulary lists and formulae will reduce the amount of time having to be spent learning parrot style. If you already have those learned, then this is of no benefit to you, but if you are struggling to get through the material, then that is a real boost.
The unhappy truth though is that exams themselves are intrinsically unfair; they are a national ranking system where people arrive at the start gate hugely differently equipped, through no fault/merit of their own. And even if all students had the same preparation/resources, the fact remains that exams reward students who are good at exams, and due to government ideology, that equates to students who are good at memorising things. I've long thought that exams should be open-book, to enable more meaningful questions that actually test depth of understanding, not how many facts can you write down in a set time.