Student Protest
Student funding in the news. Student demonstrating everywhere. Demonstrations crossing the line from peaceful protest into violence. Broadly I’m in favour of subsidising the university fees of young people who may find it difficult to pay for themselves. I’m in favour of this as I think it’s good for our society as a whole and because I’m in favour of equality of opportunity.
However I am getting pretty pissed off with the violence of the demonstrations and the belligerent attitude of the students. I heard one this morning saying that she though that university education was her “right” and that it should be free. Well, I agree I think her education should be free. She should not have to pay for, neither should I and neither should you. Unfortunately this leaves the question: Who the hell is going to pay?
The truth is that nothing is free. Goods and services are either paid for directly by the user, paid for by everyone via state funding or paid for by combination of the two. This young woman thought that if they were paid for by the state then they would be free. Not so. What she meant when she said that education should be free is that EVERYONE should pay for her education and that means me. As I say, I’m broadly in favour of subsidized university education but when some little twit starts yelling that she has a “right” to my money I tend to become less sympathetic.
I’m also pissed off at the self riotousness of these bloody students. During the materialist bullshit Britain years of New Labour the students didn’t make a sound. We didn’t hear a peep out of them when Blair took us into an illegal war. We didn’t hear anything from them as New Labour eroded our civil liberties with ubiquitous CCTV and authoritarian terrorism laws. Traditionally students have been left leaning but that seems to have changed. The only way to get them to demonstrate these days is to threaten their wallets. Sure they have muttered about child benefit but they never got off their arses until it was their funding that was under fire. Now that they may have to pawn their iPhones to pay for education they’re up in arms condemning the Liberal Democrats and aligning themselves with Labour. Labour for God’s sake! The bastards that got us into this disaster. Economy down the drain, massive debt and fighting a war in a land locked country which we couldn’t suppress at the height of Britain’s power. Well done Blair!
And Labour have turned on a sixpence. They’ve reverted from the pro-business, pro war, pro-consultant, pro business-bullshit, profligate capitalists back to the whinging, protest party. Now they’re out of power they are free to pretend that they would not have cut any budgets at all. New Aircraft carriers? Of course we’ll have them. Free education? Why not. Child benefit for all? Of course. After wrecking the British economy Labour can now pretend that everything would have been fine if they were just left in power and the students can all pretend that the past 13 years have never happened and we’re back in the Thatcher years.
The protesters bang on about the Liberal Democrats “betraying” them. A party can’t betray you if you don’t vote for them. It would be interesting to know how may of the student protesters voted Liberal Democrat and if they really want to think about betrayal they might consider the whole New Labour project.
I will say one thing in praise of the student protests. They have stamina. It must be bloody freezing up there.
Art Photography
do students have right to your money?
Tags: belligerent students, cuts, demonstrations, demonstrations in london, education, education cuts, education funding, free education, rights, student demonstrations, student finance, student funding, student loans, student riots, students, tuition fees, university, university funding, violent demonstrations
Student Protest
Student funding in the news. Student demonstrating everywhere. Demonstrations crossing the line from peaceful protest into violence. Broadly I’m in favour of subsidising the university fees of young people who may find it difficult to pay for themselves. I’m in favour of this as I think it’s good for our society as a whole and because I’m in favour of equality of opportunity.
However I am getting pretty pissed off with the violence of the demonstrations and the belligerent attitude of the students. I heard one this morning saying that she though that university education was her “right” and that it should be free. Well, I agree I think her education should be free. She should not have to pay for, neither should I and neither should you. Unfortunately this leaves the question: Who the hell is going to pay?
The truth is that nothing is free. Goods and services are either paid for directly by the user, paid for by everyone via state funding or paid for by combination of the two. This young woman thought that if they were paid for by the state then they would be free. Not so. What she meant when she said that education should be free is that EVERYONE should pay for her education and that means me. As I say, I’m broadly in favour of subsidized university education but when some little twit starts yelling that she has a “right” to my money I tend to become less sympathetic.
I’m also pissed off at the self riotousness of these bloody students. During the materialist bullshit Britain years of New Labour the students didn’t make a sound. We didn’t hear a peep out of them when Blair took us into an illegal war. We didn’t hear anything from them as New Labour eroded our civil liberties with ubiquitous CCTV and authoritarian terrorism laws. Traditionally students have been left leaning but that seems to have changed. The only way to get them to demonstrate these days is to threaten their wallets. Sure they have muttered about child benefit but they never got off their arses until it was their funding that was under fire. Now that they may have to pawn their iPhones to pay for education they’re up in arms condemning the Liberal Democrats and aligning themselves with Labour. Labour for God’s sake! The bastards that got us into this disaster. Economy down the drain, massive debt and fighting a war in a land locked country which we couldn’t suppress at the height of Britain’s power. Well done Blair!
And Labour have turned on a sixpence. They’ve reverted from the pro-business, pro war, pro-consultant, pro business-bullshit, profligate capitalists back to the whinging, protest party. Now they’re out of power they are free to pretend that they would not have cut any budgets at all. New Aircraft carriers? Of course we’ll have them. Free education? Why not. Child benefit for all? Of course. After wrecking the British economy Labour can now pretend that everything would have been fine if they were just left in power and the students can all pretend that the past 13 years have never happened and we’re back in the Thatcher years.
The protesters bang on about the Liberal Democrats “betraying” them. A party can’t betray you if you don’t vote for them. It would be interesting to know how may of the student protesters voted Liberal Democrat and if they really want to think about betrayal they might consider the whole New Labour project.
I will say one thing in praise of the student protests. They have stamina. It must be bloody freezing up there.
Rate this: