CUTS ARE NUTS!!

Late this afternoon a few friends of mine and I  shivered our way into a Westminster pub to have a drink and bring feeling back to our fingers and toes after hours in the cold protesting against fee increases and cuts to education. We glanced up at the pub TV and I shook my head “Oh no! What  are they protesting in Paris for THIS time?” (No offence Parisians but you know how to light things on fire and peeve off police when you need to!) I then realised that what I was watching was happening in London, at the very protest I had just left! Having  only witnessed a bit of chanting and laughing, a few beers drank and a tiny sniff of spliff every so often I began to wonder if I had been marching in the right place (please don’t tell me I was actually at the Fight against a Females Rights to Wear Thongs or something.....) But alas some of those I had just sang with down the streets from Trafalgar Square to Big Ben were now throwing chairs through the reception windows of Tory headquarters (Millbank Centre). ....

I have nothing against making a point loudly (ask my boyfriend)  or even with a bit of rage (again ask my boyfriend). However, I think it is extremely unfortunate for everyone who protested peacefully that today’s message was overshadowed by what the government and general public will see as several injured police and a building smashed up,  thus damaging any credibility that the other 49,775 of us managed to gain in the day. Watching some of the footage of the riot at Millbank I was embarrassed for the people breaking windows, throwing chunks of concrete,  getting naked and dancing around fires like they were at a rave.  There is no better feeling than fighting for what you believe in, I regretfully have to say that (it seemed to me), the rioters at Millbank were fighting (with laughter in their eyes and 2 fingers at the camera’s) for nothing at all...

The truth of it is, today we had something important to stand for and loads of us thankfully did! (please see happy peaceful photo’s below!) LCF has toilets older than Greece and can barely afford to turn on the heat as it is. With waif thin fashion students freezing in their black tights and wedges, can the University really withstand further cuts? Graduates, even those entering high earning positions already struggle to repay their student loans. With the possible 300% fee increase proposed, a University education will again be a luxury that only the wealthy can afford, like properties nearest to the station and Blue Ray DVD’s. I have nothing against the wealthy either I just think it takes all sorts to make the world go around and all sorts to make a country work. It will be a sad state of affairs if people are priced out of their right to the opportunity to contribute to society in the way they want to....

If today shows us anything it’s that we should fight our hardest for education to be accessible to as many people as possible.  At least then when future anarchists’ graffiti the reception areas of political leaders and scream obscenities at TV cameras, they manage to do so with correct spelling, grammar, and pronunciation.


(Note: This is not to encourage you to read back through my posts to check for proper spelling and grammar! Speak to me when I have finished my degree!)

LINKS:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11726822