I went to a gig last night: David Wrench playing the extended, droning (in a good way) rebel songs he recorded with Julian Cope, and Cope playing a medley of his massive back catalogue, concentrating on the poppier end. He dedicated the first track to the students who trashed Millbank, resorted to the phrase 'dance to THIS, motherfuckers' fairly frequently, and teased the lairy drunk hippies who constantly demanded the most obscure b-sides they could think of.
I had a quick chat with Wrench, who I used to know a little. I was once the only paying member of the audience at one of his gigs: his band was a super-group drawn from Ectogram, Melys, Super Furry Animals and Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, while the other 4 or 5 people at the gig were bandmates or partners of those on stage. Everyone had a record deal except me. I brought along my treasured copy of Wrench's first album, Blow Winds Blow and he signed it, quite surprised by its mere existence, I think. It's a great album of gothy Welsh folk with a lot of Nick Cave thrown in. His next album was high electro camp, then the latest dark folk one.
Cope used to be in the psychedelic pop genius The Teardrop Explodes, and was a bit of a pretty boy. His pop career was stymied by record industry shenanigans, so he became a lefty-hippy-shaman who sings lefty-hippy-shaman songs which still have killer pop hooks. An admirable figure in every way.
That said, he's a bit of a Peter Pan. He's become a performing monkey for his die-hard audience. He's up there with his East German Border Patrol Cap, unruly hair, leathers, songs about drugs and revolution, while his fans arrive in company cars, M+S clothes and tote Blackberries. As long as they worship at the feet of Cope, they seem to feel, they're still alternative. It's carnivalesque in Bakhtinian terms: an evening of feeling countercultural as a breathing space before returning to the sales department. It's not Cope's fault: he clearly believes everything he says and his beliefs are wholly admirable. But I can't help wondering what he thinks as he surveys the paunches, bald spots and straights who pay his bills.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Uppal must be stretching his wings
Given that Paul Uppal, my supposed MP is notorious for only asking questions which relate to his private business interests, I assume that his latest appearance heralds a shift in his investments from commercial property in London to the Middle East (where politics is more to his non-democratic tastes).
Meanwhile, still no response to a) my question about the removal of scientists from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and b) the conviction of a Conservative for electoral fraud in the area - Paul's obsessed with the idea that he's the victim, despite winning the election, not reporting his claims to the police, and the refusal of the Electoral Commission to take him seriously.
Over the summer, I met the British ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Dominic Jermey, who told me how impressed he was with the Prime Minister visiting the Emiratis in June. In view of those warm words, will the Foreign Secretary tell me what work his Department is undertaking to ensure that British businesses are supported in exporting to Gulf nations?
Meanwhile, still no response to a) my question about the removal of scientists from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and b) the conviction of a Conservative for electoral fraud in the area - Paul's obsessed with the idea that he's the victim, despite winning the election, not reporting his claims to the police, and the refusal of the Electoral Commission to take him seriously.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Even Americans think Cameron's tuition fees are stupid
Today's New York Times.
There can be no excuse for the behavior of a minority of student protestors in Britain, who battled police, smashed windows and attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, this week. The legislation they opposed, a tripling of university tuition fees, is bad public policy, both myopic and unfair.
It only squeaked through Parliament after multiple defections from the government’s junior coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats. Its support by the remaining Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, the party leader, cannot be easily justified.
Opposing these tuition increases was a central plank of the Liberal Democrats’ election program last spring. Since joining the coalition government, Mr. Clegg has been far too willing to endorse the Conservative’s harsh austerity program, which imposes five-year across-the-board spending cuts of nearly 20 percent.
It takes some of its cruelest bites out of higher education, an investment in future growth that should have been spared but wasn’t. Funds for undergraduate teaching, for example, will be cut by 80 percent. Higher tuition fees will have to plug the gap.
The new legislation raises the cap on university tuition fees from $4,800 per year to $14,500 a year by 2012. While the fees may still look good to some Americans (they are about half the average level of American private universities but nearly double the average charged by public universities here), the increase is too much, too fast and would not be needed without the arbitrary spending cuts.
The law requires students to repay these fees only after they graduate, with payments calibrated to future earnings. That adds a progressive twist.
But educators warn that the poor and middle-class students who have finally gained access to British universities in recent decades will be squeezed out again by the prospect of decades of future indebtedness. Compounding the problem, government payments meant to allow students from poorer families to finish high school are also being phased out.
Britain’s crisis-swollen budget deficits, like America’s, need to be brought down as the economy recovers. The cutting must be done wisely, protecting investments in the economic future, like education. The sacrifices must be equitably shared. By any of those terms, this new policy is an utter failure.
Royal Attack Outrage
1795: The Republican Attack, by James Gillray.
Note that the 'mob' only wants 'peace and bread', and that Britannia is crushed under the carriage. This really happened, by the way, and led to even more repressive laws than were already in existence. I'm sure that won't be the case now… ha ha ha.
I'm starting to think that I can understand and even predict current political developments by going back to the 18th Century. After all, the landed aristocracy are in charge, millionaires run the place, the state is being abolished, we're at war (though not with France, for a change) and satire is the only weapon we have. Squire Turniphead Cameron certainly isn't listening.
Note that the 'mob' only wants 'peace and bread', and that Britannia is crushed under the carriage. This really happened, by the way, and led to even more repressive laws than were already in existence. I'm sure that won't be the case now… ha ha ha.
I'm starting to think that I can understand and even predict current political developments by going back to the 18th Century. After all, the landed aristocracy are in charge, millionaires run the place, the state is being abolished, we're at war (though not with France, for a change) and satire is the only weapon we have. Squire Turniphead Cameron certainly isn't listening.
Assange bailed
Julian Assange, co-founder of Wikileaks, has been freed on bail pending extradition proceedings on a Swedish charge of sexual assault, though the Swedes are lodging an immediate appeal, which seems pointless. Assange is probably the most recognisable person in Europe at the moment.
Some important points which seem to have gone unmentioned recently:
1. Innocent until proven guilty.
2. Sexual violence is a serious crime.
3. Sweden is a mature and independent democracy with a good reputation for an independent judiciary. Perhaps there is murky behaviour afoot, but let's not rush to judgement.
4. Julian Assange is not Wikileaks.
5. It is possible to be morally flawed in some regards and righteous in others. People are complicated.
6. If he's guilty of sexual assault, that doesn't mean his actions in regard to Wikileaks are somehow tainted. Likewise, if you're opposed to Wikileaks, Assange's other behaviour shouldn't alter your perspective.
7. I still haven't heard Hillary Clinton explain why publishers of leaked material are guilty of espionage, nor why the CIA wanted the DNA of United Nations officials. The rest we can argue about, but this is pretty clearly non-diplomatic behaviour.
Some important points which seem to have gone unmentioned recently:
1. Innocent until proven guilty.
2. Sexual violence is a serious crime.
3. Sweden is a mature and independent democracy with a good reputation for an independent judiciary. Perhaps there is murky behaviour afoot, but let's not rush to judgement.
4. Julian Assange is not Wikileaks.
5. It is possible to be morally flawed in some regards and righteous in others. People are complicated.
6. If he's guilty of sexual assault, that doesn't mean his actions in regard to Wikileaks are somehow tainted. Likewise, if you're opposed to Wikileaks, Assange's other behaviour shouldn't alter your perspective.
7. I still haven't heard Hillary Clinton explain why publishers of leaked material are guilty of espionage, nor why the CIA wanted the DNA of United Nations officials. The rest we can argue about, but this is pretty clearly non-diplomatic behaviour.
It's dark and gloomy
To counteract this, here's the most beautiful of modern lullabies from Trespassers William, who first came to my attention when they covered one of my favourite Ride tracks to wonderful effect.
I'm going to a gig tonight, but it's nothing like this. The headline act is Julian Cope - weirdo genius. I've seen him live many times. Sometimes you get his full on acid-fuelled pop madness, sometimes his raconteur routine, but he's always brilliant.
The support act is David Wrench, who I used to know a little bit in North Wales. The beanpole albino weirdo just recorded an album of rebel folk with Cope (4 tracks, lasting an hour in total) but his solo stuff has moved from bilingual folk-with-Nick-Cave-and-Joy-Division to perverted 80s electro-pop. Whatever happens tonight, it's going to be interesting.
It'll also be fun because I'm going with my colleague Mark, who looks rather like His Copeness, largely deliberately I suspect.
I'm going to a gig tonight, but it's nothing like this. The headline act is Julian Cope - weirdo genius. I've seen him live many times. Sometimes you get his full on acid-fuelled pop madness, sometimes his raconteur routine, but he's always brilliant.
The support act is David Wrench, who I used to know a little bit in North Wales. The beanpole albino weirdo just recorded an album of rebel folk with Cope (4 tracks, lasting an hour in total) but his solo stuff has moved from bilingual folk-with-Nick-Cave-and-Joy-Division to perverted 80s electro-pop. Whatever happens tonight, it's going to be interesting.
It'll also be fun because I'm going with my colleague Mark, who looks rather like His Copeness, largely deliberately I suspect.
Julian Cope, author of books and website on prehistoric monuments
Mark, visiting prehistoric monument
Finally, just because I like it: new country band Lambchop doing the Sisters of Mercy's 'This Corrosion', and the original for comparison.
No ethical problems here
I remarked a few weeks ago on how disappointing and ironic it was that some of my students cheated on their ethics essays.
It seems this is part of a wider social problem: a study reveals that books on ethics are stolen at twice the rate as other philosophy texts. Perhaps they're all utilitarians who see the understanding they'll gain as more positively consequential than the damage done by the theft. Kant, on the other hand, is spinning in his grave.
It seems this is part of a wider social problem: a study reveals that books on ethics are stolen at twice the rate as other philosophy texts. Perhaps they're all utilitarians who see the understanding they'll gain as more positively consequential than the damage done by the theft. Kant, on the other hand, is spinning in his grave.
Why not just sell our children
Paul Uppal is now beyond parody and - seemingly - beyond democracy and rationality.
Yesterday, the government announced its plan for local government. Underneath the bullshit claims of empowerment was an ideologically-driven attack on the notion of government of any sort.
Paul likes some of it, but he thinks it doesn't go far enough. He thinks that the only people who should make decisions about our communities are… (drum roll): property developers.
(As you might know, Mr Uppal is a property developer).
Being serious for a second, I'll point out what's wrong with this idea. Simple. Democratically-elected bodies exist solely to serve their community. They can get things wrong, and they can be sacked by the community. Developers work solely for private profit. They've got no interest in the public good. A developer's idea of a successful community might be Broad Street in the Dark Place: a dystopian hell of sex shops, fast food and drug dealing. A developer would see this as great: profitable. A decent council would see this as damaging to public health and safety. Giving control to developers logically leads to the abolition of elected bodies entirely, and I don't think he's averse to the idea.
What a massive twat Mr. Uppal is. It's come to this: polite and reasoned argument just fails in the face of such determined refusal to address anything wider than his own greed and selfishness. I'm genuinely ashamed that this benighted community is supposedly represented by such a small-minded individual.
Yesterday, the government announced its plan for local government. Underneath the bullshit claims of empowerment was an ideologically-driven attack on the notion of government of any sort.
Paul likes some of it, but he thinks it doesn't go far enough. He thinks that the only people who should make decisions about our communities are… (drum roll): property developers.
While I welcome today's statement, particularly the measures that go towards tax incremental finance, will my right hon. Friend consider making them developer led, rather than local authority led? When the measures were trailblazed in the United States a couple of decades ago, most American cities and states found that regeneration was much more effective when they were developer rather than local authority led.
(As you might know, Mr Uppal is a property developer).
Being serious for a second, I'll point out what's wrong with this idea. Simple. Democratically-elected bodies exist solely to serve their community. They can get things wrong, and they can be sacked by the community. Developers work solely for private profit. They've got no interest in the public good. A developer's idea of a successful community might be Broad Street in the Dark Place: a dystopian hell of sex shops, fast food and drug dealing. A developer would see this as great: profitable. A decent council would see this as damaging to public health and safety. Giving control to developers logically leads to the abolition of elected bodies entirely, and I don't think he's averse to the idea.
What a massive twat Mr. Uppal is. It's come to this: polite and reasoned argument just fails in the face of such determined refusal to address anything wider than his own greed and selfishness. I'm genuinely ashamed that this benighted community is supposedly represented by such a small-minded individual.
Monday, 13 December 2010
"That would be an ecumenical matter"
Invoking the spirit of Father Jack, Theresa May (she probably wouldn't) has decided that every answer to questions about the student demonstration will consist of the same boring and slyly insinuating response:
I don't condemn the violence. Some of it was over the top, but angry people subject to police violence respond unpredictably and sometimes irrationally. Swinging on the Cenotaph flag was a bit silly and bound to get the Daily Mail brigade whinging, but retaliating to horse charges seems perfectly acceptable to me.
The Tories have released a 'plain English' guide to what their plans for local government finance means. Some Tories have taken this a little too seriously and are actually saying what they really think:
May says Corbyn should condemn the violence committed by a significant number of people on the demonstration.
4.10pm: Labour's Dennis Skinner suggests that the "nasty, rightwing government" is to blame. May criticises him for not condemning the violence.
4.09pm: May says she was concerned to see one of the stewards for last week's demonstrations refusing to condemn the violence.Clearly this is the spin-doctors' line of attack: don't deal with the issues, peddle out this tedious trope. She doesn't mean police violence, by the way.
I don't condemn the violence. Some of it was over the top, but angry people subject to police violence respond unpredictably and sometimes irrationally. Swinging on the Cenotaph flag was a bit silly and bound to get the Daily Mail brigade whinging, but retaliating to horse charges seems perfectly acceptable to me.
The Tories have released a 'plain English' guide to what their plans for local government finance means. Some Tories have taken this a little too seriously and are actually saying what they really think:
Labour's Michael Dugher asks Pickles to condemn David Shakespeare, the leader of the Conservative group on the Local Government Assocation, who said recently that people from the north should "replace the Romanians in the cherry orchards".
Mr Cameron’s spokesman refused to comment on the row, saying only: “The Prime Minister believes in flexible labour markets.”
Word of the day
One of my favourite words is kerning. I've always liked it for the sound and the relative rarity of it's initial letter. It's doubly satisfying therefore that it relates to one of my interests, typography (how I'd love to do a module on the subject).
Kerning is the art of letter spacing. It's definitely an art rather than a science, and it's counter-intuitive. For instance, if you make the space between each letter exactly the same, it will look uneven, because of the letters' different shapes. So typographers play around with the spacing for harmonious or emotional effect. There's a useful introduction here.
On another subject, if you're in London, head to the British Museum for their exhibition of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I went with my friends Adam and Katie. Adam's an Egypt boffin, so educated my very impressively. Basically, the Egyptians didn't really believe in death and the soul in the same way as us. Death had an initial stage in which the person's consciousnesses were free to wander around during the day, and the trick to reaching heaven was to reunite them. Then it was like a platform computer game: using the Book of the Dead to cheat the gods, escape their traps and prevent your heart telling the truth, you get past judgement to arrive in the afterlife, which was remarkably like Egypt without the manual labour (as long as you'd paid the priests for enough spells and statues which would do the farming for you).
The surviving books are astonishing: brightly coloured, perfectly readable, detailed and beautiful. Another example of how cunning élites can be in organising a society for its own ends.
Kerning is the art of letter spacing. It's definitely an art rather than a science, and it's counter-intuitive. For instance, if you make the space between each letter exactly the same, it will look uneven, because of the letters' different shapes. So typographers play around with the spacing for harmonious or emotional effect. There's a useful introduction here.
On another subject, if you're in London, head to the British Museum for their exhibition of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I went with my friends Adam and Katie. Adam's an Egypt boffin, so educated my very impressively. Basically, the Egyptians didn't really believe in death and the soul in the same way as us. Death had an initial stage in which the person's consciousnesses were free to wander around during the day, and the trick to reaching heaven was to reunite them. Then it was like a platform computer game: using the Book of the Dead to cheat the gods, escape their traps and prevent your heart telling the truth, you get past judgement to arrive in the afterlife, which was remarkably like Egypt without the manual labour (as long as you'd paid the priests for enough spells and statues which would do the farming for you).
The surviving books are astonishing: brightly coloured, perfectly readable, detailed and beautiful. Another example of how cunning élites can be in organising a society for its own ends.
Who needs books?
I've read a lot of very good books recently about the tragedy of Ireland's economic collapse.
This quite sweary Irishman summarises them rather pithily.
This quite sweary Irishman summarises them rather pithily.
You can learn so much
…by wandering the corridors of your place of work.
For instance, I notice that one of our meeting rooms is now labelled 'Staff Use Only'. This, I suspect, is a response to the discovery that a couple of students were using rooms for rather more carnal than intellectual knowledge.
I also discovered this today:
For instance, I notice that one of our meeting rooms is now labelled 'Staff Use Only'. This, I suspect, is a response to the discovery that a couple of students were using rooms for rather more carnal than intellectual knowledge.
I also discovered this today:
The other notice I saw but didn't get a chance to snap was 'BA Hons (Social Work) Literacy Test. Oh dear. I'm starting to understand why social workers are in the newspapers so often. Do any other degree courses need literacy tests? I kind of assumed that literacy was to be expected from anyone applying for a degree (though marking always raises doubts).
I almost feel sorry for Vodafone
Corporations like to seem cool and up to date. So they do things like have Twitter accounts. Vodafone decided to run a little competition this weekend: send in things that 'mademesmile' and win a camera. Every tweet was displayed in real time on their website front page.
Oh dear. All those nasty critics and cynics somehow found out about it, and Vodafone's website was filled with short comments about tax evasion.
That'll teach them to fake it.
Oh dear. All those nasty critics and cynics somehow found out about it, and Vodafone's website was filled with short comments about tax evasion.
Within an hour #mademesmile was trending, and zipped to the top of Twitter’s trending topic list. Instead of the collection of warm, fuzzy feelings Vodafone had been hoping to have associated with their brand, visitors to the stream were treated to a barrage of tweets lambasting the company for dodging taxes. First we occupied their stores, then we occupied their hashtag.
That'll teach them to fake it.
Could you be a superspy?
Take the CIA's personality quiz. If you dare. It doesn't demand experience in waterboarding, but a certain moral flexibility is clearly desirable.
Apparently I'm a thoughtful observer, which makes me an ideal candidate to write withering assessments of foreigners to be later leaked to the world and laughed at. I see myself more as Penfold really.
I'd disable all your filesharing torrents, switch off cookies and don't mention Wikileaks!
Apparently I'm a thoughtful observer, which makes me an ideal candidate to write withering assessments of foreigners to be later leaked to the world and laughed at. I see myself more as Penfold really.
I'd disable all your filesharing torrents, switch off cookies and don't mention Wikileaks!
Friday, 10 December 2010
Er… well done
Congratulations to Newsnight - that bastion of Oxbridge privilege - which managed to label a speaker as 'Principle' of a university. Very impressive.
Can anyone else see a little Godzilla logo on the previous post? I tried to copy it yesterday when talking about the students' use of Google Maps to track the protests, and couldn't. Now I can see it on a different post! Weird.
I'm in the mood for dumb fun. Which leads me to this Friday's question: what's the pure, stupid, song that just makes you happy? Here's a selection of mine, starting with Camper Van Beethoven's 'Take the Skinheads Bowling'.
Can anyone else see a little Godzilla logo on the previous post? I tried to copy it yesterday when talking about the students' use of Google Maps to track the protests, and couldn't. Now I can see it on a different post! Weird.
I'm in the mood for dumb fun. Which leads me to this Friday's question: what's the pure, stupid, song that just makes you happy? Here's a selection of mine, starting with Camper Van Beethoven's 'Take the Skinheads Bowling'.
Let's have a break from politics
How about a little light music. In my sporadic trawl through my hard drive, we've reached Brigyn, and their Brigyn 3 album. I like them a lot, but I won't talk about them because some people turn off as soon as they hear certain words, such as 'Welsh' and 'folk'. They're missing out.
I got into music properly when I went to Bangor University just at the time that the weird folk-pop (and other genres) Welsh-language scene emerged: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Ectogram, David Wrench, Tystion, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals - they all played in Bangor and some of them made their names on a wider stage too.
The latest wave are part of the purer folk scene that's gripped Britain recently. It's a little tamer than the booze and mushrooms 90s scene, but the music being turned out is very beautiful.
This will calm us all down after a fraught week.
I got into music properly when I went to Bangor University just at the time that the weird folk-pop (and other genres) Welsh-language scene emerged: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Ectogram, David Wrench, Tystion, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals - they all played in Bangor and some of them made their names on a wider stage too.
The latest wave are part of the purer folk scene that's gripped Britain recently. It's a little tamer than the booze and mushrooms 90s scene, but the music being turned out is very beautiful.
This will calm us all down after a fraught week.
'Tis the season for humbug…
Paul Uppal should just shut up and sod off. Here's his contribution to the tuition fees debate:
Well. Distortion would be putting it mildly. My tears are rolling down my cheeks obviously. But has anyone heard of grants being refused for this reason? It's a lie. Paul Uppal paid no fees for his education - nobody did. Grants were available to almost everybody, and certainly were available to anyone from a 'working-class' family with seven children. By anybody's standard, such an account implies poverty, and therefore qualification for a grant.
Unless, of course, Uppal's telling porkies. Nobody was told by their local education authority how to spend their money: grants were distributed according to parental income and circumstances. If Uppal was refused a grant, it's because his parents were earning a lot of money.
I'm sickened by the sight of a multimillionaire property speculator not only denying his constituents the education he had, but preaching to them about the virtues of selfishness. His vision of humanity is horrifying: where is altruism, community spirit, the desire to serve mankind? Most politicians would at least nod to these virtues, but Paul - admirably in a way - is remarkably honest. He's in politics to look after himself. He's driven by 'personal ambition and aspiration' and there isn't room in that selfish little brain for a better vision of society.
I'm not angry. I'm sad. Sad that such a small, bitter and reactionary man, one so lacking both in intellect and empathy, can represent the people of this country.
If you want to hear a Conservative argument against fees (and Uppal was there to hear it), read the words of Julian Lewis:
I come from a working class background-seven children in a two-up, two-down. My parents took two jobs and I did not qualify for a grant because they supported my extended family in India. I worked my way through university. Is not it the case that it is not money, but individual personal ambition and aspiration that drives people?
Well. Distortion would be putting it mildly. My tears are rolling down my cheeks obviously. But has anyone heard of grants being refused for this reason? It's a lie. Paul Uppal paid no fees for his education - nobody did. Grants were available to almost everybody, and certainly were available to anyone from a 'working-class' family with seven children. By anybody's standard, such an account implies poverty, and therefore qualification for a grant.
Unless, of course, Uppal's telling porkies. Nobody was told by their local education authority how to spend their money: grants were distributed according to parental income and circumstances. If Uppal was refused a grant, it's because his parents were earning a lot of money.
I'm sickened by the sight of a multimillionaire property speculator not only denying his constituents the education he had, but preaching to them about the virtues of selfishness. His vision of humanity is horrifying: where is altruism, community spirit, the desire to serve mankind? Most politicians would at least nod to these virtues, but Paul - admirably in a way - is remarkably honest. He's in politics to look after himself. He's driven by 'personal ambition and aspiration' and there isn't room in that selfish little brain for a better vision of society.
I'm not angry. I'm sad. Sad that such a small, bitter and reactionary man, one so lacking both in intellect and empathy, can represent the people of this country.
If you want to hear a Conservative argument against fees (and Uppal was there to hear it), read the words of Julian Lewis:
I want to go back to that one occasion, in January 2001, when I was asked to supply my profile. I said:
"I grew up in Swansea and went to the same state grammar school as my father, Sam. The difference was that he had to leave at 14 to help his father as a tailor. He used to tell me,"
when I asked him, that I did not need to know about tailoring, because
"he would be the last of the tailors in my family,"
as now there was a system of students grants. I continued:
"He is an exceptionally intelligent man who would undoubtedly have succeeded at university if he had been able to complete his education in the late 1920s,"
in the same grammar school that I went to.
"The university grant system gave me my opportunity, and I never approved of the changeover to top-up loans-let alone for tuition fees."
I have been listening to some of the arguments-we are beginning to go round and round the same track-but I was particularly struck by the elegant process of ratiocination by my hon. Friend Nick Boles. He was able to make a convincing case that the more we charge people to go to university, the more people will go and the more poorer people will go. In that case, I am tempted to vote against the Government on the grounds that they are not charging enough. Perhaps we should charge quadruple fees, quintuple fees or even sextuple fees, to ensure that the entire population of the country can go to university.
The revolution begins here?
Well, if you read the Daily Mail and its allies. Some protestors damaged Prince Charles's Rolls-Royce after it drove into a protest area.
Let's not forget that the King and Queen were booed and jeered when they did their famous tour of the East End during the Blitz (an annoying little story which subverts the standard narrative of everyone being in it together), and Victoria was in serious danger of popular revolt until everybody went all soppy towards the end of her life - 7 assassination attempts. Before that, of course, the royal family were the butt of some outrageous satire.
Here's a Gillray drawing of the Royal Family, entitled 'The Monstrous Craw', in which the Prince of Wales - feckless, stupid, greedy and corrupt - is fed cash by his equally awful parents during a brief period of amity between them:
Is this treatment of Charles and Camilla worse than the cops yanking a man out of his wheelchair?
So let's all calm down. I assume that Wills and Kate - despite having degrees - weren't protesting, so it's about time the royals got a glimpse of life outside the bubble they're forced to live in. It's not all polo and Duchy Originals Organic Oatcakes. Melbourne, Victoria's Prime Minister tried to keep her from reading Charles Dickens because the novels feature 'paupers, criminals and other unpleasant subjects': do we want your rulers to be similarly shielded from real life?
I'm just desperately sad. I had a great free education and the chance to pursue my interests at postgraduate level. I struggled financially, but I don't have massive debts hanging over me, nor did anyone (except family and friends) question the value of my chosen degrees. The new generation will be forced into worse conditions, degrees and jobs they don't enjoy, and a lifetime of financial bondage - or they can skip university and take their chances in the low-wage 'flexible' economy.
Let's not forget that the King and Queen were booed and jeered when they did their famous tour of the East End during the Blitz (an annoying little story which subverts the standard narrative of everyone being in it together), and Victoria was in serious danger of popular revolt until everybody went all soppy towards the end of her life - 7 assassination attempts. Before that, of course, the royal family were the butt of some outrageous satire.
Here's a Gillray drawing of the Royal Family, entitled 'The Monstrous Craw', in which the Prince of Wales - feckless, stupid, greedy and corrupt - is fed cash by his equally awful parents during a brief period of amity between them:
Is this treatment of Charles and Camilla worse than the cops yanking a man out of his wheelchair?
So let's all calm down. I assume that Wills and Kate - despite having degrees - weren't protesting, so it's about time the royals got a glimpse of life outside the bubble they're forced to live in. It's not all polo and Duchy Originals Organic Oatcakes. Melbourne, Victoria's Prime Minister tried to keep her from reading Charles Dickens because the novels feature 'paupers, criminals and other unpleasant subjects': do we want your rulers to be similarly shielded from real life?
I'm just desperately sad. I had a great free education and the chance to pursue my interests at postgraduate level. I struggled financially, but I don't have massive debts hanging over me, nor did anyone (except family and friends) question the value of my chosen degrees. The new generation will be forced into worse conditions, degrees and jobs they don't enjoy, and a lifetime of financial bondage - or they can skip university and take their chances in the low-wage 'flexible' economy.
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