The British Politics Thread

[sledger]

Originally Posted by Pothas

So you would definitely not have gone to university if given the choice again? Was thinking about this the other day, and whether or not the higher fees would have deterred me. Safe to say that I would have still gone. Socially University is far and away the best thing I have ever done, have met pretty much all my best friends (a certain poster on this forum besides.)

Haha, I will echo these sentiments word for word.

[PhoenixFire]

Originally Posted by sledger

I was under the impression it affected all those who were not currently in their final year?

Nope, my year is the last year of having tuition fees capped at £3230 (or whatever it is), so it shows that students that protest genuinely care about it, for reasons other than not wanting to pay more fees.

[Marcuss]

Yeah, has caused a few of the people I know who applied for deferred entry to change their minds lol.

[sledger]

Must say, I'm quite glad that I went when I did, particularly as I'm now considering doing a Masters' as well. Which iirc is not affected by this hike in fees.

[GIMH]

Originally Posted by PhoenixFire

Nope, my year is the last year of having tuition fees capped at £3230 (or whatever it is), so it shows that students that protest genuinely care about it, for reasons other than not wanting to pay more fees.

because students would never protest about something they didn't actually care about

[sledger]

I remember being amused at how many students protested about the Fox Hunting ban.

[James90]

Biggest protest I've seen recently was a bunch of students campaigning against the 3am lockout.

Only protest I've seen that was sponsored by Red Bull.

[cpr]

Originally Posted by Goughy

I had my Undergrad and post grad paid for by the taxpayer and I am grateful and my life has turned out well. I enjoyed University but I can tell you 'hand on heart' that if I was building debt or my parents had to bust their backsides to send me there then I would have taken it far more seriously.

I was similar in that mine was capped to about £1,000 per annum, though with my sister at uni at the same time we got a fair amount of help for the first year or two. Likewise, I'd would've hoped i'd have pulled my finger out more if the financial whack was more (a nice dollop of inheritance saw me through), but the reality is i probably wouldn't have, and would've stayed in employment, as i didnt mind a grand for the social life. In a way my degree has shaped my post uni career, and may well come in handy down the line (alas, narrowly missed out on that promotion this year - really annoyed as my mark was good enough last year, but raised bar n all that.... Let myself down not with skills but with lack of confidence!), but the reality is i could do it without a degree, and probably would've done it earlier.


Again though, made far more lasting friends from workplace rather than uni.

[cover drive man]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

CDM seemed to be justifying it...

Originally Posted by cover drive man

Don't know what to make of yesterday, I don't condone mindless vandalism and carnage but tripling tuition fees is just terrible.

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

I think my taxes are too high, how about me and my other taxpaying friends go and smash up the cars of local residents?

Load of bollocks, I'd double the tuition fees again now in response to this nonsense.

How would you like your tax tripling?

[GIMH]

Originally Posted by cover drive man

You throw in a 'but'. I don't condone X but.... always comes off as sympathetic and supportive IMO. See, "I'm not racist, but..."

Originally Posted by cdm

How would you like your tax tripling?

I don't have a choice about paying tax - it gets taken from me automatically. I don't think it is a good analogy. People seem to think all education should be free, why?

[sledger]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

People seem to think all education should be free, why?

Yeah, I always wonder this as well. I think education up to a certain point ought to be free (and it is), but the remit for this cannot be inexhaustible. People moan about how they have a right to an education, I have a right to freedom of movment, this doesn't mean I can stroll down to the local Audi dealership and drive off with one of their vehicles free of charge.

[Uppercut]

An attitude of entitlement inevitably develops within a couple of generations regarding anything the government provides.

You should see some of the rhetoric that was thrown around in the 70s- "right to work" was quite a common phrase, used to justify the government continuing to pay miners to do stuff nobody wanted done. "Right to education" always grinds my gears- as I've said in here before, it can't be a "right" if it costs billions of pounds to people you'll never even meet.

That said, states with heavily subsidised education are generally very successful economically. It's pretty well-documented that the result lately has just been people leaving school with mediocre grades to do prank-degrees that have no use whatsoever in the job market, but I'm not sure the solution is huge cuts to state funding. The continued line from the Tories is that the deficit won't cut itself but when they're trimming taxes at the same time it's hard to believe them. The cuts are certainly, to some extent, ideological.

So I'm kinda on the fence. But this just looks seriously bad...

[cover drive man]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

I don't have a choice about paying tax - it gets taken from me automatically. I don't think it is a good analogy. People seem to think all education should be free, why?

It's not about making it free, it's about avoiding economic elitism which gives unfair advantages/disadvantages to people depending on their family's wealth. Of course there is a right to education because, like I've said, the alternative ends up in elitism. The 'intellectuals' would all be given their chance on merit of their wealth.

Back down the mine urchins!

Oh wait, there aren't any!

[cover drive man]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

You throw in a 'but'. I don't condone X but.... always comes off as sympathetic and supportive IMO. See, "I'm not racist, but..."

The point I was trying to put across was that it's a point worth speaking against, but throwing fire extinguishers off buildings is just idiotic.

[PhoenixFire]

Originally Posted by Uppercut

it can't be a "right" if it costs billions of pounds to people you'll never even meet.

So you don't think primary education and healthcare should be universal rights?