General Chat

my friend only qualified this year

so what are the more experienced lectures on

i myself think its shocking

£42 an hour...very roughly 7 times the minimum wage...which in all honesty sounds about right to me, given that a good lecturer not only teaches his subject but also broadens the outlook of his students in general.

On the radio the other day...heard in passing , a Midlands council who have decided that no one employed by them will earn more than 20 times the wage of their lowest paid worker... ie 20 times minimum wage! now THAT I would worry about!

Well Madamecholet I wouldn't wish to penalise anyone.Surely you see the advantages Cameron,Clegg and Osborne had over ordinary folks kids?I want to see everyone have the same opportunities and life chances.

I want people to have a leg up,to coin a phrase!

Regards
William Russsell Jones.

That £42 an hour the lecturer is paid also includes preparation time. I get paid a set amount per hours that I teach but each session has at least an hour's preparation time, so the hourly rate is halved immediately.

Then there is also the time spent marking students' papers, for which lecturers don't get paid any extra.

So £42 an hour seems fair to me.

Police and firefighters can and do retire on a big pension after 30 years' service and have a further career, if they choose to.

Not many of us can retire when under 50.

Gwynne

Eyeryone is entitled to their opinion surely Merlin,even you!

Its important nonetheless to examine the underlying issues surrounding these matters.

Maybe their shouldn't be any taxes collected and you could let people fend for themselves eh!

If you are follower of Marx and Lenin simply because you believe in equality of opportunity for all,then I plead guilty!

I don't know it may be the fault of all the other countries you mention or maybe its a case of blame somone else!

Regards
William Russell Jones.

i think university's should have a big shake up to
my friend is a lecture in forensic science

and is on £42 per hour thats a lot of money for what she does
when firemen paramedics and policemen get so much less

so university staff have had it to good for to long
time to pull their belts in to
and cut the costs of educating people
we also need to get the costs of educating foreign student up front as lots go back home with their degrees
still owing the universities free for thousands

Plenty of people , students, elderly, middle aged, workers , non workers protest in London against all manner of things...off the top of my head recent (ish) protests or 'marching FOR' , include protest against China getting the last Olympics given their dreadful human rights record, a protest I saw last year against vivisection mostly young people but by no means all,.. a march FOR amnesty for illegal immigrants who have worked long term in this country... Large protest at the bombing of Gaza by Israel...

and who can forget the mass protests against war in Iraq and Afghanistan? They too will have disprupted Londoners going about their daily business. Those protests will not have had the support of everyone, they will have inconvenienced some, annoyed others.

Clegg sold his principles to get power...his own party recognise that... he will go down as the whipping boy for that, and be sacrificed in an attempt to avoid what WILL happen at the next election...the total disappearance of the Lib Dems as a creditable 'middle' party (imo, and I think that's a shame).

I can recall the one in 1966 - when luckily we were turned back by police as with 2 young children we were in danger of wandering in to it.

I haven't read through this thread but I would like to point out that the Media focused on the "rent a mob" element. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of those attending were trying to make a justified point and abhor the scenes that were broadcast/publiscised. There is, however, no interest in peaceful protest from the press. It doesn't sell copy or boost TV ratings.

Perhaps if we did,nt give so much money to Wales. Scotland, Ireland,China .India, Pakistan Etc.and curbed the £9 Billion we give out in Overseas Aid, we could afford to do all the things wanted,but we won,t even though all the money is borrowed and the old taxpayer as usual has to foot the bill. Everybody has the right to go to UNI. as long as they have the brains to do so and get off their collective backsides and work to do so.most of these courses given at UNI,s used to be taught at Night Schools etc.and people managed to get on OK.As for the remark about Napalm. I,ve seen far worse than that carried out by people on their own people,and what that has to do with students behaving like they have baffles me .It seems Karl Marx and Lenin are alive and kicking. I think its time to knock this thread on the head,its getting entirely out of context to its original debate.**M**.

William, I was there as well.

Can't disagree with a word you've said.

Gwynne

Of course I wouldn't for one moment suggest peoples opinions are moulded by the newspapers they read.Though I seem to sense what some have been reading.A clue for which is;Its in the post every morning!

Regards
William Rusell Jones.

Madam Cholet why are you only targeting young people for not protesting for other people? Surely it's just as much the responsibility of everybody else as well?

Do you protest?

Rita the ones who don't want to go to university are not affected by the rise in tuition fees.

When it comes down to it these protests are all about money, EMA, tuition fees. Leaving university with approximately £10,000 - £15,000 in debt is one thing, many will consider it manageable debt. Leaving with £27,000 minimum debt is quite another thing. This debt will be hanging over many graduates for years, possibly decades, and will put many people from poorer backgrounds off going to university.

Pity the poor little rich guy Madamecholet!

I'm reminded of the Bard's famous words which seem entirely appropriate for this and so many issues of the day.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"!

Its not anyones accident of birth that is the issue here.Its the undue advantages some people have with being born into affluence.

As for protesting outside Embassies,I can remember being in Grosvenor Square protesting against the US in Vietnam in 1968.Speaking of which every time I switch a TV set on I see an image of a young girl running and screaming,her skin peeling off after being affected by Napalm.I've got a long memory too!

Regards
William Russell Jones.

I have no issue with anyone fighting for other peoples opportunities, what I do dislike is labeling people WHOEVER they are with names, like toff, and vaguely sneering at them for no other reason than accident of birth or the education that their parents decide for them over which the said person has no choice. It's exactly the same as saying that someone doesn't LIKE someone else, when in fact they have never met this person! you may not like someones attitude as you see it, or agree with their politics, but no one can say that they dislike somebody on a personal level, when they don't even know them. Rita, I so agree with your comments, and I'm sure, like me, you will have more time for demonstrators when you see them outside the afore said Embassy's demonstrating for seriously oppressed people as well as their own grievances. Never seem to see that any more, years ago young people WOULD have demonstated outside the appropriate Embassy's for the release of ALL political prisoners particularly a Nobel Peace prize winner being Gaoled for receiving this award (!), his wife under house arrest and his supporters being persecuted by an an autocratic state; that would certainly have caused massive protests; probably a riot, but not today?! Why? I suppose, to my amazement, young people simply don't care! Too concerned about number 1 I guess!! As far as I'm concerned, the people who need our help and are deserving of our admiration are the young men and women who daily put their lives on the line, and as for that BRAVE uncomplaining young soldier, who received his medal last week, minus his legs and most of his face (his own mother wouldn't have recognised him) he, and his companions are more than welcome to my Tax money. Self centered rioters and wreckers? they just make me sick!

Well Rita,are you quite honestly trying to tell me that Cameron and Osborne and Clegg had no advantages over the kids that grew up on my estate?

Regards
William Russell Jones.

Madamecholet is of course right to highlight all those stuggling for justice in this world today.

However she apparently misunderstood my comments about those who may have been born into affluence.I'm not envious for one moment of their money.

All I'm fighting for is for the kids who live on the council estate where I live to have the same opportunities and life chances as those who may have gone to Eton and Harrow.

If this is considered to be an extreme position to take then I plead guilty as charged!

Regards
William Russell Jones.

Chris, I have to politely disagree on that ...we pay our taxes and have a right to speak about and vote for what we want...which I am sure will be remembered in 5 years time lol...

but I don't think NOT living or paying taxes in a place should preclude anyone from giving an opion on its laws or its government etc ...that way lies real isolationism and no progress in human rights in other countries which do not have our democratic rights ( see MadamCholet's post).

This speaking about or criticising other people's countries, other people's opinions on matters which do not directly affect us, has led to much of the great progress in the world ( the abolition of slavery being one example, free elections in countries formerly dictatorships etc).

We ( as a country) can't deny anyone living elsewhere the right to an opinion on how we manage ourselves, or how any of us think .... if we do that, how can we possibly comment on them and their countries flaws and mismanagement !

My opinions on something going on in another country may be disagreed with by people who live there ...but I still want to be able to say my say, even if I don't live there, if I have looked and listened to what is going on :))

This is our country , we live here, pay taxes and have the right to express our thoughts and feelings about our own country. It is not for others who do not live here to lay down the law and tell us all how wrong we are.

I have read all the recent posts concerning the Student Riots. I think what makes me sad and confused, is the fact that so many good people in this world are under house arrest, imprisoned in Gulags, and generally supressed for expressing political beliefs that we, in the West, this country in particular, take completely for granted as 'Our Right' Where are the 'marchers' protesting about the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo? or Aung San Suu Kyi, or the Chinese supression of Tibet, or the horrors of living in North Korea, where to sigh in the wrong place will land you in Gaol? does no-one remember Tiannonmon Square? behaviour such as we have witnessed on Thursday would have meant you would have disappeared for years, maybe ever" presumably no-one cares a fig in our over protected over indulged young people for any of these issues?! self interest would seem to 'rule OK! Easy to riot in a democracy, where retribution from the authorities isn't exactly going to blight your life!!!!! As for criticising the 'Royals' and 'Toffs' Oh for goodness sake get that chip off your shoulder, talk about tired old cliches! who on earth can help where they are born and the circumstances they are born ito?! For heavens sake all that upsidedown snobbery went out with the ark. Of course, here in England (not in Burma or China etc of course) we DO have a right to peaceful protest ( aren't we lucky?)but we do NOT have the right to violate that privilege and make other peoples lives a misery, whoever they are.