General Chat

I'm afraid the use of the horses to charge at people in confined spaces is completely reprehensible.It was guaranteed to get a response from the demonstrators.

Regards
William Russell Jones.

The tactic of surrounding protestors and cutting off escape routes -- for those not remotely interested in confrontations with the police, who just want to get out of the way, including bystanders -- was used in Toronto at the G20.

It was condemned there as well.

This is a tactic that police *know* is virtually guaranteed to result in bad things.

To also charge at the people who have been trapped that way on horses, that's absolutely reprehensible.

As far as protest and demonstrations are concerned.

At a time when people see their opportunnities and lifechances under threat from this government what we have seen up to now is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Everything that represents power and privilege will be considered fair game.

When this coalition government was being formed a sizeable chunk(30%) of the people who voted for one of the major parties of the day were entirely ignored.

Regards
William Russell Jones.

Next time we should just the let the protesters go where they want that should be well interesting

I suppose when the young people see the goverment throw 7 billion at irelands debt.
They feel a little sick that the goverment aren't prepaired to slice .5 billion off and use that to fund education.
especially when most people in ireland did not want this country to do so.
This argument wont be won on the streets

I am all for protesting, as long as it is "peaceful".......but raging an attack on the future King of England & his wife!!...........

I feel sorry for the real students who do have to work hard at uni/college and still have to work to fund it.
And yeah i do feel so sorry for the police who are put in the middle and get hurt.
It just smacks of something is wrong. I do hope the PM has a bit of a u turn but i'm not really sure that is realistic..

My daughter has to do both, work and college and then uni, but that only makes her stronger. She deffinately hasn't even got the time or money to spend to go to london and protest.
And i'm not sure how others do.

Of course the argument won't be won on the streets Brian,the government though must realise that they can only govern by consent.Setting out to alienate large sections of the population including those most vulnerable is not merely unadviseable its doomed to fail.


Regards
William Russell Jones.

I agree Brian we can lend to another country that bombed us in the past and we cant help our own

Jandee,

Interesting debate!
We are also subsidising the Scots and the Welsh!
Incidentally, when I was at Uni. (many,many years ago) the children of millionaires were getting full grants, because mummy and daddy had
"pet accountants"
The same thing is still happening. The millionaires won'tI have to pay the full £9,000, I can guarantee that!

It's very difficult William, well organised mass protests can be infiltrated by both ends of the polictical spectrum. and those groups can destabalise real good meaning.
But i'm totally with what you are saying.
maybe if we lived in london my children may well have been there too.

Janet I'm reminded of the words of the song;Its the rich that gets the pleasure and the poor that gets the blame.Its the same the whole world over,isn't it a blooming shame!

Regards
William Russell Jones.

Everyone in my family keep reminding me how my daughter will be the first one in my family to get a degree. But somehow someone just keeps moving the goalposts.
I will help her as much as i can but it's not easy to watch someone you love so much having too put themselves in such great debt.
her work literally pays for her college costs and travelling only.
But she really does value the costs and this will help her in life.
but her future debt may pull her back i guess.

I'm not condoning any violence committed by any protesters but, as I said before, the police are trained (or are supposed to be) to deal with this type of incident without resorting to violence.

Sadly, it's only when protests go awry that they receive the publicity they deserve. Last weekend there were protests all over the country against Top Shop & Boots, and other notorious tax avoiders which received very little coverage in the media.

I must end my little debate tonight but i should end where i started.
this argument won't be won on the streets note no full stop here
but will be won across polling booths across the land.
but that's gonna be when my daughter already has 30k of debt.
Brian

I can perhaps only repeat what I've said before.I have got no special agenda of my own and I would't claim to have even half the answers!

All I wish to see is the kids that live on tthe council estate where i live to have the same opportunities and lifechances as those that go to Eton and Harrow.It has nothing to do with envy but opportunity for all.

Regards
William Russell Jones.

William --

Its the same the whole world over,
it's the poor that gets the blame,
It's the rich that gets the pleasure.
Isn't it a blooming shame!

I used that as my signature line at a discussion board for a while. ;)


And in a society, it isn't how rich or poor the society is, but how big the gap between rich and poor is, that shows how fair the society it is. And also, that can predict the extent of the social problems it will have.

A society in which everyone is equally poor is happier and safer than a society where there are the few at the top with much, and the many at the bottom with little.

The European countries, for example, with the smallest gap between rich and poor also tend to have lower crime rates.

And things like high post-secondary tuition fees are exactly the kinds of things that guarantee that the gap between rich and poor will get ever wider, and that the poor will stay poor.

Envying and education is what made britain great too William and i do envy those who's life chances are made somewhat easier by the home they are born into. It's not an envy of weath that i have, but deffinately the envy of opportunity that should be given to every child in this land.
Brian