I’m old enough to remember when members of the royal family were considered prime targets for terrorist attacks… by the IRA. I wasn’t even born yet when Lord Mountbatten (the Duke of Edinburgh’s adoptive father, and Prince Charles’ mentor) was murdered in an IRA bombing, but I remember being a kid in the 1980s and watching the news with my parents and seeing all of the stuff about IRA bombs and their targeting of the “British establishment”. Anyway, Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were caught up in some kind of student protest last night in London. There was an “attack” on the “royal Rolls Royce”.
The students were protesting a major hike in tuition fees. The Rolls Royce “became separated from its police escort” (poor thing!) and “was surrounded by demonstrators who had spilled into the West End after an initially peaceful demonstration outside parliament rapidly deteriorated and spread.” Did the protesters know who was in the car? According to observors, the car was well-lit, so everyone could see inside. They just trashed it anyway:
One witness, Ben Kelsey, said: “There were 400 to 500 protesters there. It was fairly obvious who was in the car. It was very well lit up. Charles and Camilla looked quite relaxed at first but when they saw how many people there were they began to get worried. A few seconds later the area was packed with police. It was complete chaos.”
Another witness described how a police protection officer, dressed in a tuxedo, travelling in convoy with the royal couple opened the doors of his car to beat his way through the crowds.
The royal couple had looked visibly shaken when they arrived at the London Palladium for the Royal Variety performance, but Camilla later joked about the incident, saying: “First time for everything” as she left the theatre.
A Clarence House spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that their royal highnesses’ car was attacked by the protesters on the way to their engagement at the London Palladium this evening. Both their royal highnesses were unharmed.”
At least 38 protesters were injured, according to the Met. There were 26 arrests.
[From The Guardian]
“First time for everything!” Camilla is kind of easy-breezy kind of gal, isn’t she? “Oh, poppycocks, the Rolls is dead. Charlie, I’m going to bed and closing down the biscuit factory. Whatevs.”
So the Rolls Royce was damaged, but Charles and Camilla were not! Sigh… poor Rolls Royce. And poor students. I enjoy a good student demonstration, as long as it doesn’t get too violent and stupid. Sounds like they got just the right balance – take down the car, but not the people, and there are injuries but no deaths. Aren’t their soccer riots much, much worse?
Additional photos courtesy of WENN.
My gwad thats crazy. They could have been hurt. They nearly broke out the freaking windows, jeez look at that.
I thought education in London/UK was free.
You have to understand, the British government just ratified a law to triple the college tuition taxes, from £3000 to £9000, for students in the UK, making education even more difficult to obtain and rapidly becoming only for the rich elite. I can only imagine what these students felt when they saw rich fatcat Charles and old trout Camilla swanning by decked out in all their finery in their chauffer driven Rolls.
David Cameron, in his infinite wisdom, did this to offset the country’s deficit. But being the swell guy that he is he did raise the salary level at which the students are obliged to begin paying back all the loans they will have to take out to cover their education from £15’000 to £21’000. What a great guy, extorting money via college tuition taxes from the youth of the country to offset a deficit incurred by a government run by PMs with a history of financial abuses.
I kind of sympathize with the students because the royals have a whole lifestyle funded by the state meanwhile these kids are trying to scrounge for their education. I don’t condone violence though and I am glad that everyone is OK.
I was at the protests yesterday (I’m a student) and for the most part everyone was very well behaved. I didn’t see Charles and Camilla but we heard about it as we were stood out there. People for the most part seemed quite shocked, and one guy with a speaker urged us not to go and join in. It was largely a peaceful protest, I think Charles and Cam were just unfortunate enough to be driving through when tempers were running high. It’s the politicians who people are angry with, not the royal family.
I would be pissed if I were an English student too. England pays extremely high taxes and certain public services are expected when you pay that much to the government. Instead, the Tory government just voted to TRIPLE the tuition fees. Why should any of these students look at Charles as above the protest? I mean, the simple fact that this prissy spoiled royal was heading to the theatre with his glorified mistress, in a Rolls Royce with a police escort – all on the taxpayers dole!- highlights how out of touch the monarchy really is.
I don’t agree with the gov’t hiking the student fees up to 30K onwards but I don’t think violence solves anything.
A socialist society wouldn’t work, and by blaming the royals (and other high earners) for being rich whilst many are poor is pointless.
People are competitive and how could someone with limited intelligence and limited skills possible be justifued in earning as much money as a highly skilled and intelligent person???
Likewise how can a gardener be deemed to be worth the same amount of pay as the police or a cancer research specialist.
Socialism is a dream and it seems many socilaists are encouraging violence to get there way with the student protests, but attacking the Royals is just dispicable
Charles is a total leftist who talks to plants. You’d think he’d be their hero.
@Sophie…thanks for the eye witness acoount….it sure looked bad from the news reports. It sounds like it was the perfect storm of protesters & here comes royalty just when everyone is cranked up. Hope this doesn’t happen at the royal wedding!
Sophie – Thanks! Honestly, I do think this protest sounded pretty calm in general. And who wouldn’t wanted to throw something at the royal Rolls, after all?
Stronzilla – I know! The Guardian article that I used had a lot of info about the hike. It really sucks for students.
this is BS. its quite clear this incident has been manipulated (watching the biased news coverage on certain channels in the UK its been reported very differently between each one). i dont think the protestors went out of their way to attack the royals, it was just the royals were there so the students decided to attack (doesnt make it right, i’m not defending the actions of the protestors) but the news is making it out like the students deliberatly sort out the royal, which is total tripe.
Who takes members of the Royal Family out when there is a major protest going on?
@ruby red lips – umm why are you bringing socialism into this? Just because a state has a high tax rate and social services does not make it a socialist state. protesting does not equal socialism…
one of the main issues is that government spending is being cut in areas where those affected often have no voice, or the ability to vote (many protester are not yet voting age). they have a right to protest.
boo fucking hoo. Education isn’t free here, and i owe 200K in bills. You don’t see me busting up people’s cars.
I am all against violence but there is more than the hike in fees that we are protesting about. A lot of us voted for Liberal Democrats. They explicitly PROMISED to scrap ALL university fees. Before the elections they were going on about how they are the only party who side with the students and the only party who will fight against the fees. They got our vote and what did the do? Form a coalition with the Conservatives and just voted for an increase in fees. Surely people can understand why we feel SO betrayed 🙁
Ruby: I really don’t know a single student who ever said anything about the royals. I am a student in central London too, and from what I know, it was coincidence that Charles and Camilla got caught in the middle of all this. The students are outraged at the Conservative and the Lib Dem parties for jacking up the fees. Roayals have nothing to do with these decisions, and so they are irrelevant to us.
Isn’t England like several other countries in the EU going bankrupt due to all of the entitlement programs and isn’t the current rate of spending unsustainable? I would be curious to hear how the students would solve this debt crisis. I think the students would appear more credible if they used the media to present other alternatives and solutions for the debt crisis verses carrying a sign,creating unnecessary chaos, and chanting like mindless idiots. They accomplished nothing yesterday except create an image that they are a mob of unreasonable thugs whose answer to everything is violence and chaos. The irony is if anyone needs an education it is this unruly bunch who obvious are lacking in effective communication skills for rational discourse.
Garvels: The students did just that. But unfortunately the media pick and choose from what we do and say and only say the worst, which was done by a handful and not by the majority. The students did point to alternatives, e.g. like the government manning up and collecting the billions that is being owed from tax evaders and fraud perpetrators. We did protest about our prime minister appointing the owner of Topshop as an advisor on tax issues, while he is a known tax evader who owes the state millions. This is just one example. University groups published a variety of statements, opinions, etc. but the only people that heard these are the ones who are willing to read further than the trashy newspapers, people like Noam Chomsky for example, who sent his regards and expressed his support to our University…
Well, I woulda thrown paint just cause I dont like Camilla. Just Kidding!!!
People are stupid sometimes, good thing they were not hurt.
Charles has gotten very florid. Does he drink a lot?
Team Diana. She was an innocent kindergarten teacher when Charles & Camilla chose her together. She truly loved him in the beginning, but he just used her to get an “heir and a spare.”
the basic problem is that NOTHING is free. Someone has to pay for it and that may hurt. Life lesson for the young-ins.
I don’t understand this issue, mostly because I don’t understand the university system (I’m American as you probably guessed). Would anyone mind giving a rundown of what’s going on here? Google isn’t very helpful, and the articles I read seem to presume that the reader understands the university system.
Here in Texas, our schools that get state funds get it from sales/property tax and some federal grants. Usually the money is spent on buildings, maintenance, etc. The tuition that the student pays covers the teachers salary, room and board. Things like books and lab fees are extra. The colleges themselves a lot of times make there own money through things like athletics (big one) and fundraisers. The u of Texas @ Austin has its own oil wells even.
I was under the impression that the teachers and the buildings were state funded in the UK, and not part of the students’ tuition. Are the new fees going towards running the college, or are they just taxes for general use? And by “fees” do you mean tuition in American English?
Things are only going to get worse.
Beautiful, too bad they weren’t dragged into the street and covered in tar and feathers. The elite need to experience fear like this. They need to know they are not above being pummeled at any given time.
Erm, I am commenting too much today, sorry…
Oi: There is no quick answer but here’s a basic run down. Students are not looking for a free ride. University education hasn’t been free in a long time in the UK. Up until now, a UK student had to pay 3,000+ pounds a year in tuition fees. Of course, this money is not enough to cover all the costs, so the government would pay the rest, so students weren’t studying for free, they paid tuition fees but the government subsidized the fees. Now the new government wants to cut funding education all around and this will affect the students in that there will be no more subsidies anymore, so a student will have to pay up to 9,000 pounds a year in tuition fees.
Another issue here that has been misrepresented by the media is that fees are only the tip of the iceberg. The government is making huge cuts to education all around. This is not affecting just students, it’s affecting EVERYONE in education or academia. They are also cutting teaching budgets by 40%, so teachers will be affected massively. Lots of educational organizations and institutions such as the British Library for example, will also have to face cuts, and there will be many jobs lost because of this.
I am not personally affected directly by the fees, as I will have finished my studies by the time these measures take effect. However I do feel strongly about this because like everyone else who protests, I see how this will affect the country in the future.
Politicians keep saying that it is expensive for the state when so MANY people study and the state has to subsidize them. The students and teachers however have suggested that a better solution will be to implement tougher entry requirements and raise the standards. What we want though, is that these standards are based on MERIT and HARD WORK and not money. And we have suggested alternatives like that, which will cut expenses and raise education standards. Instead, the government prefers to keep the academic standards low and just raise the financial barrier, which will not exclude the lazy, but rather the poor or those afraid of debt.
@lola, 200k? Are you for real? You pay that much in education in the U.S.? OMG!
I can relate to this story. I live in California and we went through something similar here. I feel so bad for the students and I believe they have every right to be angry and they had every reason to be angry with the taxpayer funded monarchs. I don’t understand why England continues to fund a monarchy, or any country for that matter. Point being, I think their anger has merit and it’s awful that they are going to have to struggle even more so to get a college education.
Kat, I’m bringing socialism into it because I am aware that Socialists are hugely in favour of the protests (actively)and I do belive that some (not all Socialists)encourage anything that upsets the establishment / gov’t including encouraging violence against the ‘rich’
I didn’t imply the UK was a socialist state, in fact I stated that I don’t think Socilaism works and disagree with it
I agree everyone has the right to protest, I just don’t believe in violent protests
@kiki: By the time you finish graduate school, your educational bills can very well be in the neighborhood of $200K. I was damn lucky with my one child. He went to Bowdoin in the late 1980’s when the tuition was $19K a year, very expensive at that time, but he had a scholarship that paid 70% of his college costs. Then when he went to grad school he got a fellowship that paid his tuition plus room and board. If it wasn’t for that, he might not have been able to get his advanced degree. I feel for young families coming up now who will have kids in college fifteen or twenty years from now. I started a college fund for my little grandson the day he was born.
Was the 3,000 pounds a standard rate in England for all colleges? Or was that the starting point? I’m asking that because here in the states, tuition depends on each university. The cost of tuition fluctuates wildly depending on in or out of state and the prestige of the school.
Lola’s 200 grand school debt most likely includes living costs.
Here in the states, tuition has been rising every year and sometimes by semester (2 semesters in a year) in a lot of colleges. There have been on-campus protests but it doesn’t do a thing. It’s scary to see how much education will cost later down the road.
What a pity that the windows were closed, right?
@Happy2CU: Hahaha I love it! It’s true though, we like to believe we live in such a civilized society that violence never ever needs to be brought into things. We can just reason with the people in power and they will try to be fair….and when was the last time that worked?
does this hike in tuition fees affect international students as well? and if so by how much?
Odd that they let the future king of England drive into the middle of a protest. Were Charles’ security asleep that day?
Apparently the Rolls driver cruised right into the riot crowd. How clueless is that? I guess the Royals don’t read the papers, either, because these riots have been going on for several days.
In the picture the NY Times carried, Camilla was totally freaked. Ha, ha, ha-how I despise the Duchess of Cornwall, and that’s because of what she (and Charles) did to the Princess of Wales.
I don’t want to see anyone, Royals or “commoners”injured, but the Royals could wake up from their affluent stupor every now and then.
PS: Bet the Queen was pissed!
GOOD I would have thrown a rock at them too. They deserve to get hurt those fucking freeloaders. Ive got two of the best people in the world giving up on uni because of the student fees in Ireland. Thats fucking unlawful, unfair and it all goes to pay for a wedding. im sick of their bS personally because I had to make due with my uni when my dream was to go to a really good university and be the first in my family to do so- now im stuck and unhappy in a place I never wanted to join. But just like most of the students I know we’re in debt and we’re not even two years into our courses! And then on top of that we have to pay monthly bills, food, toiletries and medical care!
So, basically it’s like the U.S. Cut the programmes guaranteed to do the most good universally; balance the budget on the backs of the poor, and if you can’t, just cut their services and/or charge them more (as is relates the difference in earnings) than anyone else. Is that about right?
BB, there is nothing wrong with commenting “a lot”. If you’re in the mood to communicate and exchange ideas with people that’s what the comment board is for :).
It isn’t cool that they trashed the car with Charles and Camilla in it. Breaking the window, they could have sent glass flying into people’s eyes, etc.
However, the tuition hike is complete bullshit!
FREE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOR ALL WHO WANT IT (and are intellectually capable of it)!!!
Absolutely hilarious! I loved seeing all the newspaper headlines this morning. I agree with happy2cu, it was good that Charles and Camilla shit themselves.
The royals completely haemorrhage taxpayers money and they’re fucking useless! They do nothing but squandor vasts amounts of our hard earned money on their pathetically undeserved lavish lifestyles! Somehow believing they’re entitled to live in the lap of luxury just because they were born into it.
I wish the students had managed to get into their car and kicked seven kinds of bells out of them. Bout time we got rid of these inbred fuckers and became a republic. We should kick them out of their palaces and onto the street and just ignore their asses…
Charles probably would have preferred tampons thrown, rather than the paintballs. (Oh how I want to live in your trousers!)
I feel sometimes that violence is the only way (and this is going to urk me because I can’t for the love of all things come up with a better thing to say) that the “lower class” has means to demonstrate how outraged they are. History has shown that people who spoke out openly were jailed if they were of a lower status. I heard on the radio that the boomers had full advantage of “free education, free health care and that the young people are mad.” But it was not the royal family that had the final say in any of this, it was the Parliament that voted yes on raising the cost so high to try and cover the country’s debt.
I also heard that if you make less then $30,000 a year you don’t have the pay back the money.
In anyway case, all of our countries need to lower the incomes of those making these large decisions instead of cutting programs that helps every person get ahead in life.
I wish I had something funny to say, but I’m having a crappy Friday. Who wants drinks?
Yeah, they sound peaceful:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337315/TUITION-FEES-VOTE-PROTEST-Thugs-deface-Cenotaph-urinate-Churchill.html
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SCROLL THE ENTIRE PAGE FOR PHOTOS
Isn’t about time “royals” became extinct? They are not “earners” and to place them with the “highly skilled” or “intelligent” is a joke. It is also a very expensive joke paid for by taxpayers.
Years of inbreeding have most often produced the banjo players in “Deliverance”, sans banjos. “royals” do nothing. The U.K. is a parlimentary democracy. The Parliment does the work of governing. The “royals” have large, costly staffs that only arrange photo-ops for them.
Who is or is not, by blood, a royal is based upon the concept of “The Divine Right of Kings.” I think that that idea originated with the dinosaurs.
Videos:
Some are chanting” Off with their heads” to Prince Charles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvOJn2LUPy4&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRq61BwD60&feature=player_embedded
@ Randomness – What are we drinking tonight? I’m there! My Friday has been unimpressive at best.
Thanks so much for the rundown, BB! That’s the information I was looking for exactly.
Re: your last paragraph, the part on standards: That’s how it is here, but to a much much worse (and very embarrassing) degree. Education is much better when people just say that not everyone is of equal intelligence or the same type of intelligence.
@BB: No shame in commenting a lot, your comments here have been entertaining and illuminating. Anyway, it’s either this or another clusterfuck love polygon flame war–YOU know what I mean.
Oi: Education is much better when people just say that not everyone is of equal intelligence or the same type of intelligence.
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ITA but the minute you say that, you get accused of elitism. I graduated from CCNY which used to be one of the most selective colleges in the country and produced more PhDs than any other college. About 5 years after I graduated there was a big push for open enrollment, which meant the city colleges should be open to any high school graduate who wanted to attend. Standards dropped down to the floor. Over half the entering freshmen needed remedial courses in English and math. Those kids weren’t prepared for college level work by any standard and many of them simply didn’t have what it took to make it in college. The dropout rate was astronomical. Now they have tightened up admission standards but the damage has been done. It will take years to bring the college back to the level it was before they instituted open enrollment. They finally faced the fact that some people are smarter than other people. That’s not elitism, it’s just a fact of life.
Mob mentality at it’s finest.
I do understand what caused them all to be so worked up. School makes or breaks one’s life in most places. And that was a pretty big jump, all at once especially.
The media may be showing the worst BUT that’s because it was pretty bad – attacking the royals, desecrating the flag and most importantly p**sing on the monument of war veterans. Give me a break, s*ck it up already.
I lived in London for 3-years and while there are some very good things, there was SO much complaining (about everything).
“People are competitive and how could someone with limited intelligence and limited skills possible be justifued in earning as much money as a highly skilled and intelligent person???”
Yes, but to make getting a college education so expensive that you ensure only a small segment of society can enter the talent pool isn’t good for society either.
@Sophie, so very frustrating for the majority of students making peaceful protest when the whole message got completely lost in the royal car maelstrom.
For those commenting on the UK vs USA system – It is very different between the two countries – in North America there is a understanding there when possible you can get part time jobs to fund your degree. A full time degree in the UK is 3 years (?4? in Scotland) for a with honours degree and even a few years ago it was really frowned upon by the profs if you got a p/t job to make ends meet (basically you would not tell them!). On the whole the UK system has more in university days per annum than North America, which also limits opportunities for “lucrative” summer jobs.
The violence has NOT been been manipulated. The PM used the correct word when he described the crowds-feral.
Why would I want to pay for selfish, self righteous, angry, and yes, feral “students” to go to uni?
Grow up, the rest of the f*****g world has to pay their own uni fees if they want to better themselves.
BTW, thank you Charlie Gilmour. You have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that some who were at the demonstrations had no valid reason to be there except to cause trouble.
Your father is not only paying your tuition to attend Cambridge but as per your interview, he is paying for your “Savile Row suits”. For the uninformed that is a suit which starts at £3500…
What a t&sser, you cannot have it both ways.
@ Happy2CU re:
“The elite need to experience fear like this. They need to know they are not above being pummeled at any given time.”
Wow. What a hateful thing to say. I’m no great fan of the royals but your comment is truly sick. NO group of people need to know that they are “not above being pummeled at any given time.” What if you replaced the word “The elites” with any other group of humans, like “Jews” or “Tutsis” or “Women?” A healthy person doesn’t pick a cohort and decide that they deserve to be made fearful of violence at any moment.
Aw… How sad. All of us in the States feel really badly that y’all have to pay for your own college. AND that you felt you had the right to assault someone in protest. Nice. So much for English manners.
On student protests … Fun Fact from germany: We will tripple our student freshman (“Erstsemester”) for the next year! First of all school will no longer be 13 but 12 years – therefore the pupils who finished after 12 years have (only for this time) to start together with the pupils who finished after 13 years. AND ! By next year it is no longer mandatory for young men to serve in the army for 18 months (“Bundeswehr”, “Wehrdienst”)!! Therefore, secondly, a lot of young men will start to go the university one year earlier!! Fun! They did not planned the extra resources yet …
University is free of payment in germany. Only about 500 Euro for 6 Months. Depending on the part of the country it can be less to zero.
But I am not sure how long this will be the case – if you look left and right to France and England.
“Yes, but to make getting a college education so expensive that you ensure only a small segment of society can enter the talent pool isn’t good for society either.”
I agree with you, I just get v frustrated with the ‘everyone should be equal regardless of their abilities or wants police’, but I agree it shouldn’t be an elitest education it should be on academic intelligence and ability, and besides not everyone wants to go to uni, even the v rich and likewise the v poor
@Mistral. nothings for free, you always end up paying one way or another. Alot of those people probably were’nt even students but the “rent a mob” that anarchists’ like to use, as Shane said, alot, probably most had no reason to be there except to get voilent.
So… it used to cost 3000 pounds/year. Now it costs 9000 pounds/ year. And most people do a 3 year degree. So… a student would have to take on 18,000 additional pounds of debt. Considering this still doesn’t cover the actual cost of their education, and considering the increased in lifetime income that a university or even community-college educated person will receive, I think it sounds like a pretty fair deal.
@lola
“boo fucking hoo. Education isn’t free here, and i owe 200K in bills. You don’t see me busting up people’s cars”
Maybe you should. Education is a human right under the universal declaration of rights and should be accessible. I’m Canadian and could afford to study for only one term in the States because university tuition there costs you an arm and a leg. You shouldn’t have to pay that for an education, a basic qualification now in the job market, and neither should those students. Instead of making demeaning remarks like that, show some compassion and empathy, will ya?
@Ruby Red Lips2: Socialism advocates for an alternate economic system. So please, don’t trash socialism and bring it into this. All we ever hear about in Canada is the crazy right-wing (and religious right) in the States like the Tea Party protesting with crazy signs. Socialism does not advocate protesting. People who are frustrated and want to exercise their democratic rights do.
@shane:
“Grow up, the rest of the f*****g world has to pay their own uni fees if they want to better themselves”
Two problems with your argument. First of all, just because an injustice is recurring somewhere else, or increasingly common, doesn’t make it right. Banks everywhere are still getting 40 million plus bonuses for their CEOs (Ireland alone paid over 40 mil euros in bonuses to its CEOs all the while begging for a bailout from the EU) while the people have to pay for the mess the banks created in the first place. Sure, it’s happening everywhere, like charging crazy prices for education, but IT’S STILL WRONG. Second, education to ‘better’ yourself is a bullshit argument. People don’t go into university to ‘better themselves’ with reading Plato’s Republic; people go to uni to get qualifications to access the job market. When you charge exuberant prices for education and cut all state funding to the schooling you are deliberately keeping the poor and lower-middle class out. No access to education means entrenching and CREATING socio-economic inequalities. A way of keeping the poor out of the job market, and out of any means to ‘better’ themselves economically (aka. get a proper paying job).
Finally, these students have the right to protest regardless of anyone’s exclusionary views on education because a) it is their democratic right and b) they voted for the Lib Dems who promised to abolish tuition fees in the party manifesto. Most Lib Dem MPs won in ridings that are student ghettos and all personally signed the NUS ‘Funding our Future pledge’, promising to oppose any rise in the tuition fees.
We’re fighting so hard in Canada (Ontario where I live) to put a cap on tuition fee rises because education should be accessible. Still, we know we have it better here than the States or the UK. And we couldn’t give two shits about the royalty. Same here with the story on Charles and Camilla.
Yasmine:
They have the right to protest, but not to wreak havoc and destroy property.
“..Education is a human right under the universal declaration of rights..”
??
Here in the US we are granted Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness:
The Constitution says ‘promote the general welfare’, not provide welfare.
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“deliberately keeping the poor and lower-middle class out. ”
Canada doesn’t offer grants, scholarships or loans?
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Regarding bonuses:
What do you have against making money? Wealth is not limited.
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Clearly the UK needs to reduce their budget deficit. Social Programs in the UK are unsustainable.
@ Stronzilla
” But being the swell guy that he is he did raise the salary level at which the students are obliged to begin paying back all the loans they will have to take out to cover their education from £15′000 to £21′000.”
Yes, you’re right. He’s so swell to increase the limit like that, considering that the average salary in the UK is £25,000 anyway.
Yasmin, what should people have to pay for? Is’nt housing and food a human right according to you, then should’nt that be free? If education is, certainly food and housing would have to be. And you’re never seen the tea party act like these fools.
@Yasmine: “…Education is a human right under the universal declaration of rights…” You’re talking about the universal declaration where murderers have more rights than their victims; where sexual predators are protected when they leave prison and given new identities, jobs, etc.
I guess it was a reality check for the Windsors. Maybe they should have phoned in their appearance or sent loudmouth, big ass Prince Andrew and his ex-wifey Sarah the ex-Lushess of York in their place! Wait til the students get wind of what William’s Royal Wedding will cost next year!! And the cost to put on the Olympics. Thank goodness no corgis were hurt! Maybe the 2 old dears should stay home more.
I was at a protest once that was mostly peaceful: I didn’t see any violence or damaging of property and felt safe the entire time I was there. However, when I got home the media had taken a couple of isolated incidents and played them and made it look like the protest was violent and dangerous. I was watching the TV and thinking this is a total misrepresentation of what it was like. So yeah, be careful about forming opinions based on media grabs and take into account how many protestors didn’t engage in unlawful behaviour instead of just focusing on those who did. You’ll probably find the greater percentage behave themselves.
I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for a hike in college tuition. College tuition literally increases every year here for most state institutions, as does the cost of living. If you’re attending university in-state you’re paying around $6,000 per SEMESTER with a full schedule, and that is NOT including books/living expenses.
HOWEVER, I can see how the political side of that would be really unnerving, though. We’ve been seeing a little bit of that in the states. As a liberal who voted for Obama with hopes of change, it’s been maddening to see that it isn’t happening.
So totally off topic but I must correct the massive (and rather dramatic) post made re: Irish bailout.
Ireland did not ever “beg for an EU handout” but they were forced to take the bailout.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8150137/Ireland-forced-to-take-EU-and-IMF-bail-out-package.html
If you choose to defend the feral yobs who have been wreaking havoc in the capital it probably best practice not to not exaggerate to make your point.
Chris:
The photos and video speak for themselves.
NO misrepresentation.
@daisy424
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is through the UN, and the US did sign it.
That being said, I am American, and I agree with you halfway. “Provide for the general welfare” does not mean welfare, you are right. But the general welfare does mean an educated populace (to an extent; that’s why education up to high school is free and mandatory) along with things like access to infrastructure, basic health care, clean water, etc.
People from other countries can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think in general the US higher education system is designed so that you can get your higher education while working, with scholarships, grants or loans, and I don’t think that applies to other countries, always (doesn’t make it easy to do either, but the possibility is there).
And as regards to wealth, *income* is not limited, but wealth actually is finite–they are different things, economically. And a big part of the problem across the world is that wealth is becoming increasingly concentrated amongst a smaller portion of the population, which actually lowers the overall standard of living for everyone in a country. Income disparities (which is where the bonuses come in, and I for one and all for capping bonuses on any companies that we had to bail out, at least in the US, while they have yet to pay back the money at least) just exacerbate the wealth imbalances.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
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Creativity, Complexity and Free Trade make people wealthy. The government is not capable of doing any of this.
All that the Government can do is regulate, constrict and take away.
Some regulations are good and appropriate and some tax dollars are necessary. But when we put wealth creation in back of instead of in front of the government, ruin will surely follow.
Some on the left think the US is rich because it stole it’s wealth from the third world.(The Story of Stuff)
United States of America
GDP is $14,119,050,000,000
Population:305,529,237
Djibouti
GDP:$1,049,000,000
Population:724,622
America has about 400x more people than Djibouti, but America does not just produce 400x what Djibouti produces.
We produce 14,000x as they do.
If we sent in our military to take every single thing Djibouti produces in one year, their entire GDP, that would power the US Economy for 38 minutes, of the first hour, of the first day of the USA’s GDP year.
If we took everything from the bottom 40 countries, it might run the US Economy for a day or two.
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You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
@daisy424,
Not sure how this became a discussion of the wealth of the US, but first, let me say this:
Everyone has a right to protest whatever they want to protest. No one has a right to inflict violence upon others (with obvious exceptions like self-defense, etc.), regardless of what they think of the people they’d like to get violent with.
I’m not sure where you made the jump into legislating the wealthy out of prosperity, nor sure what that has to do with Britain’s tuition hikes.
Economies grow when people consume, basically. When the wealth at the top exceeds a certain amount (basically, whatever’s left over after they’re done using as much as possible), it can be put back into the economy (through capital investment, which in turns increases both production of goods and services and provides increased jobs/pay at the lower levels and therefore increased consumption. It has the side benefits of also increasing profits or creating good returns on investment for the wealthy. This is how wealth, as opposed to income, is created).
When the economy is bad, or when taxes are too low or interest rates high or, basically, risk makes it so the better return for investment is in rent-seeking investments (places where you put money in only to get more money out, likes stocks and bonds, without creating anything) then you don’t create any new wealth, you just manage to concentrate more of the total wealth available at the top, which ultimately shrinks the economy (more money but less goods and services is a recipe for inflation).
Taxes are (supposed to be) a way of encouraging capital investment. Education is supposed to (besides the societal benefit of an informed and critical populace) also provide the infrastructure, so to speak, for a growing economy (advanced skills in workers, increased salary opportunities leading to increased consumption, etc.). Take away one or both, and everyone gets screwed.
Obviously, this is simplistic, but I think at its basic level, it’s a good argument for keeping education as accessible as possible for everyone. I’m not arguing everyone should get the same education, or merit shouldn’t come into play–some people just are better at some things than others–but we’re all in this economy and society together.
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