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[Hiberno-Britannic Politics] Single biggest reason behind Spitting Image's success dies.
RMS Oceanic
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So this archipelago
Has these nations.
These nations are almost completely not unique in that they're run by a system known as Politics!
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Run by these chaps
This guy would rather they didn't
Some of the Issues
- Austerity and Deficit Reduction
- Student Fees
- Broadband Infrastructure
- Our role in Europe
- Our role in Iraq/Afghanistan
- Reforming the voting structure from First Past the Post to Alternative Vote
- A balding man and the daughter of a working class couple done good getting married
A spiffing place to keep up to date with the latest developments.
[strike]Irish Silesia[/strike] An Poblacht na hÉireann
Run by this chap.
These guys would rather he didn't.
Some of The Issues
- A mountain of debt taken on by ill advisedly backing toxic bank debt
- Loss of confidence in the market
- Humiliating bailout by the EU
- Perceived resultant loss of Sovereignty
- And more austerity and deficit reduction
- Or maybe we should just default? [/Meaningful Look at Brussels]
A shockin' good place to see what the feck the craic is.
So, discuss the goings on in the Dail and the Commons!
Has these nations.
These nations are almost completely not unique in that they're run by a system known as Politics!
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Run by these chaps
This guy would rather they didn't
Some of the Issues
- Austerity and Deficit Reduction
- Student Fees
- Broadband Infrastructure
- Our role in Europe
- Our role in Iraq/Afghanistan
- Reforming the voting structure from First Past the Post to Alternative Vote
- A balding man and the daughter of a working class couple done good getting married
A spiffing place to keep up to date with the latest developments.
[strike]Irish Silesia[/strike] An Poblacht na hÉireann
Run by this chap.
These guys would rather he didn't.
Some of The Issues
- A mountain of debt taken on by ill advisedly backing toxic bank debt
- Loss of confidence in the market
- Humiliating bailout by the EU
- Perceived resultant loss of Sovereignty
- And more austerity and deficit reduction
- Or maybe we should just default? [/Meaningful Look at Brussels]
A shockin' good place to see what the feck the craic is.
So, discuss the goings on in the Dail and the Commons!
RMS Oceanic on
0
Posts
So the issues of the day are Wikileaks (Salmond is in the firing line it seems), Student Fees and Snow + Grit. I'm hoping the latter plays its normal prominent place in the media
It depends on how big a rebellion, if any, the Lib Dems experience.
I'm not optimistic everyone in the party will unite against Clable to sink the bill, but I reckon a big enough rebellion could seriously undermine Clegg's position in the future, and would be a hairline crack below the waterline of the RMS Clameron.
Is it just me, or does it feel like Nick Clegg pretty much gave up everything to get the AV Referendum? I know he was thinking about abandoning the fees pledge before the election, but he should have done that before the election.
I didn't think that Nick Clegg or the rest of the Lib Dems were that keen on AV, to be honest. I think the Lib Dems took a strategy of trying to ameliorate all Tory policy, rather than for sticking for a few policy wins here and there. I can think of a few things they have gotten, like the increase in personal allowance and the pupil premium. Apparently there are more policies in the pipeline, which I'll just have to wait and see about. I think they've certainly done a bad job about talking about what they have achieved and what they intend to achieve as coalition partners.
Just so you southern pansies know.
Snow joke.
I'm lucky enough to be in the middle band with no snow shatsoever.
I liked the one from earlier this year better. You could see more, for starters.
Us Southerners live in a bubble, a happy bubble where I can buy out of season fruit all year around.
Seriously though, it does sound pretty awful up north. I've clients that have not been able to work for two weeks now, which is pretty hard to believe
I'd have to have walked a good mile or so to get to a functional rail line. Horrific.
Zone 2 felt like Siberia. Whereas I was merely a few hundred metres away in Zone 1 and there was very little snow at all, as it was all cleared away
Wise words, Father.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Most of my mates back home have been off work for the last week or so and refuse to even contemplate driving or anything like that.
ITT we learn that the Tory party has been infiltrated by the NUS
Also, in case anyone was wondering if people actually read the Times online anymore, now that there is a paywall, I did see someone on the Tube read it yesterday, on their iPad. It was all sorts of wrong! Don't they know that the law is one must read the Metro then dump it on the floor!
How narrow a margin can this get passed and not look like the Government had to fight tooth and nail for it?
Not even Clarkson and Caitlin Moran together could make me pay for the Times.
Re: student fees though, you lot need to harden up. You're still not even being asked to pay as much as I started paying a decade ago, and its a tiny fraction of what our poor usian counterparts are stuck with.
It's a common misconception propagated in the UK press that that students want to shift the burden onto the taxpayer. The NUS, the biggest backer of the protests, wants a graduate tax put in place instead. Students could end up paying more into the Universities in total, but in a way that was proportional to individual incomes.
I for one liked it. The major downside was that people with no hope of actually getting a decent job would just go to uni to waste time or whatever, theng et whatever shit job they were always gonna get, and then pay back nothing. If my degree meant I got a £100k a year job I wouldn't mind giving a couple of percent a year extra back. I'd still be quids in.
Setting aside Coyote's point. Look how that's worked out for you guys. A degree is just as much a requirment to make it in the working world as it is here, except you push out the poor.
Now systematic changes so that you don't need three years of learning literature before they let you organise papers I could certainly see the argument for, but this isn't going to do that.
'Cept in current reality whether you were wasting time or not it's highly unlikely you'll find a decent paid job anyway since degrees are oversaturated, employability is decreasing and the amount of jobs available is limited.
If you want to get that high paid job you have to jump through alot of hoops, but even the current big jobs like IBM or whatever are only offering £15,000 salaries (sort of seen as the standard going for graduates), still on the assumption that you're able to pass through their ludicrous requirements.
It's pretty tough out there for everyone really. A person who didn't go to University but worked their way through the employment ranks might indeed find themselves in a better position.
But how feasible is it to go from school into a job that goes places? It seems every position of employment requires some sort of degree. Oh, they may let you aboard if you have experience instead, but this is something a fresh school-leaver will be a little light on.
A graduate tax wasn't incredibly unpopular when it was announced.
Some Universities didn't like that it would sever the link between individual students and funding the Universities.
Some Universities didn't like the idea that the money would go into government funds, which is why putting graduate taxes straight into an independent trust was suggested (and in part due to the complaint above).
Higher earners were worried that they would end up having to pay more than lower earners and there was also a fear that it would send higher earners overseas to avoid the tax.
People who whinge about taxes whinged about taxes, as is their custom.
I wouldn't be averse to collecting a graduate tax from everyone who has got a degree ever; with possible partial exemptions for people who have paid off or have outstanding student loans to smooth the playing field. Or a hybrid system with some fees to deter people who have no real interest in going to University and a graduate tax afterward, to make up the difference from earners.
I imagine this is why I would never be able to win political office.
I know one person who managed to do it. Left school early and managed to work himself up to IT system administrator in the workplace, mainly by learning alot of the stuff himself. No uni experience, but 5 years of work experience. Last heard he was talking about going into uni now to do something, age 24 or something.
He has an extremely big advantage. He knows the stuff, he's worked 5 years, and god willing he'll come out of it with a good degree.
Why go to University at all then if he has the experience?
Ah. See, for this to be a bigger thing, we need more positions in companies designed for school leavers that aren't just cleaners or canteen workers or something.
It's my understanding one of the early causes of the explosion of degrees was the companies started requesting them for jobs that previously didn't need them. This was done to arbitrarily screen out a lot of applicants, as well as pass the responsibility of training them.
Exactly - this all has roots in the vaguely thought-out policy of 10 years ago that used the logic:
"Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Increasing the number of graduates in the workforce to 50% can only result in increased earnings for everyone, and not simply increased competition for the same number of jobs with the same wages. Except that those 50% will be hugely in debt and have lost 3 years of earnings."
Furthermore, I got the classic "BSc from a very well-regarded University" and really have to make the point that I barely got £1000 worth of education, let alone £9000. A piddling number of lecture hours each week in theatres with over 200 students, no direct interaction with the professors, and 2 sets of exams a year. The massive increase isn't to bring fees in line with the cost of education, it's to plug the funding gap created by the government - the money the university needs for its non-educational aspects, which are gigantic money-sinks. Asking students to directly subsidise something they're not getting any use out of is hugely unfair.
I think it was a mix of wanting to try something new and opening up prospects for himself, particularly towards moving abroad.
Truth be told I sort of admire him. He's managed to work the system extremely well.
This is entirely hearsay, but my Polish Workmate, whose Fiancee had to jump through hoops for financing, being Vistulan and all, had done some background research on it. According to him, Universities already have to give a sizeable portion of the fees they collect back to the Government. He believe's it's just a stealth tax.
I was super fortunate to be part of the last year who only had to pay £1200 a year. My parents gave me an intrest free loan to cover it, and I give them £100 a month. I don't know what they're gonna do about my fifteen year old sister.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I really do feel sorry for people wanting to go to university now.
I was incredibly lucky, my tution fees were fully paid by my LEA (Local Education Authority) and i was given the full loan PLUS a grant. Plus side, the parents didn't have to pay for me to go to uni. Downside, i was £14,000 in debt by the time i was able to start paying it back due to graduating in 2008 and not finding proper employment for a year.
What's the deal with paying tution fees exactly. How much (if any) do you have to pay upfront know. Hell i was lucky enough to be the in the final year of people going to uni before top up fee's came in.
Well, no. Our tuition loans system isn't a deterrent to study. The difficulty of supporting yourself while studying is, and that's largely because our student benefit is inadequate and difficult to qualify for. Different kind of problem.
And there's been another similar incident after a police officer was knocked off their horse.
The police were fucking idiots to think bringing in mounted patrols would work, but some of the students really do need contained. This is turning into a Russian Cossack battle.
Unbelievable.
EDIT: Might as well say this is here and now. If Parliament votes for the proposals, I wouldn't be surprised if chaos ran on the streets. Angry people will get even angrier.