Posted: Apr 28, 2015 7:13 pm
chairman bill wrote:Germany has no HE tuition fees, so I fail to see why they're needed anywhere in the UK
They're not. It was and it is ideological.
Getting on my high horse for a second, the thing that disturbs me most about post 97 UK is how first Blair and now all the Westminster parties have managed to convince the British voter that we can't afford to do *anything* any more (except trident, it seems). Universalism is dead, everything should be means tested, even if means testing removes much of the savings, education is not to be free, hospitals and schools need to "compete" ... what the fuck happened? And why are Labour not arguing against it? Do they not actually believe in these things now?
I don't think so. (edit - they still profess to in Scotland, but their party does something different at WM ... awkward)
I would urge everyone with a left of centre bone in their body to read this recent essay by a journalist who works for STV in Glasgow. He's fairly well known in Scottish politics, probably not to those in other parts of UK. I don't agree with all of it, but it does I think chime with most people who were, or had families who were, "old" Labour.
For Granddad, ‘socialism’ was just a ten-bob word for common decency.
http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/ana ... -politics/