Right to the City

(As with the previous post, this one is taken from my personal blog and is a few days old...)

To Glasgow again, to participate in Right to the City's education forum in Partick. The format of the event was facilitated discussion in small randomly assigned groups of various pieces of writing relating to the current crisis in education. The group I was in spent a lot of time discussing the potential conflict between protecting what we have and trying to bring about something better. I found this pretty thought-provoking - sure, I'm tuned in to both narratives (protecting education from cuts and engaging critically with the education system, particularly higher education since that's where my experience mostly is), but hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about how they square. But of course it is a vital question - there are problems with the nature of education in Britan, these problems were there before the current government started the latest and most extreme round of trashing, and if there is anything left standing when Gove and friends have had their wicked way chances are we will still see these problems.

Another point that struck a chord with me was someone's reference to a narrative of students (particularly those at university level) being somehow undeserving; portrayed as an elite group acting out of self-interest or for a thrill (haha yeah being kettled is so fun and exciting!) and expecting the rest of society to subsidise a privileged existence. What interests me in this case is WHERE the narrative is coming from. It is being constructed and perpetuated by the likes of Cameron, Osborne, Johnson and similar people - public school, Bullingdon Club types who are commonly regarded as overprivileged brats. (They are also of a generation that did not have to pay tuition fees. And the fact that they broke windows for fun is already a meme...) I could actually be convinced that they have genuinely no idea that university students exist who aren't like them, that anyone has to struggle to get any non-compulsory education, that anyone is being priced out of going to university by the increased fees. I *could* accept that line, but that would be letting those guys off the hook - more likely they do know but don't care, and would paint any picture, however flimsy the canvas, to push their wider agenda.

Gordon Brown's blooper may be dead but won't lie down...

I must start with the proviso that I am not a fan of Gordon Brown. Neither am I a fan of David Cameron or Nick Clegg. My sympathies lie with direct rather than representative democracy. I still hold some hope for a world without such people as prime ministers. That said, I still don't see what the fuss is about on the 'bigoted woman' issue.

My colleague Steve has this to say:

"Consider for a moment the situation. A hugely motivated individual whose every waking hour over the last months has been devoted to sucking up to people whose ill-formed views will decide his fate finally comes face-to-face with the beast. Actually she isn’t being especially unreasonable, but he cannot say he disagrees with some of her views for it’s her vote he needs. Instead he must smile, nod like an idiot and quietly die inside. No wonder he explodes in private. You don’t have to be psychologically flawed to do that, just a normal human being." (link)

He and I do not always agree. On this occasion, however, I couldn't agree more. Well, except that I think the person in question was being rather unreasonable, and GB is a more restrained specimin of humanity than me for not responding in a less polite fashion to the question of where Eastern Europeans come from. (er check a globe dear...)

Leaving aside Mrs Duffy's views for a minute, which of us haven't made some ill-judged comment to what we think is an appropriate audience, in the knowledge that we would be just as mortified as Brown claims to be should the wrong person hear? I'm not saying that the incident makes me more inclined to vote for Brown, go to the pub with him, even be particularly nice about him in another context. It does make me see him as more of a normal person, with actual feelings. I can't be the only one who thinks that, surely?

One thing I will criticise him for is his and his party's approach to immigration. I believe that Labour already panders excessively to the likes of Mrs Duffy and worse. Taking votes away from the BNP is a noble cause, but doing so by imitating them is less great. We already have too many spurious deportations, too much racism in the system, crappy conditions in detention centres, I could go on all night. Were any of the party leaders to challenge this state of affairs I would feel far less ambivalent about voting next week...

Gordon Brown is a wanker...

This video combines two of my favourite things - politics and mucky songs. It is really not suitable for the easily offended or those who are liable to get nauseous at the idea of Gordon Brown entertaining himself with a badger on public transport.

Mad at Mandy

While the man once known as Man-dee the one-eyed trouser snake is far from the biggest hate figure in my life (I don't have many, but the highest ranks are clogged with racists, holocaust deniers, child molesters and people who do experiments on kittens, so Mandelson gets off lightly there unless he has hobbies I don't know about!), I have spent the best part of my adult life (15/16 to my current grand old age of twenty-cough-something - lets just say over a decade...) being annoyed with him to a greater or lesser extent. His latest offence, as I'm guessing those of you involved in higher education will know, is to cap student numbers and threaten to fine universities for taking on too many students. Now, maybe this proves the point of some scientists I know who would discount my degree(s) as being any use, because the maths of this make no sense at all. This is the government that wanted to be known for increasing student numbers, getting a higher percentage of young people into university, inflating the number of jobs that you need a sodding degree for, etc - now they're considering fining us for doing what they asked?

No I don't want the Tories back. I have lived under a Tory government. I have lived under Mrs Thatcher (not like that you kinky bastards). I know what is behind the airbrushing on that front. That doesn't make this lot seem particularly desirable though...