Saturday morning 11th December 2010 I go my life back and the sense of weather imprisonment came to an end as I rose early and completed a half mile swim at the Marriott Seaburn before breakfast. There was no one in the gym during the two hour period of my visit and one other swimmer, a regular who living close by has continued to visit over the past two weeks. This morning, Sunday I treated myself to a generous pot of coffee, three and a half large full mugs worth. The first of a gym returnee was another early visitor having been imprisoned in his home unable to use his vehicle. I am not getting carried away with the position knowing that the cold, the snow and the icy will return, perhaps until well into the New Year but hopefully with breaks rather than prolonged spells. As with much in my life the great moments are tinged with an underlying sadness.
MySpace has a new style which I hate and among other things one cannot bring up previous Blogs. On the other hand I received a postal notification from Google regarding the decision to agree to adverts being attached to the Blogs and containing a code for the account upon checking resulted in learning I had earned the princely sum of £6 which will be sent direct to my bank account, whoopee that will change my life.
I went to the post office on Friday with the letter of rebate entitlement from my previous energy supplier only to find that I required two proofs of identity and address. It was my fault for not having reread the letter and the assistant had no alternative but to express regret. I had a second proof of identity in the car but it came on to rain so I left for another day.
While recovering from the swim I checked out MTV in HD and saw a video by Amy MacDonald. Amy was the first MySpace music friends, a young girl who over the past three or is it four years has grown in stature as a singer, originally only in her state, producing albums and now making it to MTV international. What impressed me more than her music was her concern and involvement in a number of issues about human behaviour and the life of planet earth. So many others will perform just locally for a few years but will never make the big time nationally or internationally. Records sales including downloads make only a few a good living depending on the music video and radio plays plus the live concerts, especially summer festivals which have become great money creators for everyone involved. A long way from the original hippy festivals of Woodstock, Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight. On Sunday evening I watched the final of the X factor. The show has become so organised and predicable, nauseating at times that I only listen to the actual songs and turn off the sound for much of the rest although I did pay attention to the staged managed visits to the home towns, remembering the attention given to South Shields last year. From early on there was only one outstanding performer, Rebecca from Liverpool with a young Nina Simone voice, no clement could be higher. It is evident from the way some of the panel pushed her she was not going as well in popular vote as she deserved. The boy group who came third are manufactured all the talk of the next boy band is pie in the sky. I also had time for the hip hop rapper young woman from Essex, The man who won was not more than OK.
The big treat of the weekend was the subsequent interview of Elton John by Piers Morgan. His openness and genuine honesty was matched by the great love and respect shown to him by the audience, It has been my privilege to experience two of Elton’s concerts live and he is a good second to Bruce Springsteen who I have seen on three occasions,
Part of me is delighted that young people are able to spend their summers concert going, holidays in Ibiza and weekends in the pub and club. The other part has bemoaned their apparent lack of political awareness and interest although western capitalist democracy relies on contented consumers for the broad maintenance of good order. The loss of power by Labour and the expectation of further reductions in power by the trade unions inevitably leads to some seeing the opportunity to take politics back to the streets, especially after the near collapse of capitalism and the political decision for everyone other than those directly responsible less a few scapegoats to pay for their profligacy. The risk for Labour is that in the desire to undermine the Coalition and get voters to switch allegiance in future elections they are perceived as encouraging lawlessness in the name of democratic protest. The extreme left has always indulged in rent a mob as has the extreme right. I was therefore not surprised that the issue of tuition costs for university students was used to precipitate rioting as a test between the Coalition, the various interests on the left, the extreme left and extreme right. There is also the possibility of the police making a point about government reliance on them and the recent decision to force the police authorities to cut back on the bureaucracy and other expensive working practices, including early pensions. There is also the question of training testing and wind ups.
I am not in touch with the demonstrators and their organisers or government and police forces so what I have to say is speculation based on direct experience some 50 years old. I would be surprised if the basics have changed.
First what has happened. The cause of the rioting was Labour’s original decision to introduce tuition charges as a means of paying for increasing the number of those attending university first degree courses. The decision was a good one although met with significant opposition and they only managed to get the change through the House of Commons by four votes.
The UK has been slow in moving away from treating University First Degree Education as a Right of Passage for bright children of the middle class and full fee paying young men and some young women from the upper classes wishing to enjoy the sporting and social pleasures of 24 week Oxbridge, Durham, Edinburgh and Dublin collegiate universities. University Education provided the means for some young people from the middles classes and a small number for the working class to enter the professions which included the civil service. The aim was an all round experience to produce the iconic English man and young woman who rules an Empire, together with their Irish Scottish and Welsh equivalents. I gained great insight into the system by the unknown to me accident of circumstances that going to into full time further education at a an adult education college in 1961, I discovered only after arrival that that the location in the City of Oxford had led to a special relationship with the University and individual Oxbridge colleges. It was possible to bypass the first Public Examination of the Honours Degree and then spend three years preparing for the final instead of the two years by those undertaking the degree in the usual ways.
Only gradually did the UK appreciate and accept through its politicians and Establishment institutions that its days as a manufacturing nation, and relying on its own energy sources, were limited, and that if it was to maintain its economic and political standing in the earth world at large it had to start to increase the number of specialist higher educated young people as already underway in other Western democracies, India and China.
The first step in the early 1990’s was to convert the polytechnics with their bias towards manufacturing and industry into universities on the same basis as the existing ones and then to work at ensuring there were an increasing number of young people continuing into the sixth form with the development of the sixth form college and obtaining the basic entry requirement for a university degree course. The approach taken was to continue to assess for the provision of tuition and maintenance, but for those required to make a contribution of up to £3000 a year towards their tuition, with students provided with a loan where repayment would only commence after completion of the course and the commencement of earnings beyond a certain level. Repayment would be for decades, similar to the home mortgage, but with fixed and comparatively low interest. Universities also met their additional expenditure requirements by encouraging graduates from overseas notably from China.
The change had dramatic impact on our university cities. Newcastle on Tyne had a rapidly reducing city centre population with vast areas of poor housing and industrial building decay. Today one in six of the city population is a university student or staff member and this is reflected in the growth of cultural activity. Widening the number has meant universities have also had to adjust to coping with more students with disabilities, social and personal problems and with changes reflecting those in social and personal behaviour in general.
Prior to the industrial revolution British Society could accurately be described as a pyramid with a wide band of agricultural workers, domestic and other manual workers at the base, a static and limited middle class and a small aristocratic land owning elite at the top. The industrial revolution and Empire development created a different social structure in numbers and composition with the switch from land to factory, the increase in merchants and entrepreneurs, the acceptance of the wealthy in to the upper class and the creation of a vast army, in every sense, of political and social administrators.
The past two decades has seen further changes with the creation of a permanent underclass of people dependent on state welfare and the unofficial and at times illegal economy, together with an increasing number of dependent and infirm elders, the at times overwhelming multiculturalization of our cities and many towns and widening of the gulf between the middle classes and rich upper classes. Individual and family land owning has changed to corporate land acquisition. Everyone has been too busy making money and enjoying themselves to take an interest in party politics and society outside their individual circles of interest.
Any new taking to the streets by today’s generation, led by or fuelled by the ideological or religious extreme interests is potentially dangerous as a consequence. I am suggesting that the rejection of traditional values and interests over the past decade does mean that any new politics of the street cannot be controlled or the outcome predicted. This is something which all major political and media interests should now give priority. I have in mind the mood on the streets immediately following the death of Princess Diana. For a few days the hold of the monarchy led aristocracy and Parliament over the British people was in the balance. Given my background it goes against the grain to say this but the government and the police must be as firm as they can over the next six to nine months, insisting that demonstrators follow agreed routes and meeting arrangements, or face immediate action to control their behaviour and bringing before the courts those who commit wanton acts of vandalism, imprisoning those who have been violent against other human beings.
MySpace has a new style which I hate and among other things one cannot bring up previous Blogs. On the other hand I received a postal notification from Google regarding the decision to agree to adverts being attached to the Blogs and containing a code for the account upon checking resulted in learning I had earned the princely sum of £6 which will be sent direct to my bank account, whoopee that will change my life.
I went to the post office on Friday with the letter of rebate entitlement from my previous energy supplier only to find that I required two proofs of identity and address. It was my fault for not having reread the letter and the assistant had no alternative but to express regret. I had a second proof of identity in the car but it came on to rain so I left for another day.
While recovering from the swim I checked out MTV in HD and saw a video by Amy MacDonald. Amy was the first MySpace music friends, a young girl who over the past three or is it four years has grown in stature as a singer, originally only in her state, producing albums and now making it to MTV international. What impressed me more than her music was her concern and involvement in a number of issues about human behaviour and the life of planet earth. So many others will perform just locally for a few years but will never make the big time nationally or internationally. Records sales including downloads make only a few a good living depending on the music video and radio plays plus the live concerts, especially summer festivals which have become great money creators for everyone involved. A long way from the original hippy festivals of Woodstock, Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight. On Sunday evening I watched the final of the X factor. The show has become so organised and predicable, nauseating at times that I only listen to the actual songs and turn off the sound for much of the rest although I did pay attention to the staged managed visits to the home towns, remembering the attention given to South Shields last year. From early on there was only one outstanding performer, Rebecca from Liverpool with a young Nina Simone voice, no clement could be higher. It is evident from the way some of the panel pushed her she was not going as well in popular vote as she deserved. The boy group who came third are manufactured all the talk of the next boy band is pie in the sky. I also had time for the hip hop rapper young woman from Essex, The man who won was not more than OK.
The big treat of the weekend was the subsequent interview of Elton John by Piers Morgan. His openness and genuine honesty was matched by the great love and respect shown to him by the audience, It has been my privilege to experience two of Elton’s concerts live and he is a good second to Bruce Springsteen who I have seen on three occasions,
Part of me is delighted that young people are able to spend their summers concert going, holidays in Ibiza and weekends in the pub and club. The other part has bemoaned their apparent lack of political awareness and interest although western capitalist democracy relies on contented consumers for the broad maintenance of good order. The loss of power by Labour and the expectation of further reductions in power by the trade unions inevitably leads to some seeing the opportunity to take politics back to the streets, especially after the near collapse of capitalism and the political decision for everyone other than those directly responsible less a few scapegoats to pay for their profligacy. The risk for Labour is that in the desire to undermine the Coalition and get voters to switch allegiance in future elections they are perceived as encouraging lawlessness in the name of democratic protest. The extreme left has always indulged in rent a mob as has the extreme right. I was therefore not surprised that the issue of tuition costs for university students was used to precipitate rioting as a test between the Coalition, the various interests on the left, the extreme left and extreme right. There is also the possibility of the police making a point about government reliance on them and the recent decision to force the police authorities to cut back on the bureaucracy and other expensive working practices, including early pensions. There is also the question of training testing and wind ups.
I am not in touch with the demonstrators and their organisers or government and police forces so what I have to say is speculation based on direct experience some 50 years old. I would be surprised if the basics have changed.
First what has happened. The cause of the rioting was Labour’s original decision to introduce tuition charges as a means of paying for increasing the number of those attending university first degree courses. The decision was a good one although met with significant opposition and they only managed to get the change through the House of Commons by four votes.
The UK has been slow in moving away from treating University First Degree Education as a Right of Passage for bright children of the middle class and full fee paying young men and some young women from the upper classes wishing to enjoy the sporting and social pleasures of 24 week Oxbridge, Durham, Edinburgh and Dublin collegiate universities. University Education provided the means for some young people from the middles classes and a small number for the working class to enter the professions which included the civil service. The aim was an all round experience to produce the iconic English man and young woman who rules an Empire, together with their Irish Scottish and Welsh equivalents. I gained great insight into the system by the unknown to me accident of circumstances that going to into full time further education at a an adult education college in 1961, I discovered only after arrival that that the location in the City of Oxford had led to a special relationship with the University and individual Oxbridge colleges. It was possible to bypass the first Public Examination of the Honours Degree and then spend three years preparing for the final instead of the two years by those undertaking the degree in the usual ways.
Only gradually did the UK appreciate and accept through its politicians and Establishment institutions that its days as a manufacturing nation, and relying on its own energy sources, were limited, and that if it was to maintain its economic and political standing in the earth world at large it had to start to increase the number of specialist higher educated young people as already underway in other Western democracies, India and China.
The first step in the early 1990’s was to convert the polytechnics with their bias towards manufacturing and industry into universities on the same basis as the existing ones and then to work at ensuring there were an increasing number of young people continuing into the sixth form with the development of the sixth form college and obtaining the basic entry requirement for a university degree course. The approach taken was to continue to assess for the provision of tuition and maintenance, but for those required to make a contribution of up to £3000 a year towards their tuition, with students provided with a loan where repayment would only commence after completion of the course and the commencement of earnings beyond a certain level. Repayment would be for decades, similar to the home mortgage, but with fixed and comparatively low interest. Universities also met their additional expenditure requirements by encouraging graduates from overseas notably from China.
The change had dramatic impact on our university cities. Newcastle on Tyne had a rapidly reducing city centre population with vast areas of poor housing and industrial building decay. Today one in six of the city population is a university student or staff member and this is reflected in the growth of cultural activity. Widening the number has meant universities have also had to adjust to coping with more students with disabilities, social and personal problems and with changes reflecting those in social and personal behaviour in general.
Prior to the industrial revolution British Society could accurately be described as a pyramid with a wide band of agricultural workers, domestic and other manual workers at the base, a static and limited middle class and a small aristocratic land owning elite at the top. The industrial revolution and Empire development created a different social structure in numbers and composition with the switch from land to factory, the increase in merchants and entrepreneurs, the acceptance of the wealthy in to the upper class and the creation of a vast army, in every sense, of political and social administrators.
The past two decades has seen further changes with the creation of a permanent underclass of people dependent on state welfare and the unofficial and at times illegal economy, together with an increasing number of dependent and infirm elders, the at times overwhelming multiculturalization of our cities and many towns and widening of the gulf between the middle classes and rich upper classes. Individual and family land owning has changed to corporate land acquisition. Everyone has been too busy making money and enjoying themselves to take an interest in party politics and society outside their individual circles of interest.
Any new taking to the streets by today’s generation, led by or fuelled by the ideological or religious extreme interests is potentially dangerous as a consequence. I am suggesting that the rejection of traditional values and interests over the past decade does mean that any new politics of the street cannot be controlled or the outcome predicted. This is something which all major political and media interests should now give priority. I have in mind the mood on the streets immediately following the death of Princess Diana. For a few days the hold of the monarchy led aristocracy and Parliament over the British people was in the balance. Given my background it goes against the grain to say this but the government and the police must be as firm as they can over the next six to nine months, insisting that demonstrators follow agreed routes and meeting arrangements, or face immediate action to control their behaviour and bringing before the courts those who commit wanton acts of vandalism, imprisoning those who have been violent against other human beings.
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