Students introduce a little anarchy

Today a peaceful demonstration to protest against the trebling of tuition fees and cuts to university funding in England ended in violence.

12th November 2010

I was disappointed to see the damage caused to the Conservative Party head quarters at 30 Millbank London. I feel the damage caused will evaporate any sympathy instead of galvanising support behind their campaign. In reality the anarchy caused by a minority of rogue protesters will simply torpedo the whole movement in the eyes of the public.

The attempts of rogue protesters to upset the established order will simply cause the whole campaign to be dismissed by the electorate and Government. Despite that view there have been calls for 'French-style resistance'. As I let my mind wander I wonder if we are about to witness a populous revolution. Will students go out and apply the No Agenda formula and 'hit people in the mouth'.

I do however admire the Governments intentions to reduce our deficit and be more responsible in our spending. I have however issue with the cutting of university funding. I believe our Nation is currently being run by bean counters who perceive us to be in a better position by deleting lines from their balance sheet to make the sums add up correctly.

I believe they are wrong. It is true that the state of the Nations finances are abhorrent but we are not a company. We cannot simply cut failing business units in order to address the organisations profit and loss statement. We can however choose to think differently. We can choose to do what is appropriate and relevant for the future.

To build a strong future and deliver the services and securities we belief important for a modern society, even a Big Society, requires the economy to create wealth inorder to fund it. To do this though will require in part continued investment in education and universities in particular. We should investing in scientists and engineers to role back the boundaries of science to deliver new technologies and service which we can marketed across the globe.

The area I personally believe we must cut the cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan and bring the troops home. I believe Afghanistan is an example of something which is unnecessary and wrong. We went to war in Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden and dismantle al-Qaeda after 9/11. We have not. Today we talk about rebuilding the Afghanistan and create a new democracy.

I believe there are been little or no progress in this regard. And we have only further demonised Islam with slogan, War on Terror. Islam is therefore seen as a religion which promotes destruction, terror and war.

After Afghanistan we then entered a second theater of war with Iraq. The premise that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Hussein did not have any Weapons of Mass Destruction.

If we were not spending this precious capital on wars and weapons, we could plough that money into schools and university. Would that not be better than fueling the Military–industrial complex prophesied by President Eisenhower during his Farewell Address? Worst still the present British Government seeks to lay the ground work in this Parliament to replace the trident nuclear weapon system.

By cutting the cost of arms and wars we could afford to reduce the tuition costs students incur. We could place targeted support and emphasis on students which read science and engineering degree as they will create trained people with the expertise necessary to drive a successful economy. Coupled with means testing we should look at creating more bursaries for highly capable would be university students of poorer backgrounds so they may study. That way we ensure that a university education does not become limited those of higher financial means.

Shouldn't this be the goal of any Government?

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