Vote Lost, Lib Dems betray their principles

The Lib Dems sold the youth of the nation down the river today. The vote for tuition fees was lost and the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition have condemned English young people to a life of debt.

The violence in London can only be regretted and should not have happened, The Lib Dems have damaged politics, not only have they gone back on their pledge, given at an election, but they have proved all those who say politicians cannot be trusted right.

I was on the Reading demo yesterday and am pleased to say it was peaceful, well reasoned and made a strong point, You can see me in the middle of the shot with the silly hat. Campaigning against Tuition Fees is connected with campaigning about the Maiden Erlegh catchment area. It is about equity in education and ensuring that all young people have access to good fair access to education.

The Conservatives and Lib Dems have shown that they are against equality locally and nationally. We know where they stand now and we can react accordingly.

Now that the riot is over

This was the sight that greeted me when I arrived at Millbank during the student march yesterday. I was there right at the begining at the disturbance when the glass was smashed and left the scene just before the offices were stormed.

I can only condem the occupation of the building. It served no purpose and ensured that the occupation became the central discussion of the march and completely spoilt the reputation of what was a tremendous event. Why was I marching, partly because I am a Research Student and a member of the NUS, partly to ensure that my children are not saddled with fees of over £9,000 a year if they decide to go to Uni. My eldest daughter will go off to Uni in 2012. If she goes she will be hit by the first year of the increased fees. She has already been targeted by the Condems and done away with EMA, which might have supported her while she is at Sixth Form College. While this might seem to be a petty thing, living where I do, however having returned to Uni, things are tight.

The majority of students seemed to be former Lib Dem voters, who enthusiastically voted Lib Dem in May and now feel completely betrayed. It is clear that the Lib Dems have really really enraged the student vote. They/we are very very angry. Here is a selection of the posters that I saw at the march. Note if you are of a delicate position, please be aware there are lots of rude words.



10.11.10 We Will March Posters

Those that follow my Twitter feed, Mckrich, will know that I also noted down some of the chants. These also made it clear that Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems may have a fight on their hands to retain there MP's and Councillors in seats where there are large student communities.

Jess Lazarczyck

To emphasise this point attached is an interview I did with Jess Lazarczyk, RUSU President, for the student radio station Junction 11.


 To hear the interview I did with Jess click here

The papers have described the the event as the end of consensus. I am not sure of this, but what I am sure of is that despite the idiotic invasion of Tory Headquarter, I am proud of being part of this demo and will continue to campaign, where ever possible, to make sure that the Condems are held to account for the damage they do to our Nation and to fight the damage that the local Condem administration does to Reading.

Karaoke with the President

Managed with usual Richard McKenzie skill only to catch the end of the Student Finances debate at Reading University.

It was interesting to see how the politico's interacted with the Students and how the Students reacted to the politico's. It seemed that the feedback at the end of the meeting was that Anneleise Dodds and Gareth Epps were well in the lead in their performances and that Rob's Wilson and White, Conservative MP and Green PPC respectively came across very badly. This sparked off a lot of conversations about different ways to run deabtes. There was a suggestion made that the 2 Rob's should fight for last place by wrestling in custard. This has sparked an idea for an article in Spark, the Union newspaper so watch this space.

It was a shame really that both the Rob's came aross so badly. Rob Wilson is an ex RUSU President, albeit in those days for the Social Democratic Party I seem to remember. Rob one is usually quite witting and engaging in those situations but somehow didn't seem to be able to rise to the occassion. Not sure what was going on.

The debate was especially important, given the levels of debt, talking to some of the other students some had debts, at the age of 22, of over £25,000. Where does that leave my children?

Once the post debate debates finished we repaired to the Union where the Karaoke was in full swing, I was pleased to say that I improved my lamentable score of 6 from my last session, see University does have its uses. I was however beaten by the unstoppable combo of Sinaead and Wes, Presidents of RUSU and the NUS respectively. Infact they were so good a number of use joinewd them on stage to bask in their victory.

The end of an interesting night

Taking Up Residents Concerns with the Union

Spent a good day talking to the Students' Union and the University's Community Relations Manager about residents concerns about Anti Social Behaviour caused by students.

It was a series of really good meetings, where we all sat down with a spirit of trying to work on the problem, we could see that pressure brought by residents, myself and others has caused some success in one road. There appears to be a growing problem in another road. I made some suggestions based on the successes elsewhere and the Uni are following up the suggestions.