Reply to: Ever been on a demonstration?

[EternalOptimist]

Me relaxing at Stonehenge, Spring Equinox Sunrise, 1988:

which one is you ?
theres blooming hundreds in that piccie

[Old Greg]

Where is the 'savagely attacked by th TSG after they have removed numbers to avoid identification' option?

[AtW]

It makes the utmost sense for society to bear the costs of educating the young

Yes, but only those who either have talents, or want to work hard to learn - you can't have 100% in high education, that's very high cost and waste of money, there has to be barrier that students have to work hard to beat - in USA families save money for their childrens' future education, it is totally unreasonable to expect to study in Uni for free with a grant for everyone who fancies it.

[doodab]

And how would offering free money to study, no council tax, free housing, free this and free that helps push youngsters to the idea they need to EARN money to pay for all this?

At the end of the day someone is always paying for others who don't pay - poll tax is fair, and maybe it was introduced without staging but the concept is hell a lot of fairer than current council tax, which I must say at very high levels.

But is it fair to have a fair distribution of costs without commensurate equalisation of shares in the proceeds of collective endeavour? I think not.

It makes the utmost sense for society to bear the costs of educating the young, because everybody benefits from a well educated populace and everybody suffers by it's absence. It's myopic to consider only the benefit to the individuals concerned.

[AtW]

3/ Phasing out the University grant, having a council bill but no house, not exactly setting the young up to prosper was it?

And how would offering free money to study, no council tax, free housing, free this and free that helps push youngsters to the idea they need to EARN money to pay for all this?

At the end of the day someone is always paying for others who don't pay - poll tax is fair, and maybe it was introduced without staging but the concept is hell a lot of fairer than current council tax, which I must say at very high levels.

[Bagpuss]

Seriously the poll tax riots were nothing to do with the introduction of a new tax.

It was purely to give all the socialist scum who were voted out only a few years earlier the chance to try and de-rail the tories attempts to change the country.

That particular demo/riot was just populated by rent a thug students and other tax dodgers who were shipped in from all over the country on the promise of 10 B&H and a large bottle of cider.

1/ Poll Tax march was in 1990, 11 years after she was voted in
2/ Many of the protesters were tax paying families who were being hit with a large increase in their tax.
3/ Phasing out the University grant, having a council bill but no house, not exactly setting the young up to prosper was it?

You are showing yourself to be a bit of a tit who uses wikipedia to research events that happened while he was in his nappy. So maybe best you shouldn't say anymore. Oh too late you got all the milk snatcher stuff wrong too.

Doh!

[MarillionFan]

Actualy I have an innate dislike of busy places and crowds. I'd hate to be in the middle of a march.

[VectraMan]

Not really a demonstration, but back at Kent University there was a rape on campus, and the Students Union got all militant and organised everybody to march on The Registry (the name of the admin building) and demand the university increased security. And I wondered along to listen, and because I was bored.

The university did increase security, but were delighted to do so as it meant they finally had an excuse to restrict the freedom of all those pesky students as they'd been trying to do for years. Which was something of a PITA.

Demonstrators never think things through.

[NickFitz]

What were you protesting about?

Not a lot, given that the Police just stayed in their vans whining about how bloody cold it was

Funny how they'd bring in a dozen forces and spend a million quid trying to keep us away at Summer Solstice, but the other three times of the year they just left us to it.

[MarillionFan]

What were you protesting about?

Hairdressers by the look of it.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I do tend to stereotype anyone with a red rosette as such, I don't really mean it though.

I'll be happy when the likes of Crow can't call out his force at a drop of a hat because TFL have sacked employees for drinking whilst on duty.

Times have changed from when the Unions protected the working man, now they just seem to exist to protect their little empires they have created within the public sector.

The TUC demo was not about social injustice and equality for all, it was the self serving few who are worried about losing their pensions and little empires.

Isn't it all the eternal war of selfishness that goes on in this country though? In the 70's Union power was all about getting paid more - or sometimes even trying to keep place with inflation. Most ordinary workers lost that battle some time ago. On the flip side, a lot of management and government were trying to negotiate a settlement where investment was minimised. Both sides are to blame for this for being too determined to hang on to their entrenched positions.

Thatcher came along and decided, with popular support, that business had won that battle.

Fast forward to now and most workers (even if they have a pay rise) in the lower reaches have effectively been losing - whilst people higher up the tree keep getting paid more and more for failure.

As a culture (and it's reflected in the Legal system, political system even in football and religion) we are very angry, tribal and confrontational.

"The self serving few" is actually eveyone on all sides of the debate. We have much more in common than we'd ever like to admit.

[Incognito]

Me relaxing at Stonehenge, Spring Equinox Sunrise, 1988:

What were you protesting about?

[NickFitz]

Me relaxing at Stonehenge, Spring Equinox Sunrise, 1988:

[Incognito]

So why keep the Thatcher laws if they are in fact, as you so charmingly imply "commie scum"?

A few trumped up unfair dismissal claims is your evidence that Unions still need smashing? How smashed would they need to be for you to be happy? Totally illegal presumably. How would you feel about the PCG being illegal - or is that Ok because you think they might share your opinions and propensity for unprovoked boot boy violence against people you don't like?

I do tend to stereotype anyone with a red rosette as such, I don't really mean it though.

I'll be happy when the likes of Crow can't call out his force at a drop of a hat because TFL have sacked employees for drinking whilst on duty.

Times have changed from when the Unions protected the working man, now they just seem to exist to protect their little empires they have created within the public sector.

The TUC demo was not about social injustice and equality for all, it was the self serving few who are worried about losing their pensions and little empires.

[Mich the Tester]

Only one protest. A group of about 100 Neo-Nazis held a march in my town in NL, and I joined the approx 20,000 citizens who marched to oppose them.