Today is the last operational flight of the Hawker Harrier - not just a huge technological achievement, and a British one at that - but an iconic craft and an integral part of our defence system. Iconic has many meanings, but in this case - the Harrier was a visible part of our national physhe - it made us feel a little bit safer... and now it's gone - to be replaced with.... well, nothing exactly - some possible rumblings of new developments that will, as will all collaborative aircraft schemes... be at least 12 years late.
I also read today that the Trust are again considering dumping BBC3 and 4. I have a vested interest - because my money funds the BBC, and actually - the 4 channel system works pretty well indeed. I could quite comfortably live with the spectrum of BBC channels alone, use them better - yes... but trash them????? I noticed that BBC2 is using the Xmas ident from 2007 - that's good, I like to recycle, and it's an excellent little film - and although I seldom watch BBC3... I would be angry if it went. I hoping for a BBC6 style backlash, which is flourishing now ( although I like to smugly remind people that I've always been an avid listener ).
I just listened to The House of Lords debate the student fee raises. It was pretty depressing. Paddy Ashdown countered the information that a young couple who marry after college will begin their lives approx £60,000 in debt before they start work ( how did we come to this? ) by saying that it's just like a mortgage - and why shouldn't people pay for intellectual property in the same way as real property.... I think he's missing the point... they will never be able to afford real property ( and think of the implications to the country of generations of young people suddenly eschewing buying their own home ), they will probably never advance to higher paid jobs because they are better off on lower salaries - if they have children they will fall into the benefits trap very quickly, and what incentives will they have to take risks, start businesses, become self employed??? Lets fuck up the economy and reintroduce the class system in one fell swoop.
The students I have who are happy, motivated and eager are the ones who have parents bankrolling them - they have futures, and they know it. The ones with huge debts are already tired, dead eyed and exhausted from working and traveling - and these are students only paying 3k plus per year in fees - multiply that by three and it all starts to look very grim. I have a finite amount of money to run my course - including my pay - and already students are equating their fees with performance by staff and the college - they demand their moneys worth and want 24 hour input, multiply the fees by 2 or 3 times and we are in real trouble.
1 comment:
Many good points well made and I'm with you on all of them. But with reference to the Harrier... Having seen the first flight of Concorde on the TV in my primary classroom and witnessed the wonder of the Harrier at airshows, we never could have imagined they'd be joining each other in a museum in 2010 and not because they've been superseded.
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