A second huge mass protest took place this morning as thousands of students occupied University buildings across the capital.
Hundreds of schoolchildren as young as 16 joined the protest walking out of lessons in the co-ordinated mass demonstration dubbed "Day X".
The youngsters are worried that they won't be able to afford to go to University, as new Conservative plans announced cuts to education and a tripling of tuition fees three weeks ago.
Liberal Democrat HQ and Downing Street were targeted by students today and despite a pre-planned major police presence outside key Government buildings in Whitehall, a police van was surrounded and vandalised. Protesters climbed on the roof, covered the vehicle with graffiti and smashed the windows.
So far more than 60 people have been arrested in connection with the occupation of Millbank and one student has been charged with violent disorder.
It is almost a revolutionary situation and this protest is only the second step of a wider campaign: anti-cuts and anti-fees groups are springing up at universities up and down the country.
Further demonstrations are planned in Brighton, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
University is a luxury
All Universities in UK will charge at least £6,000 a year from 2012, according to new Conservative plans announced last week.
The maximum rate at the moment is £3,290 a year and those institutions that are over-subscribed will charge £9,000 when the new rules come into force. They will push for the maximum charge allowed under the new proposals, as charging lower fees could compromise their prestige.
A huge mass protest against tuition fees took place yesterday and was led by more than 45,000 students, who descended on Westminster and stormed Conservative Party HQ starting fires and throwing concrete from the roof. All Conservative staff were evacuated from the building at 3pm under a strong police guard and at least eight people were hurt.
It was the biggest protest by students since 1998, when tuition fees were first introduced by Labour.
Today David Cameron vowed that he would not turn back on trebling tuition fees and condemned the students who tried to ransack Conservative headquarters yesterday, saying the full force of the law should be used to prosecute violent protesters.
On the other hand, it will be hard to prevent working-class kids from being priced out of education.
The maximum rate at the moment is £3,290 a year and those institutions that are over-subscribed will charge £9,000 when the new rules come into force. They will push for the maximum charge allowed under the new proposals, as charging lower fees could compromise their prestige.
A huge mass protest against tuition fees took place yesterday and was led by more than 45,000 students, who descended on Westminster and stormed Conservative Party HQ starting fires and throwing concrete from the roof. All Conservative staff were evacuated from the building at 3pm under a strong police guard and at least eight people were hurt.
It was the biggest protest by students since 1998, when tuition fees were first introduced by Labour.
Today David Cameron vowed that he would not turn back on trebling tuition fees and condemned the students who tried to ransack Conservative headquarters yesterday, saying the full force of the law should be used to prosecute violent protesters.
On the other hand, it will be hard to prevent working-class kids from being priced out of education.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Mill Hill residents united in grief as teenager number seventeen was killed in London
A 17-year-old boy named Marvin was killed on October 27 in his neighbourhood park.
The teenager suffered a gunshot wound to his chest after being attacked in a park area of Mill Hill estate just after midnight. He was taken to Barnet General Hospital but died on arrival.
Police fear the tragedy took place in a pre-planned showdown, as rival gangs have clashed at the place of accident, even though he was allegedly not linked to any gang.
Marvin’s murder comes days after a 16-year-old boy was shot dead in a gang attack in Plaistow and brings the number of teenagers killed in London this year to 17.
Yesterday the press has also revealed that one of Marvin’s older brothers was jailed for manslaughter while another of his siblings was sentenced for murder: they are both involved in the killing of a teenager boy from Neasden, kicked to death in 2006.
The scenario makes me think about a quote from the 19th Century historian J.A. Froude: ”Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself”.
The teenager suffered a gunshot wound to his chest after being attacked in a park area of Mill Hill estate just after midnight. He was taken to Barnet General Hospital but died on arrival.
Police fear the tragedy took place in a pre-planned showdown, as rival gangs have clashed at the place of accident, even though he was allegedly not linked to any gang.
Marvin’s murder comes days after a 16-year-old boy was shot dead in a gang attack in Plaistow and brings the number of teenagers killed in London this year to 17.
Yesterday the press has also revealed that one of Marvin’s older brothers was jailed for manslaughter while another of his siblings was sentenced for murder: they are both involved in the killing of a teenager boy from Neasden, kicked to death in 2006.
The scenario makes me think about a quote from the 19th Century historian J.A. Froude: ”Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself”.
Saturday, 14 August 2010
The long way of a driverless train
A driverless train ran for almost four miles on the London Underground during passenger traffic hours.
The incident happened around 6.45 am on Friday and passenger services were consequently diverted to allow the runaway train to pass through.
The engineering train on the Northern line went through six stops on its 13-minute journey before coming to a stop at Warren Street.
Such a major incident during rush hour could have resulted in disaster as a collision with a passenger service train leaving Archway was only narrowly avoided.
London Underground and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch are now investigating on the incident.
The incident happened around 6.45 am on Friday and passenger services were consequently diverted to allow the runaway train to pass through.
The engineering train on the Northern line went through six stops on its 13-minute journey before coming to a stop at Warren Street.
Such a major incident during rush hour could have resulted in disaster as a collision with a passenger service train leaving Archway was only narrowly avoided.
London Underground and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch are now investigating on the incident.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Teenager number fourteen was killed in London
The second teenage boy was killed in London in less than a week.
He has died today in hospital after he was stabbed during a fight in East London on Sunday, July 4.
The youngster is the fourteen teenager murdered in the city this year, equalling the total for the whole of 2009.
The increasingly alarming statistics disappoint the youth crime groups which had shortly hoped the problem was lessening at the light of last year’s related figures.
Media are dealing with such dreadful news at least on fortnightly basis and it seems the report of a never ending war among teenagers in London.
Hopefully we won’t be reading similar tragedies for a while.
He has died today in hospital after he was stabbed during a fight in East London on Sunday, July 4.
The youngster is the fourteen teenager murdered in the city this year, equalling the total for the whole of 2009.
The increasingly alarming statistics disappoint the youth crime groups which had shortly hoped the problem was lessening at the light of last year’s related figures.
Media are dealing with such dreadful news at least on fortnightly basis and it seems the report of a never ending war among teenagers in London.
Hopefully we won’t be reading similar tragedies for a while.
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Too young to die, too many every year
Every year a worrying number of young people are killed by other teenagers in the streets of London.
A teenage boy was murdered by a gang outside his school in South London last Friday, July 2.
He was ambushed and stabbed in the chest shortly before starting his morning lessons; by 9 am the 15 year-old boy was dead.
The youngster was the thirteenth teenager to be murdered in London in 2010, against a total number of fourteen youths killed in 2009 and thirty murdered in 2008.
Even though the Mayor of London has moved more and more officers from back-office functions to streets in order to increase stop and search since 2008, it is currently hard to tackle the violent culture that has taken years and years to develop in the city.
Most of these crimes take place in central and North-East London. The victims are generally male, aged 14-18 and come from different areas of the city; also varied is their ethnic origin. Stabbing prevails over gunning down and the culprits generally fall within the same age group of their victims.
The only good news is that there are arrests and convictions in almost every case, but such achievements do not lower the number of deaths, that is already a terrible tragedy every year.
Countless are the thoughts and comments of the Mayor, Met Police, teachers and social workers over the necessity to concentrate on the pre-emptive side of tackling violent youth crime.
Some of these tragedies are purely accidental, aroused by a misunderstanding between or among young strangers in a public place or caused by attempted theft or stealing. News often report planned attacks where victims and culprits belong to rival gangs.
Any scenario is different but equally alarming, as most of these young killers do not seem to be worried about police, conviction and prison.
Violence and revenge prevail on the fear of being punished while teenagers behave as they had nothing to lose and this is the most concerning side of the problem.
A teenage boy was murdered by a gang outside his school in South London last Friday, July 2.
He was ambushed and stabbed in the chest shortly before starting his morning lessons; by 9 am the 15 year-old boy was dead.
The youngster was the thirteenth teenager to be murdered in London in 2010, against a total number of fourteen youths killed in 2009 and thirty murdered in 2008.
Even though the Mayor of London has moved more and more officers from back-office functions to streets in order to increase stop and search since 2008, it is currently hard to tackle the violent culture that has taken years and years to develop in the city.
Most of these crimes take place in central and North-East London. The victims are generally male, aged 14-18 and come from different areas of the city; also varied is their ethnic origin. Stabbing prevails over gunning down and the culprits generally fall within the same age group of their victims.
The only good news is that there are arrests and convictions in almost every case, but such achievements do not lower the number of deaths, that is already a terrible tragedy every year.
Countless are the thoughts and comments of the Mayor, Met Police, teachers and social workers over the necessity to concentrate on the pre-emptive side of tackling violent youth crime.
Some of these tragedies are purely accidental, aroused by a misunderstanding between or among young strangers in a public place or caused by attempted theft or stealing. News often report planned attacks where victims and culprits belong to rival gangs.
Any scenario is different but equally alarming, as most of these young killers do not seem to be worried about police, conviction and prison.
Violence and revenge prevail on the fear of being punished while teenagers behave as they had nothing to lose and this is the most concerning side of the problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)