Social Standards

Social Standards

I was sorry to have missed the protests in London that have been going on for the past few days. Students have been demonstrating against the Coalition’s plans to up the cap for University tuition fees to £9,000 a year. This will mean that students will leave University with a minimum of £27,000 worth of debt from their course fees alone (It’s all very well saying that not all Universities will put their fees up to the top, but with the cuts to HE they won’t have a choice). Then there are the living expenses. The University Of Glamorgan’s halls of residence (In Cardiff) cost nearly £3,500 for a year’s rent (all-inclusive(not food) admittedly).

I am not sorry for having missed them as a participant, but from a photographic point of view. I have seen the dramatic photos of those decent photographers who were in the crowd itself and there is a sense of action and drama that there doesn’t seem to be elsewhere from what I have seen.

The worst of it was that I had a shoot on the evening of the 9^th, so having booked that, I got a nasty shock when walking into York with my model on the way to the location when the police were spread across the road ahead of and advancing column of students. Slogans were being shouted, banners waved and a general feeling of anger and frustration prevailed. I shot what I could, but my model was not best dressed for near-zero temperatures, so I really had to concentrate on that job.

There won’t be any more protests like this I don’t suppose. Not in York anyhow. The Government shamefully voted to crush students with debt.

I hope Nick Clegg is happy with his position as Deputy Prime Minister (or is that: Tory Lap Dog?). We'll see how in touch he is with reality when he is ejected from his seat in Sheffield and thence from Parliament.