The Kintyre Forum

Burn baby burn.... come on the students.

I think it's a damn shame that the mindless minority who set out with violence on their agenda is the main topic today. The fact that 50,000 students began a peaceful protest really excited me that folk were biting back at these unfair policies. I heard on the news tonight that they were accused of being undemocratic - well, I think that a political party who signs a pledge that they will abolish university fees and on the back of that pledge receive thousands of student votes THEN join with the Tories and not only abandon that pledge but triple fees are the FACE of an undemocratic process.
Cameron was on the news spouting about how brave the police were. Wait until the cuts affect them.

Do you find it difficult to use the word protest, without the prefix peaceful ? Who are you, or anyone else for that matter.. to dictate whether a protest.. should be peaceful or otherwise... Oh violence, we don't use violence in this country - after all - we are British.
( Remembering the Suffragette Movement )
Violence is neither good - nor bad.... violence is the use of force.

Ionns, you're a complete tw*t

Govangirl wrote:Ionns, you're a complete tw*t

Twat Twit Twot

The riot is the voice of the unheard.

Govangirl wrote:Cameron was on the news spouting about how brave the police were. Wait until the cuts affect them.

November 2010

Shouldn't be quoting myself I know but couldn't resist now that I see from the news tonight that the Police are now talking about taking to the streets to protest at their pay cuts. Oh the irony of our police officers who were the ones expected to maintain order at protests from public sector workers also hit by the cuts! Maybe the students should buy a load of coshes off e-bay and line the streets on their protest day?

Actually, I'm joking here but I stand by my original comment. Now the Police are in Cameron's firing line and by cutting their jobs, we will all suffer. Why should the Police (or indeed any frontlne service) be expected to have their pay cut by what amounts to 20%? We are all willing to take our share of the pain but this is going too far. The Tories are hitting the wrong people - the massive bonuses awarded to staff of RBS (who made a loss of 1 billion last year btw) equates to a quarter of the alleged overtime worked by 140 thousand police officers over a period of ten years!!!!

And it's going to get worse . . .

Wait until tomorrow when the civil servant pension cuts review gets published. The Tories are setting up for a fight.

Bobh, all public sector staff are being forced to bear the brunt of Government spending cuts. All NHS workers, nurses, teachers, local authorities, civil servants, police, fire servise, the Armed Forces and the judiciary are having to face the prospect of paying thousands more for their pensions on top of a 2 year pay freeze - yet MPs, who enjoy some of the most generous pension rights in the public sector, are excluded! What a surprise.
The Banks cause these problems - we have to bail them out by billions - they then give themselves immoral, obscene bonuses - the government decides to collect from teachers, nurses, fire officers and the police service.

I agree entirely with you GG. This is just the start. This country will come to a standstill.

Going back to the start of this thread, Everybody has the right to protest and what the students protested for was a good reason on their behalf. But what does everyone remember from those protest?? Violence, vandalism, The Royals being attacked! The press loved it but the fact is the students made an ar*e of themselfs and their protest!!

ionnsaigh wrote:( Remembering the Suffragette Movement )
Violence is neither good - nor bad.... violence is the use of force.

In my own humble opinion, the suffragettes did more harm than good when it came to the movement for women's rights. The 'use of force' did nothing than make women look immature and unable to handle themselves. When it came to that particular movement, it was the suffragists with their polite manner and persistence, and especially the women's efforts during World War One that won them the vote in the end. They shouldn't have had to prove their worth in the first place but at the end of the day that was what it took. The incendiary actions of the suffragettes (i.e. acid on golf course greens, attacking the prime minister, chaining themselves to railings) might have drawn attention to their cause but not in a particularly favourable light.

So I've digressed with the suffragettes thing but I *think* the point I'm trying to make is that while the students have every right to protest and make their views/concerns/anger/whatever felt, the violence and vandalism we have seen has no place in a civilised society. I don't think they'll change anybody's minds acting like that. If anything it makes them look like an uncivilised mob. I have a student friend who was involved in the initial protest in London, and was present when the nonsense happened at the Conservative headquarters, and she said that even then the way the news reported it made it look much worse than it was. 99% of those protesting did so completely peacefully. I don't see why the word 'peaceful' shouldn't be put in front of 'protest' as much as possible. I don't see how resorting to violence and disorder is going to solve anything or make anyone look like they have a valid point. Maybe it's an idealistic P.O.V but it's mine

Oh, and those were just my thoughts on the start of this thread. As for the more recent developments...GG I'm with you completely on that point. I wonder how the police will handle the public sector strikes and protests that are bound to come very soon. I wonder how the general public will cope with the strikes. This country falls down further every day.

was just passing by and thought I might add my tuppence worth ... really can't understand why the penny hasn't dropped on here ... WW2 ... lots of men folk away from home ... WW2 ends in 1945 ... men folk come back home .... understandably lots of babies are born soon thereafter ... now lets add 1945 + 65 (retirement age) = 2010/11 !!! Congratulations ... the huge birthing spike known as the baby boomers have now come of pension age ! And guess what ! There's no money ! It's all spent ! ENJOY

The people will be heard tomorrow. This is the beginning. And maybe some Police will be marching themselves.
Me, I have never marched before but I am doing so to defend the last remnants of a system of justice intended to protect the vulnerable and promote a fairer society. And no £3.73, there's no penny to drop - savage cuts are not the answer - these people paid heftily into their pensions. Tomorrow is called 'March for the Alternative' - a very important exhortation: we are not just saying stop the cuts; we are saying they were not necessary in the first place. The economic predicament was not brought about by our frontline services. The responsibility lies firmly within an unregulated financial sector. Yet WE who provided such a huge bailout have had to pay a second time in terms of unemployment, frozen wages and lost pensions. There blooming well ARE clear alternatives: the Robin Hood tax, the enforcement of tax liabilities, the curtailment of tax avoidance schemes particularly in the corporate sector and the termination of an obscene bonus culture. AND we can always find £15billion to spend on a war in Afghanistan, £4.5bn this year alone, while we've just started a new war on Libya.

The alternatives are limited as long as we practise inaction. Democracy isn't working.