The myth of inevitability
Education Business, Education Reform, In The News, Ofsted, Politics Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
With the Spending Review about to be unleashed upon the British public and with Lord Browne’s joke review still on the minds of universities and middle-class parents, we wanted to draw attention to what we see as the most insiduous message that this Coalescent Government is sending.
The cuts that are being undertaken are there to protect the public from inflation and problems in raising finance in years to come, they say. Nonsense. The 5th largest economy on the planet effectively names it price on the financial markets, surely. The UK houses many of the major financial markets in the world today. Has some of the biggest banks and has the oldest stable currency in the world.
What really is happening is quite different. The financial concerns that lent the banks money during the financial crisis now want their money back. But why should those working in public services pay for the mistakes of those greedy ‘merchant bankers’.
Students, of whom most will be expected to fork out at least £21000 plus living for a 3-year course, are effectively repaying the loans that the banks took out and couldn’t afford to repay.
There is no inevitability about this. Why aren’t those who choose to avoid tax hunted down and asked to cough up? Why are those thousands of executives up and down the country who earn more than the PM not forced to take a pay cut? And why is the army only expected to take an 8% cut – the UK wasn’t at war the last time we looked! They could also stop wasting everyone’s time by abolishing OfSTED and the HMI (it would be good to see where the ex-inspector ends up after that!).
The only inevitability is that, true to form, the Tories are going to plunge the country into civil strife so the City can keep earning profits none of which will be seen by teachers, nurses and policemen. GPs with the BMA to argue their case will be okay. But the NUT?
No inevitability, then. Only Tory Boy and chums being sold a narrative that only they would believe. And the Liberals? Staying true to the colour of their logo.