Category: Politics

University – sold as necessity, priced as luxury 

A change to loan conditions, made after the loan was taken out. A mortgage company can’t even do this legally to borrowers, so why can our own government?

Students have been left feeling angry, deceived and simply let down (again) by our government after revealing that George Osborne quietly changed the student loan repayment contract after students have taken out their loan. The Tories “promised” students that the £21,000 repayment threshold would increase with inflation but good old Georgey reversed that decision in September 2015 freezing the threshold until at least 2022. That’s FIVE YEARS. No mortgage company can change the repayment conditions once the loan has been taken out, yet our own government can. Quite frankly, that’s disgusting (and potentially, surely, illegal?) 

The change was made in the Vice Chancellors Autumn statement, in the small print of course. Almost nowhere did you see these reversals making headlines, despite the millions of students that will be charged thousands more in repayments over the life of the loan on top of the already crippling debt. I’m going to say this again, no commercial company  would be allowed to do this. 

To add to this almost laughable deceit (if it wasn’t plunging thousands of students even further into unpayable debt) is when you consider the unreasonable interest rates on a loan that was sold as “the cheapest money can buy.” Simon Crowther, University of Nottingham graduate, released his student loan statement via social media. In his post, it was revealed that student loans have been subject to up to 3.9% interest fees, with his loan increasing by up to £180 a month since he graduated a year ago. This is higher than the typical rate on first time buyer mortgages, and much higher than the monthly repayments. 

The interest rate on student loans is based off a measure called RPI (Retail Prices Index: tracks changes in cost of a fixed basket of goods). Students can never be sure how much they will have to repay, because these figures can fluctuate drastically every year. September 2015 RPI figures sat at 0.9% but reached 1.3% in April 2016. On top of RPI students can pay up to 3% interest depending on their income. 

The government has chosen to link repayments with RPI, rather than CPI (Consumer Prices Index: also tracks changes in cost of a fixed price of good, but considered to better represent changes to inflation). The Office of National Statistics has stated that RPI is no longer a proper national statistic. In fact, the Tories are suggesting Tata Steel can reduce pension payments by switching from RPI to CPI. This government is perfectly happy to force young people, already facing crippling rent and house prices, to pay the higher unfair RPI rates on student loans. Hypocritical? I’ll let you decide.

The Liar Loan 

#1 Students loan repayment agreement has been changed since being taken out, despite a public consultation where only 5% were in favour of the changes. Not to mention the pure immorality

#2 Students cannot search around for the best student loan offer, we are forced to trust the government to offer us the best rates. They don’t. 

#3 Students cannot fix or predict their loan interest rates, they can fluctuate drastically yearly. Other borrowers can

So students are faced with crippling interest rates, based on unreliable measures, and have experienced a change in their loan repayment threshold… University is sold as a necessity, yet priced as a luxury. It’s time to make the Tories accountable. It’s time we wake up and fight against the ever increasingly elitist nature of University. Otherwise we may just see our loan agreements change again. Already we have seen the removal of the student grant support for the poorest students (which was passed without a commons vote btw) and tutiton fees are to increase again.  Government for the people? Research, finding English graduates with the highest average student debt in the world, says differently.

We need to take action, together as a whole student body. For students everywhere and for the future of students. Start by signing  this petition now. 

BREAKING NEWS: WOMEN HAVE BOOBS… Oh, wait? 

What’s that? Surely not a womanly shaped human taking part in politics? With boobs? ACTUAL BOOBS? Who knew.

Clearly Theresa May (our most senior woman in politics) and her smart red dress was just too much for the media and Twitterverse to handle.

What about her parties many controversial policies or even her own political convictions, I hear you cry?! Nope. It’s the Home Secretaries cleavage which makes headlines. “Busty Budget” and “BOOM OR BUST” topped the media titles scrutinising Theresa’s body. A super  witty individual even had the brilliant  idea of setting up a Twitter channel on behalf of Theresa’s boobs.

Come on Britain, surely we are not unaccustomed to seeing a bit of cleavage? A woman having breasts is no news story, is it?

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According to the Daily Mail it most certainly is, and even exciting enough for home page news. LBC Radio also followed the trend when asking George Osborne if he provided the “boom” and Theresa the “bust” during a live radio interview. No luck with the Chancellor actually speaking out against such nonsense questions about his senior colleague (surprise surprise). The Metro also managed to make two news stories on consecutive days out of it, just to boob up your morning commute.

So… we know that even the longest standing Home Secretary for over 100 years (incredible achievement especially with women being such rare beings in politics) is not resistant to ridicule. For being a woman.

These jokes are not harmless banter. They are reserved ONLY for women. For being women. This issue is, such comments downgrade women’s reputation within politics and add to the sense of not belonging (which is already pretty damn high). We still live in a world where women are second class citizens, labelled as “distractions” and the butt of  every sexist joke. How can we encourage budding young women to get involved in politics when they are so consistently destroyed by the media?

And it’s not just Theresa. Take a look at Nicola Sturgeon. Ahead of the election last year the Daily Mail released a close-up cartoon of her cleavage with a man squashed between her breasts. Then there was The Sun’s Miley Cyrus themed wrecking ball with Nicola’s face transposed during the Scottish Referendum. And what about how disgustingly easily David Cameron’s “calm down dear” comment towards a woman MP rolled off his tongue during parliamentary debate?

The fact is, everyone seems to be working pretty damn hard to maintain the dominating male culture within Westminster. And it is working. Even when women reach these high ranks, their bodies and dress sense  are subject to more scrutiny than our parliaments damning policies.

British politics is in a very sorry sexist state. And it ain’t changing yet that’s for sure.