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[Leafsnail]

I was wrong about interest free, it mostly goes up with inflation (or a bit more if you're earning tonnes of money, but you'll probably barely care if you're that rich that quickly).  And it's 30 years rather than 15.

But I'm pretty sure the loans are available to everyone as long as it's your first higher education course (ie if you haven't been to university before) and you're planning to be a fulltime student (I think the arrangements could be different for part timers).  You could also get grants from the government and your university if you're in a low income family too.

(information obtained from here)

So basically finance shouldn't be an issue in deciding where to go.  In any case, Cambridge's fees are pretty similar to almost any other major university here (since noone wants to charge less and look inferior).

Of course, none of this applies if you aren't a UK resident.  As a from-overseas student expect enormous fees and no help from anyone in paying them.

[Truean]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ballerina-olympic-ambassador-arrested-london-sweep-152907901.html

Common criminals eh? I have to laugh at these politicians. These aren't terrorists and they aren't major threats to society. They're kids who are getting screwed and from desperation or peer pressure have done stupid things. "Swift Justice" sounds better on a campaign slogan though.

"Threat to society?" Please....

Let's see... no jobs, or crappy jobs....

[Urist Imiknorris]

More than more than 1,700 people

Think of a number bigger than 1700. Then think of a number bigger than that, and that's about how many people were arrested.

[Sheb]

Leafsnail, I'm a EU citizen, so I'm pretty sure your government has tot reat me like a UK citizen. At least with regard to fees and the like. That's how my dad got a full scholarship to Cambridge back in the 80's.

[Phmcw]

Now I am really pissed off.

Seriously, I hope they come back  home after their council to find it burned.

[Truean]

Now I am really pissed off.

Seriously, I hope they come back  home after their council to find it burned.

Because the answer is ever so clearly to punish the single mom and younger sibling for the act of the 17 year old....

"Swift Justice" = bloodlust. Nevermind the law and normal criminal procedure.... People are upset, which is clearly the most important consideration.... [headdesk].

There is a reason the judiciary was set up as an independent co equal branch of government here, though people have forgotten it....

[Leafsnail]

Man, I felt really sorry for a barrister in the magistrates' court.  He'd apparently been working for 14 hours straight, and probably hadn't won a case in all that time (since at that point they were just bringing out all the people who had been found with houses full of stolen goods or who had been caught on CCTV and put on the front pages of newspapers looting).

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ballerina-olympic-ambassador-arrested-london-sweep-152907901.html

Common criminals eh? I have to laugh at these politicians. These aren't terrorists and they aren't major threats to society. They're kids who are getting screwed and from desperation or peer pressure have done stupid things. "Swift Justice" sounds better on a campaign slogan though.

"Threat to society?" Please....

Let's see... no jobs, or crappy jobs....

You don't need to be a terrorist or even a "major threat to society" in order to be punished, surely.  Generally the minimum requirement is committing a crime.

Now I am really pissed off.

Seriously, I hope they come back  home after their council to find it burned.

The attempt to evict her smacks of complete incompetence.

Firstly, their spokesman who appeared on the radio thought that her son had already been convicted... when in fact he hadn't.

Secondly, no matter what the man who was interviewing said to him about whether it was fair to evict the tenant, he would fall back on "It's in the contract she signed, we have to honour the terms of the contract" (he's pretty much correct here - council tenants have a responsibility to make sure that all members of their household don't screw up stuff in their community, whether or not that's actually a fair system).

They probably won't find their homes burnt though because these riots aren't actually hitting any political targets.  At all.  They're just looting and setting fire to the businesses with the fewest people defending them.

[Truean]

Man, I felt really sorry for a barrister in the magistrates' court.  He'd apparently been working for 14 hours straight, and probably hadn't won a case in all that time (since at that point they were just bringing out all the people who had been found with houses full of stolen goods or who had been caught on CCTV and put on the front pages of newspapers looting).

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/ballerina-olympic-ambassador-arrested-london-sweep-152907901.html

Common criminals eh? I have to laugh at these politicians. These aren't terrorists and they aren't major threats to society. They're kids who are getting screwed and from desperation or peer pressure have done stupid things. "Swift Justice" sounds better on a campaign slogan though.

"Threat to society?" Please....

Let's see... no jobs, or crappy jobs....

You don't need to be a terrorist or even a "major threat to society" in order to be punished, surely.  Generally the minimum requirement is committing a crime.

Being a defense attorney often sucks. You're typically under appreciated, overworked and underpaid compared to your government counterpart. Nevermind the system wouldn't work without you, you're on the "bad guy's" side....

But of course. The difference is in how one is punished and to what degree. The minimum requirements should not receive the major punishments and rhetoric that should be reserved for major threats to society.

When you call a larceny or theft under $5,000 a "major threat to society" something is wrong and that statement is as fair as it is true.

A major threat to society would be speeding right past police in an effort to draw them into an alleyway where accomplices would ambush them, not merely stealing a TV. They are both criminal acts, but one is far greater than the other and only that one is deserving of the label, "threat to society."

[Leafsnail]

Well, there have also been a lot of more serious crimes committed by rioters too (four murders, arson that could very easily have killed dozens of people who were luckily able to escape, several stabbings and serious assaults etc).  And when you have a lot of people doing these things... well, it does become something of a threat to society.

[Phmcw]

Well, there have also been a lot of more serious crimes committed by rioters too (four murders, arson that could very easily have killed dozens of people who were luckily able to escape, several stabbings and serious assaults etc).  And when you have a lot of people doing these things... well, it does become something of a threat to society.

Yes those responsible should be punished. And everyone knew that after the last cuts in social spending, this would happen.
Let's arrest Cameron.

When you talk about large social events, free will is globally irrelevant.

[Leafsnail]

Oh no, we shouldn't arrest Cameron for that.  We should arrest him for all the vandalism he did when he was a teenager (in the so called "Bullingdon Club"), since that would be much more funny.  They had a reputation for randomly breaking plates in restaurants, throwing things through windows and so on.

[Phmcw]

Oh no, we shouldn't arrest Cameron for that.  We should arrest him for all the vandalism he did when he was a teenager (in the so called "Bullingdon Club"), since that would be much more funny.  They had a reputation for randomly breaking plates in restaurants, throwing things through windows and so on.

Pfff why would you arrest him twenty year later for stupid things he did as a teenager?
They do stupid things, that's of their age. Older and more mature people must educate them, no sense in punishing them when they have grown.
Btw I notice the complete lack of political recuperation.
The right always scream bloody murder when political movement join the riots but they are able to let the rioter see that they are listened to, and to quiet things down. That worked in France during their riots.
You had no such safeguard.

[Vector]

Essay about "black hipsters."

White rappers and issues of appropriation.

An analysis of Avatar in context of race.

Probably more on this stuff later.  Right now, it's time for Chrono Cross.


Screw it, I like this entire blog.  Go read and make merry.

[Pnx]

Essay about "black hipsters."

White rappers and issues of appropriation.

An analysis of Avatar in context of race.

Probably more on this stuff later.  Right now, it's time for Chrono Cross.


Screw it, I like this entire blog.  Go read and make merry.

So let me tell a story.
I had this class in high school, it was an advance course called "computers networking and electronics." It took up half the day so not many people went in for it, it was the best class I've ever taken in my life... But that's beside the point.
It was part of this whole collaborative effort by a whole bunch of school districts where they'd ferry people from other schools to come take classes over in ours. Now some of those school districts were heavily black, so out of 8 of us there were 3 black kids... Actually one of them came from a very white school but all of this is beside the point again.
So one day back in 2008 I walk in to the class and they're talking about the elections and how it's a big deal that the next president could be black.
Me: Why does this matter?
Guy A: Well he's going to be black
Me: ... So? Why is everyone making such a big deal?
Guy B: Well think of it this way, what would you say if you had a black British Prime Minister? You've never had one of those right? Well yeah, what would you say?
Me: Ermmm, good for him? I hope he's a good one?
Guy A: You wouldn't get it you're British.

Point is, I really wish people wouldn't make such a big deal over this. When people stop thinking about racism all the time it'll cease being a problem.

Let me tell you another story.
Way back when the old Celtic druids of yore  used to revere red hair, and redheads usually got sent off to become druids.
When the Romans came and conquered the land, they tried to drive out the old Celtic practices, and one of the things they did was persecute redheads with a ferocity.
To this day there's still the lingering traces of a prejudice towards redheads. I remember once getting upset when my aunt told me that red hair was a sign of bad breeding (she was kidding but I didn't really realize it at the time). There is also the old saying "beat it like a red headed step child."
This naturally gives me and my brother the right to greet each other in the streets by shouting "WHO'S MY GINGER!? You my ginger."
'cus it's our word. And nobody gives a fuck about the red hair thing.

[Vector]

I wouldn't call this society post-racial.