At the end of my Teather.

So, deciding I'd take part in this grand pantomime we call democratic politics in Great (sic) Britain I decided to write to my local MP, Ms Sarah Teather.

Now though I didn't vote for her, so my conscience is clear, I did vote as I really do believe in the democratic process. I also have a laughable naivety in that I sort of imagine that when a political party goes "we pledge to oppose tuition fess, no seriously, we really do. Hey why are you laughing at me over there? No, really, we really hate tuition fees" I sort of imagine that they'd want to keep their word.

Particularly when they are a minority party who's percentage of the vote was inflated by students flocking to their cause; but hey, that's just me.

So working on the principle, as expounded by Hilary Clinton, that if you vote, regardless of who you vote for, you are entitled to full representation and to have your opinions valued and your problems helped, I contacted Ms Teather regarding the rather impressive volte face her party, the Liberal Democrats, has recently made in the policy of university tuition fees. I wasn't particularly surprised or impressed with her response.

Now one of the major points with their standing-on-our-heads routine that I can't get my head around is how a debt of £27,000 is fairer than a debt of £9,000. When you factor in the extra debt of around £10,000 for the maintenance load that brings it up to 37 versus 19 (thousands that is, wake up at the back). So under this much fairer than that dreadful system that the last government had a young student skipping through life with nary a care in the world will happily leave university with the much fairer debt of a FUCKING HUGE SUM OF £37,000, which should please them no end rather than the crushing, unfair debt of £19,000. So can we start from there?

One of the reasons these new extortionate fees have been introduced, apart from wanting to dissuade scum from bettering themselves obviously, was to scythe through university funding. Lest we forget this bunch of posh boy no-hopers keep reminding us that none of this is ideological it's because in bailing out their chums in the city the country suddenly found itself well broke innit. So deep cuts have to be made in funding for education and universities will have to be funded by fee paying students. OK? Well.......

According to Ms Teather:

 "Under the new system every graduate will pay back less per month than is currently the case. Furthermore, the poorest 25% will pay less overall than under the current system and only the top earning 40% of students will pay back what they borrowed in full"

Great. So 60% of people will never be able to pay back their debts. For their entire working life they'll have this huge millstone around their neck, impacting on their credit rating, ability to get a mortgage or just a normal loan. Add to this the fact that the universities won't be getting their money. Who has to pay these fees then? The tax payers? What is the point of loading all this stress onto young folks if, at the end of it all, the tab will be getting picked up by the rest of us?

Now currently they reckon that 36% of young people go to university so by my reckoning that means that 14.4% of young people will be paying for our university system under these plans. Well that's really going to ensure that everything turns out fine.

So next time a LibDem politician climbs onto a soap box near you and makes any promises bear in mind that these promises are all negotiable; that is negotiable if you're a scum sucking Tory apologist desperate for a seat at the top table. I hope they enjoy their moment in the sun because I think, come the next election, they will go the way of the dodo.

Next week I'll be discussing how the LibDems helped take away some school money from kids and then created a system whereby these kids will now have to go begging to their schools for any help.

I sign of with another quote from the egalitarian Ms Teather:

"Please be assured that I am committed to the establishment of a fair and progressive system for funding higher education, which enables more people to access higher education"

Oh really?

Political ranting.

Thanks to Steve Bell - please don't sue me!

OK, so I am a political person, I am left wing and I think a society is best served through taxation and funding; so that's my manifesto out of the way up front so if you have a problem with that I suggest you stop reading now and go back to exploiting the poor and sick or whatever it is that right wing folk do in their spare time.

What I am finding so stunning about the current government is the speed with which they are ditching all their promises and pledges made prior to the election last May. Now I know that every political party betrays its promises at some stage but we usually get at least a year before they go snake eyed and shifty but this shower really take the biscuit. I mean we all knew there were economic problems; however you wish to colour it the bankers drove our country over a cliff and then asked us to pay them for the pleasure. Now the Tories amongst you will splutter in that fat-lipped dribbly way that they do and go "ah yes but Labour spent all the money so had nothing in reserve to pay us, er I mean the financial system, when it all went tits up" and I would say HAH, you are an arse!

When Labour came into power in 1997 we really were a third world country. The 18 years of Tory misrule had left our infrastructure ruined, our hospitals broken and our state education system derelict. All the money that had been earned from North Sea Oil had been spent on tax cuts that favoured the rich, our heavy industries had been destroyed along with the rich communities they had supported and we had become a nation that knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. Then came Blair.

Blair broke promises. He also illegally invaded another country. Gordon Brown was derided by the suave Blair but he, more than any other man, actually made a difference in the face of the financial tsunami that swept the West's economic system. He threw money at it; he kept people in jobs, in their houses and hopeful and we voted him out of office. Now we have The Coalition.

Like an 80s comedy double act (The Management) Cleggy and Cammy promised everything we wanted. Hell the LibDems went so far as to sign pledges that they wouldn't raise tuition fees, the Tories swore that they wouldn't axe Child Benefit or any other universal benefits and, hey, here we are less than six months after the election and these boys are bailing. Bastards.

They cheerfully sell the lie about university fees as something that makes a real difference to people's earnings citing that on average a graduate earns £100k more over their working life than a non-graduate. Hmmmm, so that works out at roughly two and a half grand a year more; but wait, if you have debts of £30k (like my daughter will have) then that reduces the figure somewhat and my son may well end up with debts of fifty or sixty grand, which seems a pretty shitty return; particularly if you add interest to this. Now if you are an average earner, like most of the population, your kids will be means tested for the loans! These are loans for fuck's sake. If you get a median salary then the chances are your kids get a reduced loan. If you are pleasantly rich this doesn't matter and if you are poor it doesn't matter but if, like the majority of us, you are neither hot nor cold Cable will spew you forth.

Now all of us middle class people don't read The Daily Mail and we don't vote Tory. Loads voted LibDem. Well that worked out for you didn't it you stupid muesli swilling morons in your open toed sandals and inane bad dancing at your suburban parties.

Now don't ever tell me that voting never changes anything because right now you're about to get your arses reamed by Toryboys with LibDem strap-ons.