In one of the first great acts of her tenure as Home Secretary, Theresa May MP has banned the Muslim public speaker Zakir Naik from entering the UK to give a series of talks. She has cited the reasons for this action as being the "unacceptable behaviour" of Naik, regarding certain unidentified comments. It is at this point that I take it upon myself to highlight to the Home Secretary the pompous folly of her actions, and the myriad issues surrounding the suppression of free speech that are once more called into play with this announcement. Certainly, Mrs. May should be well advised to think carefully before crying "unacceptable behaviour".
As disclosed in the midst of post-election confusion and cabinet speculation, May's voting record in the House of Commons reveals some highly questionable opinions from the person who is now both Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality. Having repeatedly voted against the banning of fox hunting, adoption by unmarried gay couples, and abstaining from such votes as that to lower the age of sexual consent for gay couples to 16, Theresa May herself would herself be considered guilty of "unacceptable behaviour" by many liberally-minded sectors of British society. I certainly find her views no more acceptable than I do those of Islamist preachers. And if persons might be denied entry to the UK based on views regarding propagation of 'extreme' religious views, should not a state visit from Pope Benedict XVI also come into question, after he claimed that Britain's legislation to equalise gay rights "violates natural law", and in previous statements has claimed condom usage proliferates HIV/AIDS? I believe it should. Theresa May, whose party has long decried New Labour's 'Nanny State', obviously disagrees with me.
Yes, this is all another murky puddle of 'free speech' and 'no platform' business. Recently I have oft found myself using the quotation attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." In the same way that I find the dispositions of May and her fellow Conservative Party MPs to be unacceptable- nigh on offensive- I accept that, in a society that we proclaim to be democratic, while I may not believe that what they say is valid, I believe entirely that their right to say it is. Geert Wilders should not have been barred from showing his film Fitna, in the same way that Naik should not be barred from speaking words that might be likely to offend. For this is not simply a matter of allowing others free speech, but of strengthening our own also. The further we limit our exposure to extreme or offensive opinions, the further we limit our propensity to construct an informed and effective response. Censorship is never the answer- silencing what we hear only has the effect of silencing what we say.
Monday 21 June 2010
Thursday 10 June 2010
The Price of Education
Universities minister David Willetts has, according to today’s Guardian, given ‘his clearest indication yet that students could soon be forced to pay higher tuition fees’. Student tuition fees have proven a hot topic throughout the aftermath of the banking crisis, as top-ranking universities have been faced with deep spending cuts, lay-offs and course restructuring in an effort to ride out the wave of austerity. Oxford and Cambridge have long wished to break through the £3,225 a year cap on fees, in an attempt to compete with research institutions like Harvard, Yale and other US Ivy League private universities. Of course, Oxford and Cambridge tend to attract students whose parents have much deeper wallets than most. There is, after all, a reason why an equivalent of the Bullingdon Club does not operate at one of the many former polys across the country. The price of having 'Oxon' or 'Cantab' attached to your degree is likely to triple if chancellors get their way; and many students are likely to be priced out of higher education for fear of leaving university with debts that won't be repaid for decades.
This issue also highlights one of the manifold rifts within the Tory/Lib Dem coalition; one that students throughout Britain will hope won’t fall in line with those that Nick Clegg has already dismissed in his decorative role as Deputy Prime Minister. The Lib Dems fought an election campaign based on many principles, one of which was the scrapping of unfair student tuition fees. Both Clegg and Vince Cable have already sacrificed many of their flagship policies in what we may presume were attempts to allow the coalition government to operate smoothly in its first months. As much as Mr. Willetts’ comments infuriate me, I know that Labour hadn’t correctly answered the student finance question either. Wanting to put ten or twenty thousand more students into higher education whilst slashing university spending, coupled with an already inefficient and overburdened Student Loans Company, would no doubt have proved rather disastrous.
Willetts wants more school-leavers to ‘consider apprenticeships as a possible route into higher education’. This has my full and wholehearted support. However, I would not wish to take an apprenticeship simply because that is not a route in which my skills might flourish. My talents in English are all I have ever aspired to cultivate throughout my education, and attending a Russell Group university like Leeds is one of the best paths that I might take with that end in mind. However, it is a costly one. One that I would never be able to take without the aid of student loans. As a student from a low-income, single parent household, I already receive the maximum amount of loans and grants available. Thus I, like many thousands of others, am already likely to leave university in the depths of a quite obscene debt. I know others here whose tuition fees won’t trouble them in the slightest, whose parents or family will even be able to entirely foot the bills at the end. That’s a situation I won’t know, and I’m glad of that fact. I would rather work my way out of debt in the knowledge that responsibility for my education lay with me. Though it is an expensive responsibility.
I am incredibly proud to be a student at a prestigious Redbrick university, and to have consistently achieved highly in my work here. I refuse to deny the gratifying knowledge that I am doing the best I possibly can and that I am justifying my being here. I should not be made to feel as though I do not have a right to study alongside, and surpass, the sons and daughters of millionaires; I should not be made to question my right to knowledge because of fiscal constraints. If studying at university level is an irresponsible course of action due to the costs incurred, then I would vehemently defend my irresponsibility against any government that compels me to choose between my money and my aspirations.
This issue also highlights one of the manifold rifts within the Tory/Lib Dem coalition; one that students throughout Britain will hope won’t fall in line with those that Nick Clegg has already dismissed in his decorative role as Deputy Prime Minister. The Lib Dems fought an election campaign based on many principles, one of which was the scrapping of unfair student tuition fees. Both Clegg and Vince Cable have already sacrificed many of their flagship policies in what we may presume were attempts to allow the coalition government to operate smoothly in its first months. As much as Mr. Willetts’ comments infuriate me, I know that Labour hadn’t correctly answered the student finance question either. Wanting to put ten or twenty thousand more students into higher education whilst slashing university spending, coupled with an already inefficient and overburdened Student Loans Company, would no doubt have proved rather disastrous.
Willetts wants more school-leavers to ‘consider apprenticeships as a possible route into higher education’. This has my full and wholehearted support. However, I would not wish to take an apprenticeship simply because that is not a route in which my skills might flourish. My talents in English are all I have ever aspired to cultivate throughout my education, and attending a Russell Group university like Leeds is one of the best paths that I might take with that end in mind. However, it is a costly one. One that I would never be able to take without the aid of student loans. As a student from a low-income, single parent household, I already receive the maximum amount of loans and grants available. Thus I, like many thousands of others, am already likely to leave university in the depths of a quite obscene debt. I know others here whose tuition fees won’t trouble them in the slightest, whose parents or family will even be able to entirely foot the bills at the end. That’s a situation I won’t know, and I’m glad of that fact. I would rather work my way out of debt in the knowledge that responsibility for my education lay with me. Though it is an expensive responsibility.
I am incredibly proud to be a student at a prestigious Redbrick university, and to have consistently achieved highly in my work here. I refuse to deny the gratifying knowledge that I am doing the best I possibly can and that I am justifying my being here. I should not be made to feel as though I do not have a right to study alongside, and surpass, the sons and daughters of millionaires; I should not be made to question my right to knowledge because of fiscal constraints. If studying at university level is an irresponsible course of action due to the costs incurred, then I would vehemently defend my irresponsibility against any government that compels me to choose between my money and my aspirations.
Tuesday 1 June 2010
Review: Marina & The Diamonds, Leeds Met Union, 31/5/10
Pint of Tetley's in hand, I squeeze my way through masses of fourteen year-old girls singing along to Poker Face and In For The Kill to take up a decent viewing spot. Though they take up the majority of space at the front of the venue, the further back you look through the room, the older and trendier the audience, who obviously shun the trauma that I'm putting myself through for the sake of an unobstructed stage view. Conveniently, this serves as a rather fitting metaphor for what Marina's music has become: a meld of cheeky, cheery pop songs that belie oft-intense and harrowing sentiments. Choruses to wail along to, dark lyrics to contemplate with intrigue.
Support comes from a young lady called Spark, taking to the stage in a black catsuit and torn 'ARE YOU DUMB' t-shirt. Hers is a catchy, bass-driven eighties pastiche pop sound: one that, live, seems to overpower the voice that is so prominent on her Myspace recordings. Of course, chiefly due to her billing below her bigger, bolder pop-sister, she seems very similar to Marina- but then, support acts often follow that pattern. 'Shut Out The Moon' and 'Wrap' were highlights, the former of which you can now download from her website. The tween audience members snigger when she announces song 'Blow'.
Appearing first in silhouette form in a film that plays on the back of the stage, Marina steps astride the mic and launches into Girls. With neon-pink lipstick, wind tunnel-blown hair, denim shorts and cheerleader jersey, she looks and sounds every bit the transcendental diva-next-door. The band are tight, and her voice throughout the night is flawless. Sitting to play I Am Not A Robot at the keyboard, she breaks from the constraints of the radio single and gives free rein to the range she first displayed on early songs Daddy Was A Sailor and Simplify, neither of which made the cut for album The Family Jewels and neither of which appear tonight; she performs all album tracks other than Hermit The Frog.
Changing into a big, silken Bambi gown (Yes, she did) for the encore, she covers STARSTRUKK by 3OH!3 and, I gather, Katy Perry. After searching for the song on YouTube, I find the original to be a tawdry club tune with a weak bassline and annoying American whines. Predictably, Marina's voice turns it into something with a poignant vibrancy, and I now wish that hers was the only version I'd ever heard. Ending the night- and the tour- on a euphoric high with chirpy Mowgli's Road, she clearly relishes every moment of it. As the crowd file out, I can't hear a bad word being said.
I leave, entirely satisfied.
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