Divide and conquer

I have said this to people in the past and been told not to be silly or that's because it affects you personally or even you can't compare those situations. I leave it to you to decide.

To join people together in order to push them in a particular direction or to get them to ignore some of the less positive things they are doing, they divide us by creating enemies within, usually quite small things in this country, things that appear insignificant but as a whole will divide us. Religions are quite good at this by making judgements about those who are different or by stopping human progress by not accepting the loss of bigotry and the changing of old cultural myths.
The current fears being disseminated in different ways appear to be firstly, immigrants, Scary facts and figures are being disseminated, everyone who has a different religion or comes from another country is a potential terrorist. This is a great reason to hate and not welcome or help these people who believe this is a great country to live in. We should prove to them that this is a great and welcoming country. However they are a good target for fear and hatred and to blame for all our ills. Even more frightening is some of the controls put upon all of us because of this fear e.g. people arrested for taking photographs of fish and chip shops. This must not be the tip of a very large iceberg.
Who else can we hate?
What about smokers and people who are overweight A health authority in Kent has refused to care for these people unless they accept a reprogramming course.
My family have been smoking for at least 150 years, admittedly some of them have died, some through poverty, some killed in wars but most lived to their seventies, should I feel guilty for living? There are those who believe that smokers can kill a child from ten yards and many doctors have added to their cv's by being anti smoking. All doctors have been, I believe, instructed to question their patients on this and record this, sinister! Some people are overweight for many reasons, it does not make them any less human. People are different, that does not mean that they are out to harm us. As I was born just after WW2 when people were pleased to be alive I learned to not just tolerate but also to enjoy the differences. I lived in South London where we had in our road people from all over the world trying to make a life for themselves. Some were escaping the Hungarian uprising, some were from the Carribean, some were Jews from Europe, we had fun with them all and many are still friends but I also remember the shock I felt as a youngster when I first read notices in shop windows saying "no blacks or Irish". That had a great impact on me as they were talking about my friends and it appeared quite acceptable to say these things and a greater shock was when I discovered that the people who were quite happy to put these notices up were regular churchgoers but adding to my confusion I discovered that not all churchgoers felt the same. I gradually worked out that making any assumption about groups was wrong. As soon as we make these judgements we are in trouble and have lost control. I find it much better to be tolerant and never to be guided by any club, religion, newspaper or source but to think humanely and to enjoy people. We shall then keep control who we elect to manage the country.

The students protest

I was shocked this morning listening to people's views on the violence experienced yesterday. There were people saying that the students should not have used violence and it would not have helped their cause at all.

These people were not young, they were getting on for my age (63) or so they sounded and most large, important protests over the past forty years have attracted violent elements. They may or may not be students but there will always be a small percentage of these violent people in attendance it is a fact of life. It should not diminish the meaning of the campaign.

  I am not suggesting that this is the case but I remember in South America during a political campaign, one side bussed in undesirables from another area to "sweep the beaches and attack holiday makers and steal everything in sight to discredit the opposition.       

  There has been talk of cutting out the "questionable" courses e.g. media studies as they don't obviously lead to instant employment in that area. however graduates do not always follow the obvious course in their career. Life happens to people and their career may take a different course but they will have learned to learn and they will have the self confidence to play an important part in society.

When I studied fine art at the Medway College of Art I was lucky enough to be given a grant and the course was free. We were advised that we probably would not easily be able to make a living out of our skills. (I believe that mine was the last fine art course at that college) less than a year after I completed the course I received in the post a massive questionaire about 1cm thick basically asking what I had earned during that period. I ignored it.

I went on to spend a number of years as a portrait painter before going on to widen my knowledge of the world I changed my career and moved into marketing and business as these were my weakest skills my company paid for me to study these subjects partly helped by the fact that I had already spent four years studying. I went on to to have a very successful career finishing up working as a civil servant in communications before returning to fine art a few years ago. I believe that I have more than paid back what I was given as a student and I am sure that our current and hopefully future students  whatever the direction of their career will earn their keep and add to society rather than take from society.

I worry that this decision is a panic decision from governments accountants who do not have the vision to see the potential loss and costs to the country of making it difficult to obtain further education. There is a difference between making savings and just not spending(investing)