Student protests: the view from a reformed protester
It’s no secret that I was sent down from University for my involvement in a student protest. So today inevitably conjures a whiff of nostalgia, even tear gas.
The late 1960s, early 1970s, were heady times. We were on full local authority grants. We worked in the holidays to amass spending money and the world beyond was changing rapidly about us. America was losing the war in Vietnam; the apartheid government in South Africa was killing to stay in power; and we were the liberated post “pill” generation. Clapton, the stones, the Animals, and the Who, were all regulars on a Saturday evening at the union.
Our problem was authority – we hated the lot of them.
In truth when we marched across the University Campus to occupy the Senate Block (the administrative hub of the University) for what was to be six weeks, we had so many causes that we sent the university no fewer than ten demands. We were rebels in search of a cause. We found that cause in everything from the University’s investments in South Africa to the keeping of “secret files” on students.
We tracked everything back to capitalism. Although I was only a “pink liberal” with no party allegiance of any description, we were quick to spot the sugar company in town with direct links to the South African economy.
Demos, and baiting the cops, was enormous sport. Sitting in was intellectually surprisingly stimulating. But above all we wanted to change the world. Not our world, their world – the world of the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned. I am sure we could have drummed up something on student fees but it would have been down the list from the above.
We weren’t above a bit of aggro. I was charged with assaulting a policemen at a demo in Manchester. To my shame, with my confident posh accent, I managed to prove he’d assaulted ME and I got off. We were incredibly motivated – happy to go at it for days. We had very little co-ordinating power – no internet, no phones…well nothing beyond the half smashed phone box at the street end.
And protest now? Well, yes, motivated in part by self interest for sure…but I think we’d have tracked it back to the banks and asked why we students should be shelling out for what we would have called the “thievery, crookedness, cack-handedness, downright subterfuge, stupidity and greed of the bankers”. Maybe last weekend’s little number at top Shop in Oxford Street marks a beginning of that. Maybe cyber protest too. Interesting times.
Related posts:
- Higher education reform – protests live on air
- Still no equal pay and cuts loom – but will people protest?
- How a student's tears won the RTS award
- A view from the beach
- Welfare: an extra terrestrial view
There are 54 comments on this post
I was part of it. I guess its why much as I dislike the French I like the attitude to street protest. This & Wikileaks Reminded of that old saying attributed to ???
“You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty”
Think long and hard who put this goverment in place, you thick people. Your out there breaking the law and changing nothing. Bring out the army POLICE go get water guns and hit them hard, so what if they get hurt do your job and protect london. any one still standing 6 mths in prison.
“what we would have called the “thievery, crookedness, cack-handedness, downright subterfuge, stupidity and greed of the bankers”
Jon, that’s what those of us not constrained by impartiality still call it!
As someone who has despaired of several generation of students who were more inclined to be concerned with how much they could make in the city than anything that was happening in the world, I rejoice that they are finally realising that most of us are in this together against the few at the top who are determined to hog the lot.
Clegg, Cameron, Blair and all those other children of ‘there is no such thing as society’ Thatcher, are an unprincipled bunch of wastrels. As are those greedy bankers and their tax dodging pals.
If it takes mass protest and civil disobedience to make them realise there is more to being a politician than just being elected, then bring it on.
Protest is good,yet achieves nothing.Thugs attach themselves to all protest and though normally a minority cause millions of pounds of damage.I do not know of any protest that actually changed what was being protested about.Take the really big ones CND,Apartheid,the Vietnam war , The Iraq war ,the Countryside alliance .Anti Europe.The politicians who supposedly represent us do not listen and do not care about our views for 5 years.Then they make promises they renege on .
There has to be a more democratic way of the will of the majority holding sway.The crooks of Wikileak who believe they own the Internet aught to devise a way that true democracy can be carried out.
Adrian,
The one ‘successful’ set of large-scale protests was against the Poll Tax. Perversely, that was basically a fair policy condemned to failure by the method of introduction (i.e. Scotland first) and the consequent protests.
If the protests hadn’t happened, the Poll Tax would have survived, so the street-fighters won that one.
And we got Council Tax instead – some victory !
Let’s hope the Bank’s dont get off and the Students become ase politically aware betting themselves away from the TV soaps, the PC and the XBOX…..and
Let’s hope the parents do the same and support their kids.
You were right Jon, Capitalism was and still is the cause of poverty, inequality, misery and hate. Capitalism is thee bedrock platform from which greedy corrupt scum dominate resources and supply lines. The predatory nature of unrestrained capitalism allows for these situations and is preserved that way because of human greed and selfishness.
The role of government is suppose to be to govern and, govern for ALL citizens equally. This is never the case when those enter Westminster/Lords emanate from the upper classes and are indifferent to suffering. They care not about the wider fabric of society while serving themselves in the gentlemen’s club of ill repute. Their egoistic, selfish nature is hell bent on lining their own pockets and those of their family. They use their positions of privilege to sway policy towards favouring the well off and they do this with arrogance today.
The gradual suppression via ‘kettling’ tactics and Police brutality is indicative of the gradual time shift towards a totalitarian dictatorship. I predict that in 10 years rubber bullets will be used on protesters and laws set in place for live ammo.
Britain today is a disgrace because of the corrupt rich
We’re of the same era. I’m not a stranger to demos either, for me it was mainly against the Vietnam war and Nuclear Power. As you, with no particular party political colour – just an urge to make things fair and right, I guess. Doing your bit.
In some ways, student protests make me happy as they show that at least, young people do care. They do have a view about their – and our – future. But it’s of course sad when their demos get hi-jacked by violent ‘elements’. And I don’t like when they drag horses and dogs into the mix either. Who asked them if they wanted to join?
And – not many Afghan coats in today’s protests, though, I must admit! C’mon Jon – dig out that Afghan coat picture from your book and stick it in your blog!
You don’t like it when ‘they’ drag horses and dogs into the mix? err… I think you’ll find, that’s the Police, not the students. In fact, I think you’ll find, the demo was peaceful until the Police got heavy handed. Know your facts.
Dear Boudicca,
I was, in fact, referring to the Police – not the students!
I didn’t for a minute think that the students had organised the horses/dogs.
Thanks,
Britt_W
Don’t cry with all that tear gas , you are proud of your rebellious nature and Afghan jacket. You are aslo glad that the dry law degree turned into your colourful life. Am I right?
I remember the friday night parties and union nights with the bands in Manchester, the flares and the skinny ribs and those daring hippies who tried weed.
The whole scene was one of rebellion from the way we dressed to the way the bands played. The trouble now is that there isn’t much change and people seem to care less.
We are seen as dinosaurs who did geeky things . The causes are money centred and we feel as though we can have little impact on the corruption.
I still see the classics coming through in the shape of those past geeky weirdos though. John Lennon et al…..Some of the lyrics from those past songs are very good as well and speak of an age. I parroted them at the time, now I listen.
Yeah man, right on, power to the people…wont get fooled again…cue for a song!
” We were incredibly motivated – happy to go at it for days. We had very little co-ordinating power – no internet, no phones…well nothing beyond the half smashed phone box at the street end.”
I was doing it too in the mid 60s. I even had my grant withheld (Scotland). Great days!
Kate great days?What did it achieve except a generation that believed it could ignore the law and act as it wanted.Almost anarchy for no purpose ,or if it had a purpose , complete failure.
Yet it also proved that there was no democracy , only political dictatorship.That has certainly changed, or the perception has .It is now Capitalist dictatorship, with a small c.Just as a minority of students are taking over the protests for their own violent ends , a minority of Capitalists (the bankers) take over Capitalism for their own ends, and a minority of hackers attempt to take over the internet for their own ends.
It is time the majority asserted its strength to attain democracy
Here’s a link to what seems to be the main petition to end the #WikiLeaks crackdown: sign up @Avaaz http://avaaz.org/wkl so we can continue the cyber-protest you refer to above.
Most hopeful and interesting times in ages, Jon, for changing the world – helped of course by the new media. Proud to relate that ‘last weekend’s little number at top Shop’ (nice one; only got it on re-read!) appears to have started in north London. Tonight, there’s another meeting in the area to discuss the NHS (www.38degrees.org.uk; gov steadily pushing privatisation agenda: link below from today’s Pulse, the GPs’ mag: http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=4128022&cid=Latest_headlines_1_091210&sp_rid=NjcxMTQ1NzA3OQS2&sp_mid=36067378
I’ll be suggesting that a shift from a national sickness/big pharma service (and a sickening one: eg antibiotic resistance, including TB) to one of health-promotion is now vital. Not a new idea. Ivan Illich forewarned us of the dangers in his classic ‘Limits to medicine: medical nemesis’, tragically now out of print. (How about republishing it, Canongate?) UK, fifth-richest country in the world, and seeing a resurgence of ricket now due to lifestyle.
‘Ricket’ in above post should, of course, have been ‘rickets’. Wonder if I was alone in being staggered to learn just last week that this deficiency disease is on the rise – due not to food shortages but, it seems, not being allowed to spend time out of doors.
By the way, Jon, I’m a Liverpudlian, as opposed to a scouser. Born in the city but never lived there.
No meg, Igive Vit D injections and calcium out by the bucketful.. a little concerned though by extra circulating calcium and the possibility of heart dysrhythmias.
I have to laugh when people think the UK is the fifth richest country in the world and that means the people in the UK are the fifth richest.
The UK being rich just a multiple of the number of people (almost 70million) times their “wealth”.
The UK people are not rich, far from it. People in Norway, Finland etc are rich.
The UK people are way down on the rich lists so it not surprising to find them having problems that other poor people have.
Working in University Admin, I can assure you, we still keep “secret files” on students! Data Protection? Hee Hee… if a student or alumni asks for their file … sure they can see it (for a sum) but the discriminating cards (yes, that nice xmas card to your professor goes straight in your file) all gets shredded. Plus ca change. Vive la revolution! Lets hope these student protests are just the start.
On another note: as a holder of 4 degrees, how will a potential student pay for a postgraduate degree if the fees go to 9,000? No loans for postgrads yer know.
Yes, we had concrete, visible enemies in those days. Even as recently as 2003, when a million people marched against the Iraq invasion, we knew what we were fighting. Today, we are fighting shadows, the people who influence and manipulate events. Thanks largely to the internet, though, their machinations are being revealed. Cyber-war is the logical next step and it could be very effective – why else would the USA want to extradite a man with Asperger’s, other than fear and revenge?
I don’t believe the students, schoolkids, lecturers and teachers in today’s demo were entirely self-interested – many interviewed mentioned anxiety for future generations, their younger relatives etc. There are more than a few LibDems who’ll sorely regret their Aye votes after tonight.
How on earth will we ever going to get another credit after the graduation with the amount of debt we will be left with, after leaving the universities??!! And by credit I mean a mortgage on a house or another loan for other things we need in life and cant afford to pay with cash. this uni debt will remain on our credit report for the rest of our life!! Each time you will apply for something the amount of debt you owe will show to the creditors. That is not the ideal start in life! I will NEVER vote for the lib dem again!! This is NOT what I voted for!
When fees were introduced everyone said it would put people off going to Uni.
The number of people going to Uni has since trebled!
Now they the fees are being increased by up to 3 times people are saying its the end of the world.
Will the number going to Uni reduce, stay the same or increase ?
If it stays the same or increases then this moan is all about not wanting to pay tax/fees not the ability to access Uni education.
If you don’t want debt don’t go to Uni, if you want the benefits of Uni – pay for it and thank your lucky stars you don’t pay up front.
Jon,
Nostalgia is pleasant but useless. Leave it to the old and uncaring.
Among students, these organised protests will radicalise some, catharsise some, amuse some and annoy a compliant minority. It remains to be seen whether it brings the majority to true political consciousness, to the point where they fully comprehend where power originates in our self-styled democracy – and finally how it is always stolen and brutalised by capitalism. Since your day nothing has changed in that respect; in fact the situation has got worse. It would take an act of monumental wilful ignorance to pretend otherwise.
We will see where it all ends. Last time it ended with unsolved murders at Kent State. Watching the police baton protestors – agent provocateurs or not – shows that uniformed thugs are still there.
In your case, I hope for your sake you don’t end up like a red-faced, reactionary south coast Colonel Blimp. Your weak-kneed “admittance” to being a “pink liberal” doesn’t augur well.
Our students are the future. What is past is prologue. This is so much better than nostalgia.
Meanwhile, unchanged, the capitalist state will continue to assault decent society. You know it.
“Deeply unpopular measure” – John Snow 7:20 tonight
- It maybe with you John and those yobs but about 80% of the UK think its about time those who want to go to Uni paid for it.
I for one don’t want to a single penny to “Educate” those yobs!
Less students should go to University and they should be clever enough to at least be able to scrawl graffiti and spell properly have proper grammar and know when to put in a comma every now and then otherwise it makes sentances like this look stupid.
Yes, the above is a joke.
Regards,
Paul
How can tuition fees be trebled? Are these people who call themselves politicians real? Tuition should be free along with all other public services but the government work for the banks and not for us!
You are either born with a silver spoon in your mouth or you are debt ridden for at least five years after you leave university. Sick! Not to mention the interest the lending institutions earn on each loan(s)..
adzmundo Greenpeace & TVP
Garbage – go get a job and try the Open University!
Yes everything should be free mate.
Why stop at free “Government services” and “your Uni education” ?
Why not give everyone a free car.
A free house.
A free food supply for life.
A free holiday twice a year.
Your ideas are brill.
Will you be running for parliament soon, I’d vote for you.
May be you could call your party “The Freeloaders”
Rich, spot on! I’m currently not working but it will not be like this forever buddy and tuition should maybe not be completely free but definitely heavily subsidised by the government.
adz
HavingALaugh is a great name!
I’m not saying everything should be free but with more government subsidy. Tuition, public transport & loans should definitely be free of charge & interest.
adz
I suspect the Lib Dems will face political annihilation come the next Election, as power has clearly become more important than principle to them.
Ironically many who voted for the increase in fees benefited most from a grant funded free education, and many on the Government benches never needed to worry about money even then.
The irony is it is the Lib Dems who sound more right wing each day and it they who do the bidding of the Conservative party.
So I’m 28 i had to get my mum to pay my fees as i was on JSA for 2 years and JSA does not help you get back to work. I’m only going to college but it is alot for someone like me who had no job and had to pay myself to go to college as the government will do nothing for a SINGLE MAN aged 18-30 but will always help SINGLE WOMEN and illegal immigrants.
Mp’s should be made to pay tax on their cigarettes and alcohol as i know they get it all tax free.
Also yoou know the tutors that actually work or the unis won’t see any of this money hence why my mum who is a Maths Lecturer had to look for work abroad. Now she is in Saudi and loving it.
All too many people feel that they have a right to a free higher education where this should be seen as a privilege which is hard worked for rather than a given fact of an educational career.
I myself achieved excellent A levels 4 years ago – enough to go to any top university. I went along not knowing what I want to do and ended up coming home after a week knowing that it was a waste of my time and money and not wanting to get into so much debt.
I have seen too many people who have coasted through their Alevels receiving mediocre grades attend university – devaluing it and making it near worthless for intelligent and/or harder working people such as myself to go and get a degree.
In short – what does a degree mean since the Labour government decided to send everyone and his dog to University?!
They only did this to keep unemployment figures lower!
I am now a part time Open University student with a clearer idea of my career path and have a full time job in a supermarket. I do receive some financial support but pay my own way in my path to a degree.
I am angry at the shameful behaviour of so many students today.
One of the best posts I have read in my opinion. And glad you mentioned the OU.
The OU is a fantastic alternative, allowing people to earn and work at the same time. Not an easy option -but why should it be easy!!
What is the point of a degree if it is easy! and I know i will be attacked by many for saying this – but for years the standards of degree classification have been falling due to universities fighting for league table spots.
Its time (in my opinion) to foster a new system which will better benefit the economy, targeting education and traning needs to the needs of the economy insted of just funelling everyone to Universities.
Also- as for the comments on Capitalism, what would you prefer- Have you invented a new economic system that works better? We are all too good at moaning without considering what we are actually saying. Capitalism aint perfect, we either have to live with it, managing the harshest elements of it or move elsewhere!
On a lighter note. Have a good weekend everybody, especially the hardworkers :>0 who have worked hard for themselves and not expected the world to do it for them .
Heather, good for you on turning your back on full time university and opting to go with the OU instead. Having studied Engineering I can tell you that some of the best output comes from the OU. I can honestly say that I learned more from a few OU lectures that I did in a whole term at university.
The sad truth is that a university education really isn’t worth a great deal these days (if it ever was). Experience counts for so much more. British industry finds it harder, by the year, to recruit good quality Engineering graduates. To the point that experienced Engineers (of most discplines) need never be unemployed again.
Stick with the OU and grab experience. The best minds are trained on the job. Good luck to you.
Diamonds only have value because they are scarce
“Well, yes, motivated in part by self interest for sure…”
If the children are of an age for GCSEs come the summer then yes there is self interest, but most are university students and they are not necessarily campaigning for abolishing all fees (being that fees are a long since sailed ship).
Self interest is expecting everyone else to pay for a pension crisis that has been looming large since warns sounded back in the 1980s. Self interest is refusing the small charge (what’s a few billion against hundreds) that will help bring a rewarding job/career for a generation that will work longer and be taxed harder than any in British history.
They don’t want to pay for their Uni and nor do I
This is so typical of Britain. I am slightly torn on this issue. Speaking as someone who has always worked minimum wage jobs to meet the rent I have never had either the time or money for a education. I “left” home at sixteen and have been in the employment market ever since. That said I can really relate to the students insofar as yet again our government completely ignore the will of the people. The government effectively work for the people and seem to have very much lost sight of that fact. The British people wanted out of Europe, the war and numerous other things. I think the protests highlight that the governments number 1 priority is the relationship with the W.T.O. and nothing not education not health care not defense is going to change that. I really worry about our future.
i have no problem with students demonstrating,however,they must have realised that it would be hijacked by anarchists and thugs.also,why not vent your anger at the real villains of the piece,ie the bankers and ultimately the labour party.they presided over all of this mess we are in.they,as usual,overspent for 13 years,so much for prudence and “no more boom and bust”.law and order out of control,no proper punishment for thieves and criminals.education on a downward slope,just look at the latest tables showing our third world status.spending on the nhs doubled,where is the corresponding increase in patient care?pensions in the private,wealth creating sector destroyed,state pensions now one of the worst in europe.WELL DONE GORDON BROWN.
billions wasted on creating non jobs in the public sector,immigration,and the corresponding drain on the public services and housing out of control.millions sat on there backsides for years drawing benefit.the eu forever thieving out of your pockets(what happened to the promised referendum).THATS WHY STUDENT FEES ARE NO LONGER AFFORDABLE.also ask your mp why we still subsidise the scots and the welsh,no student fees for them.so much for democracy!
Hi to all the blog readers, three huge news stories that are being missed while we focus on wikileaks and student protests.
1. List of FED bail out money, much of it going to foreign banks including HSBC and RBS. It’s a global banking cartel stealing the wealth of nations and destroying the global economy. http://maxkeiser.com/2010/12/09/the-fed-and-the-caymans-new-jaw-dropping-bailout-details/#more-16006
2. Probably on of the best interviews explaining in simple terms why all of a sudden the countries of europe are crashing and getting swallowed up by the criminal IMF syndicate.http://maxkeiser.com/2010/12/09/the-fed-and-the-caymans-new-jaw-dropping-bailout-details/#more-16006
3. Iceland has recovered by not bailing out the private banks and letting them crash, like a real capitalist democracy. Gordon Brown didn’t save us, he just fixed the dam with tissue paper giving him a chance to run and so we blame it on the next government. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/07/iceland-exits-recession-third-quarter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/dec/09/gordon-brown-imf-chief
GO ON THERE STUDENTS! Clearly now though, even though the students injured a couple policemen, it wasn’t violent enough for the parliment to listen.
Is is true scottlands university fees aren’t going up?
If so, weldone nick clegg and David cameron now all the English unis are gunna go bankrupt as everybody goes off to scottland unis. Off to edingborugh we all go
SIR
I had no idea of your personal background. I automatically thought you would be a product of the public school system. Yes, I can see why I have been a big fan of Channel 4 News since the beginning.
I have just watched the BBC Question Time broadcast and I am dismayed at the poor quality of politician on the panel. It is very clear to me that the students in the streets are probably brighter than those politicians on that programme.
I have vivid memories of Paris and Prague in 1968, the miners strike (1984?) and the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
Your reporter said the events of today “were a very British affair”. I guess he meant the police did not use tear gas and water cannon.
Some say that the rule of law was lost and London was ruled by “the mob”. I cannot help but think of the bun fights the PM had when he was a student.
I cannot even remember his name, the PM, and that is the first question a medic will ask to establish your cognitive ability.
Thanks for what you do, you do it better than most.
So HavingaLaugh, are you old enough to remember when University was free to all students, no doubt you weren’t involved, as you petty comments prove what an ignoramus you are.
Without educated people, folks like you would have no society, and would still be living in a cave.
Lastly people with money can afford to go to University, so do you want only the rich to get further education, I suppose you believe the poor should be sterilized!
Long live the revolution, it may not do anything, but then again it could. If everyone believed protest was pointless then alot of the terror our government and kings and queens have given us would still go on.
Nothing else in the country has risen by 300%, and when the unemployed get money for sitting on their butt, why do the gov want to persecute us!
I do have one solution, not ideal, but much fairer, on the English born students.
As a sizable percent of students are foreign, why not make them pay a high ammount for fees, as most of them are going back home, and will never give anything back to our Country. Also only people born in the UK should get a grant.
This would save the country many millions!
The tuition fees have risen by 200% not 300% a rise from £3000 to £9000 is a rise of £6000 (200% of the original) This is a little bit picky I know but we are discussing education after all and the basic grasp of GCSE maths shouldn’t be too much to ask.
(You may now pick holes in my grammer)
Yes Gareth, the rise is by a multiple of 3 (3 x £3000 = £9000), but as you point out, a 100% increase on £3000 = £6000, and so on. Some people don’t know their multiples from their percentages, do they? And some of us are smartarses, aren’t we? And nobody likes a smar…..!
and for us who think simple 3 times as much as the original.
It is important not to lose sight of the fundamentals of education.
Primary and secondary education are compulsory, but are available free of charge. At the end of that period, the scholar has a life-decision to make, because any additional education is then optional – they are choosing to invest in their own personal future.
It is that structural argument which supports tuition fees being paid by students. There follows only an argument about how much and by what mechanism.
Comparison with decades ago is not feasible, as the quality of both the teaching and the taught are so vastly different. We have to deal with the here and now – here we have a falsely created expectation and now we have a financial crisis. The currently proposed solution is both fair and workable.
Don’t forget it’s a choice, it’s an option, it’s a personal life decision. Make that a fully informed choice and all will benefit.
It is good to see the students demonstarting – shows there is some life in the young . Hopefully the happenings of thse days and last monts / year or so will wake any that are passive – as I think the younger genrtaion are more conservaive that thos of approx 40 years ago . Maybe nowthey too will turn their sights on other targets .
However – I do not agree with free 3rd level educatin . Education should be free for 1st and 2 nd level – but after that there should be some contribution – not £9,000 or anything like it – . In ROI – in 60s – our parents had to pay fees – not sure how they relate to £9,000 now – but they were substantial . We worked during hols – many went to UK building sites where pay was really good – but it was to help out with fees etc. I think anything given too freely may not be apprecaited . . It came as a shock to me that students in UK had to pay no fees ?>
It also came as a shock that Sweden was taking part in these rendition flights – sickening .
Totally off topic – snow and ice gone for now – but we should have winter tyres on cars AYR – unless u travel at speed in xs of 150 or more mph .-
It seems to many that education has improved, as a mature student I can tell you it hasn’t.
At my University where I study software engineering, many of the tutors admit to not knowing their subject, teachers swear and shout at us, and are gen unhelpful.
This term we found they; cancelled our Maths and AI modules saying they were not important!! When just before the summer loads of us signed up for AI, and the maths was meant to be a core module. They just made redundant over 8o% of our tutors. They also cut our lessons from 12 weeks to 9 weeks a term, and only for 2 terms.
Many Universities don’t care about their students they just want our money with the minimal outlay. In my degree they excepted students without even maths gcse for students studying software engineering this is utterly ridiculous! Cheating goes on all the time, and the teachers do nothing, as obviously it helps their stats.
The University system needs an overhaul, the standard of education is very poor, we need a standard curriculum, so that if feesare raised, Unis like mine wont continue to degrade our course to save money. while top managers of the Uni get paid over £300,000 a year! over 30 tops at our Uni
Are we just seeing a very old pattern? After the protests of the sixties and the “flower power” generation, their children reacted against their parents, and bought into the “loadsamoney” culture. Now in turn, this generation are reacting against “loadsamoney” – not least because they’ve worked out that they’re being asked to clear up the mess, when they didn’t go to the party. Just another illustration of why the grand parents are always more popular than the parents?
You allude to the situation in most families where grandchildren and grandparents get on so well together.
The reason for this is quite simple – they share a common enemy.
So Larkin was right?.
In my case, he was spot on, Jim!