Now, the students say they are planning a wave of direct-action protests right across the country, to protest against the £9000 per year fees. Some people are asking if this is the start of a broader wave of anti-cuts protests that could bleed into healthcare and other social services and foreshadow years of protests and riots and that the violence seen in London might spread to other British cities.

Should the Government have raised the fees more incrementally over a longer time period, and can the Australian HE sector expect a similar fate? I know many HE institutions in Australia are already making cuts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...al-24-november

Hope not, they're not going to get very far behaving like they did. As for people protesting againt health cuts, why would they, the NHS isn't receiving any cuts?

Any violence should be (legally) smashed by the state.

The UK, cradle to the grave, welfare state is at the beginning of it's end. UK, like many other nations, can no longer afford it.

Todays UK students grew up in a time when university education was pushed by the govt of the day as an entitlement for the masses, this was never sustainable - or indeed desirable.

A country with no welfare - that's not somethig we should aspire to though is it? It's pretty clear from the UN standard of living index that the countries with more comprehensive welfare are usually much higher. The problem is British levels were not sustainable. I agree they should be reduced.

I not agree that young people from poor backgrounds should be discouraged from going to HE by figures like 50k of debt before you even think about a mortgage.

Is it? Australia was number 2 in the report I suspect you are referring to (Human Development Index), yet the welfare isn't that comprehensive. The US is also very high, but again the welfare system isn't that comprehensive.

The following is my personal opinion on the subject, based on my personal obsevations.
I'd like a flash car, but i cant afford one, thats just the way it is for me and i accept it.If you cant afford to go to University or more importantly dont want to pay for it when youre earning decent money later on, then dont go.Its called choice, we all have to make them and we all have to endure the consequencies.I dont believe that the government did the right thing encouraging everyone to go to Uni, its given the once acceptable jobs of council worker, tradesman etc a stigma of being beneath consideration by todays younger generation as they all think they will be senior executives or barristers, now dont think im criticising the kids, its what they've been encouraged to believe from early on.Take one look at the UK lack of apprentices..... more and more adults are retraining to fill the skills shortage and gaps which is great, but why are so few entering the trades from school?There are a finite number of jobs available for degree qualified Uni graduates, and I think its unfair that they have been set up for such a disappointing future in employment.

I wish that was true Jimbo.

Already, in my dept, a member of clinical staff has left and not been replaced.
the cuts aren't as bad as in other areas - but they are still there and are still having an impact.

Link

Bang on and karma to you sir!

spot on and hopefully we might see the demise of the endless media studies, golf course management etc degrees. It's unrealistic to expect 50% of a year group to be suitable for a rigorous degree course so naturally the courses have to become easier toachieve a political target. Hopefully this will force people to analyse why they want to go to university and seek alternatives where appropriate.

big shock BBC reports Nurses union warns of job cuts to it's members. I'm sorry but the NHS is the 4th largest employer on the planet yet is consistently outperformed by other countries private/public systems. If the NHS model is so brilliant how come no other first world country has copied it?

IMO the whole system needs bulldozing and reforming into a system suitable for the 21st century and not post WWII Britain.

The poll tax riots changed policy and lead to the end of Thatcher.Interesting language from a very typical South African. It's funny that South Africans usually like Australia. Is it because they tend to be even more vulgar?

So we have had recently requests for protesters to be "smashed". "Irish pricks" and other general boorish insults.
I'm afraid I simply won't have most white South Africans in my house.

No welfare?

How did you make the gigantic leap from students having to pay for their university education to "no welfare".

You are not helping your cause. You just strike me as a Tory basher who has conveniently forgotten when tuition fees were introduced.

I also suspect you were never one of those students from a poor background yourself. Because if you were, you might understand that for the genuine student, who wants to work hard and better themselves, student loans are a godsend. Not the first time I have told you that, but I am sure you will ignore me yet again as it doesn't suit your political agenda.

Diddums and bully for you. Trust me, I take it as a compliment that you don't want me, or my fellow countrymen, in your house. People like you who stereotype are the most boring and uninteresting kind - I'd have a more fun in a burns unit than at your house.

It must be hard for you to accept that the UK you know is coming to an end

If the country can't afford to subsidize higher education at the rate it once did, what do you suggest they do?

We have come to know and love your in-depth knowledge about everything on the planet, so I'm convinced you can come up with a better system, than an army of politicians and government advisers, with access to the financial 'books' of the country, could ever devise.

So lets hear it.