It was little more than a decade ago that Cool Britania was the phrase being used to describe Blair's Britain. Now, the Cameron government has coined the term Broken Britain, which it pledges to 'repair'. The nation's bi-polar psyche supports my view that public perceptions are like a carrousel, with rapid ups and downs and sharp twists and turns, driven by little more than headlines and soundbites.
The word with which I would associate Brtain today is protest. Only a few blogs ago, I predicted that we would see protests against the government's extravagant cuts in public expenditure. I spoke to soon, because today we have seen the first signs of what I am convinced will become a truly hyperactive season in protest in Britain.
What have some of the country's most senior retired military leaders got in common with students? The answer is that today they both voiced their concerns against government austerity measures. This morning's Times published a damning letter by some of the most esteemed former military top brass, protesting against the Ministry of Defence announcement to get rid of the Navy's fleet of Harrier aircraft. While this afternoon saw more than 50,000 students protest against a 300 percent rise in tuition fees.
Being an old leftie, I confess not to be too upset about any news to reduce military expenditure. While I acknolwedge the need for Britain to have some kind of defence capability, I hate to think how many more hospitals and schools could be spent with the money spent on bullets and bombs. I was amused to read that one of the major concerns about eliminating the Harriers is that will make the Falkland Islands more vulnerable to attack from the Argentinians. Apparently, the cancellation of these planes will mean that the navy will have no ability to fly from aircraft carriers for the next decade, thus providing an 'open invitation' to Argentine to invade their beloved Malvines, as they call these remote islands.
It's high time that the British and Argentine governments found a solution to this ridiculous situation. There are only 3,000 people living on the islands, with a permenant force of more than 500 British troops, defending a place of no importance to Britain, on the other side of the world. Surely we have gone way past the era where we would wage another war with Argentina, which is now an advanced democracy?
While I am not opposed to the defence cuts, I have much sympanthy with today's protesting students. There was some violence as a consequence of some nasty anarchist thugs trying to hajack the demonstration, but the peaceful protestors definately have my support. I am particularly pleased to see them target the Liberal-Democratic party who had made a clear election pledge to the British people that there would be no tuition fee increases. As partners in the government coalition, the Liberals are effectivley facilitatiing this unpopular measure.
If Britain is broken, it ain't gonna be fixed by discouraging young people from going into higher education. Shame on the politiicans, and good luck to the student struggle.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
