The white paper: what you need to know and why you should be angry

In 2010, there was public outcry over the tripling of tuition fees by the Con-Dem government. 6 years later, we're under a completely Conservative government and the higher education White Paper has been published - if you thought £9000 a year was bad, it's about to get a whole lot worse.

Photograph: Stephanie Kalber/Demotix/Corbis

The White Paper allows 'inflationary increases in tuition fees for institutions that meet basic standards in 2017-18', and this is 'ahead of the introduction of differentiated caps in 2019-20'. This means that by 2018, some Universities will be able to charge more per year than others and by 2020, Universities that score highly in terms of teaching quality will be able to raise their fees to whatever they like. The discourse used makes it seem on the surface like the Universities that offer the best education will be rewarded, but really it's a neoliberal restructuring of the higher education system to benefit the elite and exclude those from poorer backgrounds. On top of the fact that maintenance grants have been scrapped, it isn't hard to see that this is is a purely ideological tactic. The way it's heading, someone from a poorer background would have to take out an extortionate loan to go to one of these 'better Universities' and when they come out the other side, they'll have a bomb of a loan to repay. Whilst they may come out with a degree from a prestigious University and be more likely to get a job, it is still unfair when you remember that those from richer backgrounds will be able to get the same degree from the same prestigious University, and be able to get Mummy and Daddy to pay it back and that's only if they take out the loan initially which people from richer backgrounds don't always have to do because they've got the dolla in the first place. 

This all plays into the Conservative's ideological warfare, it is the principle at hand that the Conservatives are only fighting for the privileged few. Just a few months ago, George Osbourne announced his budget which directly targeted the disabled. A few years back, Iain Duncan Smith introduced the Bedroom tax which directly targeted the poor. The Conservatives are slowly culling off the groups that don't affect them, it's reinforcing hierarchy, it's reinforcing inequality, it's neoliberalism at its worst and it is wholly unacceptable.

A week of Davids

This week has been quite surreal to me, I feel like so much happened in such a short space of time, and whilst I'd love to talk about them all, I think the events of the past week can be better summarised in 3 Davids.

DAVID CAMERON 
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn's Twitter was hacked resulting in, what I believe to be, the first meme of 2016 (correct me if I'm wrong, I'd hate to be misinformed on the world of memes) and that is the tweet 'davey cameron is a pie', alongside a couple of other ones, one of them being a topical 'f*ck trident' and the other one saying 'here we... here we... here we f*cking go!!!'. 'Davey Cameron is a pie' has quickly become one of my favourite phrases of all time, so we started off well...

DAVID BOWIE
... That was until I woke up on Monday morning at 9:00am, all set to go to my lectures and have a productive day, and I go onto my phone to check my Whatsapp and I have a message from my friend saying 'OMG BESS DAVID BOWIE DIED!!!!' and my immediate reaction was that it was a hoax, and I refused to believe it. That was until I read the articles and heard it was true, and proceeded to stare at the ceiling blankly for 2 hours (I missed my lecture.. not good). This is the first celebrity death to really affect me, of course there have been other celebrities who have died and it affected me but David Bowie was one of my favourite artists. He contributed so much to music and film, as well as bringing a lot of attention to gender identity and gender fluidity and sexuality and all that jazz which was quite unheard of at the time which shows how bold he was as a person. I'm still in disbelief, I won't lie - you could say 'the stars look very different today'...

DAVID MITCHELL
This was one of the highest points of the week. I went to a recording of The Unbelievable Truth with David Mitchell (as well as other comedians like David o'Doherty... hey that's another David!) which would've been cool enough, but to top it all off, we got to sit in the front row! I can't believe I was so close to David Mitchell, like it hasn't really processed, but it was amazing nonetheless.

A bunch of other cool things happened this week but they're not David related, so I'll just list 'em real quick:
- had a night of watching all the weirdest videos the internet has to offer with friends (as if I hadn't seen them before, but you can't go wrong with Shrek is Love, Salad Fingers, and Don't Hug Me I'm Scared)
- got tickets to see Marina & The Diamonds next month with a couple of friends, we've wanted to see Marina for so so long and it's finally happening so I'm super excited!
- found the house I'm moving to for my next year of University and it's 10 minutes away from the beach, pretty fab!
- got the module I wanted for next semester so I'm going to be learning about social welfare and slightly more political shiz

Childhood nostalgia, my first election, prom and vlogging

one.

Okay so y'know how in my last one of these posts I was saying that I was planning to book a holiday? IT'S BOOKED! We're going near Blackpool and I'm so excited, this caused me so much stress in trying to find a place to accommodate such a large group which wasn't so expensive but y'know what it's booked now which is just great.

two.
It was my friend's birthday so we went out to Westfield on the weekend and for a meal at Fire and Stone, and it was really lovely (obviously). One of the people who came is actually one of my closest friends and she moved away a couple of years ago so I don't really her much anymore, so it was really nice to see her again. Then a bunch people left, and the remaining people all went to Starbucks for a little catch up and that was super cute too.

three.
I have fallen in love with the app Hatchi. Since getting my new phone, I have been able to download a bunch of new apps (my old iPhone had half the amount of space so sometimes downloading things was a bit of a pain - having to delete 100 photos to update an app? No thanks) and Hatchi is one of them. It's like a Tamigotchi (nostalgia attack) but on a much bigger, brighter screen. I'm yet to have any deaths yet, and I've been taking great care of Ringo and Kanye - I'll be sure to keep you updated!

four.
I decided to re-watch all of the Spy Kids films over the space of about 4 days and it's been so lovely to have, after revision or homework and whatnot, a bit of time just to watch something a bit childish. I have to say since watching them I've wanted to start implementing the phrase 'oh shit-ake mushrooms' into my everyday language.

five.
I feel as if I mention one of Marina's video in every addition to this series, but the topics she talks about are so important and I want to do at least something to bring awareness to it. This video is about how being 'colourblind' is racist, and I think this is important because I know people who I actually consider myself to be well acquainted with who don't see why it's problematic to not see race, and it is because it basically gives the illusion that racism doesn't exist anymore - which it does.

six.

I had my sixth form prom and in all honesty, I didn't love it. There were bits of it I enjoyed, but my anxiety was at an all time high. I felt very awkward most of the time and essentially felt like I couldn't breathe for about 2 hours by which time I had retreated to the toilets to sit on the floor and try to calm down and I didn't feel comfortable coming out for nearly an hour. One of the reasons I went was because I really wanted to be able to do a 'screw you anxiety' moment because I was super anxious, another reason I went was because everyone around me was pressuring me to go. I don't blame them, it's not their fault if they don't get how anxiety works, I'm just annoyed with myself.

seven.

The election... bloody hell. I'm fortunate that in my constituency I got a Labour MP, but we have a majority Tory government and the thought makes me feel sick. Also, my Philosopher teacher pointed out that the Conservatives and UKIP combined got half of the votes which means half the country voted for these far right parties, and that terrifies me. My parents tried to make me feel better by telling me the first time they voted Margaret Thatcher got into power and they had a Tory government for 18 years (which is arguably worse) and that this is a good election to lose because the economy is not doing well and is only going to get worse, so if that happens under a Tory government we'll probably have a Labour government next time. It's just strange, I wasn't all that optimistic for the election after the election poll, but I feel very powerless right now. Also, Ed's stepped down as leader which makes me sad because I genuinely believed he had what it takes to be a good leader. Although, Nigel Farage didn't get his seat so I suppose that's a silver lining of sorts.

eight.
Why didn't I continue with Peep show when I watched the first series a couple of years ago? I've managed to binge watch the first three series in the space of a week, it's just hilarious (and it actually makes me not look awkward)

nine.
I've returned to the world of vlogging and I decided to vlog election day which was also my prom day, it's not the most cheery vlog but there's a lot of comic sans in there so it's all good.

ten.
I've been listening to Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's album Lonely Avenue pretty much non-stop this week, I don't actually own it unfortunately (thank goodness for Spotify) and it's just great. Nick Hornby is one of my favourite authors and Ben Folds is one of my favourite musicians so the collaboration is brilliant, I've been listening to 'A Working Day' a lot because there's one line in it that really makes me laugh:

'Some guy on the net thinks I suck and he should know, he's got his own blog.'

I just wonder whether David Cameron says that about me when I complain about the government.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Sod off Demi, I wear makeup for me

When I was 12 years old, my idol was Demi Lovato. This was before she came out with her mental illnesses and it became cool to like her, I loved Sonny with a Chance and I thought Don't Forget was one of the best albums of all time, and for a long she remained my idol. More so, after she announced she was mentally ill, she became a beacon of hope for me in some sense, but over time my adoration decreased and after her tweets about makeup, whatever adoration I had for her is virtually gone. Her tweets actually came to my attention through Gabby from Velvetgh0st and I really agree with her opinions on the matter, you probably all know who she is already but I had to just note that it was through her that I picked up on this.

The thing I find most problematic with her attitude towards makeup is the fact that she has been an icon for empowerment for a long time, even more so after she announced to the world that she had been suffering with an eating disorder, and it honestly just upsets me more than anything that someone who I once looked up to would turn around and try to tell people, namely women in her tweets, not to express themselves or to make themselves feel more confident through the means of makeup. 

Her underlying point being 'you don't need makeup to be beautiful' is a sound point, but the way she illustrated her point was poor. Many people, myself included, generally don't feel remotely attractive without make up and that sucks, it sucks a lot, but for her to make those people feel guilty for wearing makeup, whether in excess amounts of not, is quite heavy handed given that she claims to be all for people doing what they have to do to feel confident in their own skin. Plus, she is a celebrity who performs, does photo shoots, interviews.. the whole celeb shabam y'know, so the odds are that in fact she wears a hell of a lot of makeup. Yes, she probably has a make up artist to make sure everything's perfectly blended and she has the crème de la crème of cosmetics, but that means that she, in fact, wears probably the same amount of makeup as the people she's criticising. 

Furthermore, makeup, at the end of the day, is an art form. As said by Dan Howell (here), it's 'art for your face' and I think in that 27 second video, Dan made a good point about how it is up to the person putting on the make up and whilst he has his preferences, it's primarily up to the person putting on the makeup. As long as what you're putting onto your face isn't hurting other people or yourself, and if it's making you happy, no one really should get a say in what you're doing. Plus, a lot of people use make up for the fun of the application and not to impress other people. The idea that women* only apply make up to please other people, mostly men, is one of the most aggravating opinions a person can hold. Men generally don't care about whether an eyeshadow is well blended or if your eyeliner is on fleek, so can we just disregard the idea that women only use makeup to impress men? Please?

I do really think that people don't need makeup to be beautiful, we are all inherently beautiful (y'know unless you're David Cameron, Nigel Farage or a Thatcherite, but I diverge..) but wearing makeup is a right you have and if you want to utilise that right, that is your prerogative and no one has the right to criticise you for that. If we start criticising a person's right to wear makeup how they want to wear it, whether it's for a confidence boost or for the sheer thrill of the application, where do we stop criticising the choices that people make**? If it's not hurting yourself or anyone else, the hell with it - do it.  There's already enough judgement regarding what women wear clothes-wise, I couldn't even tell you the amount of times I've been criticised for wearing a short skirt or shorts because it makes me look like a hartlot or that I'm trying to impress men, so it would be nice if people, in this case Demi Lovato, could let people do what they want if it's making themselves happy and not hurting other people in the process. If celebrities start criticising people for living their life in a manner that makes them happy, they're simply making it harder for people to sympathise with them when the paparazzi criticise them for living their life in a manner that makes them happy. 

Overall, let's stop judging each other for doing what we want to do. As long as what you're saying and doing isn't hurting other people and it's making you happy, just do it. You're welcome to your opinions of course, but just because you don't like bright blue eyeshadow doesn't mean you can criticise others for wearing it. Other people do not have the right to dictate how you live your life, you do you honey.

What are your reasons for wearing makeup?

*I've generalised this to women purely because I hear about this solely from female friends, I've tried very hard not to generalise this post to women so please forgive me on this one!

**But we all have the right to criticise Nick Clegg on increasing university fees, we'll never forget that one Lib Dems.

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