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.

Return of the Trews, the squad reassembles, and protesting

one.
Maddie from Dinner with Maddie launched her new Podcast series and from the first episode, I'm already loving it - talking about feminism, beauty and even Kim Kardashian? You can't really go wrong - listen to it here! :-)

two.
I watched Bridget Jones' Diary with a couple of my house mates and I just wanted to turn to you guys and ask, out of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, who do you think is more attractive? We were all quite divided, whilst I love Colin Firth, I'm definitely more of a Hugh Grant girl (especially in the first film with his floppy hair)

three.
Very happy to hear that Russell Brand's Trews are returning to YouTube. Whilst I don't agree with everything he says or does, I do really enjoy the Trews and I've really missed watching them.



four.
Doctors has been so good at the moment! If you don't know what it is, it's a daytime soap on BBC about Doctors - it's the only soap I can tolerate, but it's been so juicy right now, in the saddest way but it's been so so good.

five.
My friends from home came to Brighton to visit me and it was so much fun - one thing I learned, do not buy £3 rosé, you can get a lot of alcohol on the cheap but don't skimp on the rosé.

six.
I've been doing more vegan baking and I made some cookies (which I thought were rather nice and so did my house mates) so I shall hopefully get a recipe up for them on the blog soon!

seven.
I went to the demo in London against tuition fees and actually made it into the Guardian, excitedly told everyone, then I was removed from the article just a few hours later (just my luck) but I did manage to screenshot it - my glorious 2 hours of fame.

eight.
I've become really obsessed with the band Screaming Peaches - I think I discovered the song Sad Kid on a Spotify playlist and proceeded to listen to basically everything they've done, really top notch. Sort of The 1975/Arctic Monkeys kinda vibe?

nine.
Speaking of being obsessed with music, I've been really into Elvis Costello & The Attractions too - I literally listened to Oliver's Army for about 3 hours on repeat!

ten.
I've come back to London for my reading week to spend time with the family and for birthday celebrations (yet to come, it's on the 10th if you want to give me virtual gifts) - quite the journey to get here though, my trains kept getting cancelled so I was about an hour and a half later than I originally was meant to be!

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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