Interesting Links for 25-11-2014

[andrewducker]

• Probably my favourite "Unknown Pleasures" T-shirt
  (tags: t-shirts art space funny music )
• Alert: New Anti-Porn Censorship Law to Arrive 1st December
  (tags: porn censorship UK )
• The 3-Word Tweet That Cost a Politician Her Job
  (tags: Twitter politics class Labour UK )
• Are nurses getting 1% pay rises or 4% pay rises?
  (tags: nhs pay UK )
• NASA Will

Comments

How Wrong Are You About Tuition Fees?

[cartesiandaemon]

The negative reaction to tuition fee loans I've heard has generally acknowledged that a graduate tax that kicks in above a certain typical earning value is a plausible approach, but worried (i) does it disproportionately put off people who can't afford to be in debt, even if it might turn out ok (ii) is the government waiting the minimum politically necessary amount of time to turn round and renege on all the promises and milk the loans for all they were worth (I thought they already did this?) The article linked might well be right, but it doesn't rebut the actual objections with anything except forcefulness...

[mair_aw]

As someone who is paying the ridiculous OU tuition fees to do a fourth degree, I was curious about the article, but disappointed to find that it wasn't actually about tuition fees, but about tuition fee loans (for which I am not eligible).

[swisstone]

The thing that the article does not address is the chaotic affect the switch-over from teaching grants to institutions to loans has had on the institutions. And for what purpose? To introduce a market-led economy to universities, because the markets can do no wrong, apparently ...

[steepholm]

Just read the piece about nurses' pay. Dear me.

The writer doesn't appear to understand that increments are not "rises", but a way for employers to put off paying the full rate for the job for several years.

I'm not a nurse, but the same system applies in HE. For example, in 2013, after being a senior lecturer for 19 years, I finally got promoted to Associate Professor. Naturally, I'd been bumping along the top of my senior lecturer pay scale for many years by then. The pay for an Associate Professor is about £5,000pa more than the pay for an SL. Does that mean I got a £5,000 pay rise? Not at all. I got a £1,000 pay rise. The next year I got another £1,1000. By 2017 I will (unless the Government changes the rules in HE too) be paid the rate for an AP.

So, does the fact that I'm denied the full increase for five years mean I should be cut out of nationally negotiated pay deals (or, in the case of the nurses, recommendations by the pay review body?)?

Can

[andrewducker]

Thank you. I'd been wondering what I wasn't understanding, and that was it!

[octopoid_horror]

OMG that t-shirt is amazing. I may need it

[kalimac]

I read the explanations of Thornberry's tweet, and while they were highly informative about the symbolism in the photo, I'm still missing the chain of thought that explains how tweeting it is necessarily sneering.

I've read the Chomsky-Zinn parody before. It's still funny.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, to me it seems like a big leap. Certainly big enough that resigning seems like a massive step.

I can't help but feel that there's something I'm missing.