Posts by Stuart Coats
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They've run into a similar problem in Perth.
There's been a suggestion that pre-loading is a problem, so maybe there should be breath testing at the gate, as they did at the 7's this weekend.
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Polity: Protesting too much: responses…, in reply to BenWilson,
Or perhaps a better way of saying it is: If we truly want to see the end of the Me Me Me philosophy, we have to start with ourselves.
Thanks Ben. That's a really succinct, and good, way of looking at it.
BTW feeling less bitter this morning. Joy for everyone!!
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Polity: Protesting too much: responses…, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Oh, I can see that it's a policy that is good for future generations and that, yes, interest rates were higher in the past. I'm not saying that my grumpiness has great justification. But I am saying that it is there and that Labour will need to deal with the wailing and moaning from people of my generation.
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Polity: Protesting too much: responses…, in reply to Zach Bagnall,
You're right and I don't expect a refund. Perhaps it could be that we could still get three years free so if I wanted to extend my education then I'd get that benefit.
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Polity: Protesting too much: responses…, in reply to linger,
I'm not always so bitter. Most mornings are rainbows and lollipops.
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I'd like to address the issue raised by Christopher and commented on by others; the issue of "my generation" being the one that has to pay for higher education, becoming the meat in the free education sandwich.
I was fortunate enough to receive a student allowance in my first year of university, followed by three years of student loans (lump sum payments: how fun were those to manage!) By extreme good fortune I came into some money a few years after I graduated which enabled me to pay all of this off and start afresh when it came to buying a house and so on. As I spent the first 15 years of my working life working in the arts I count myself extremely fortunate to be able to say that, so many of my friends were not so lucky.
I am supportive of the Labour policy in general. As has been pointed out by others there are certainly concerns over course quality and the like, but I think an educated populace is a better populace and anything that helps that is to be encouraged. However, with my (admittedly fortunate) backstory please allow me and my generation some bitterness for being caught at a time when tertiary education wasn't free and, by the time we got our loans done and dusted, house prices started spiralling out of control. We didn't have the "job for life" that our parents had, nor are we digital natives that get to fully participate in the new economy. At the moment it feels like life has passed us by and all we got to do was stand at the platform and wave at the people having fun on the train.
Maybe I'm just feeling tired and bitter this morning.......
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Hard News: PAWOTY: We are all quaxing now, in reply to B Jones,
Theft?
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The word we heard most this year: Richie
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But I play a lot of live shows, and I sit on the merch desk every night because that’s the difference between selling two CDs and ten CDs for me.”
A couple of years ago I went to Branson, Missouri (long story) and every music act there really worked the merch table hard. They signed anything, they posed for photos, they really talked to the people who came. And they pushed all the time for people to come to the table; "Don't forget, we're at the merch table after the show so came and say hi!" If they had a break in the show, they would be at the merch table.
Yes, they are American and that sort of forwardness seems ingrained in their culture but it did teach me a lesson about how to try and make those sales work for you in a competitive marketplace -
Hard News: How about that cricket, eh?, in reply to Chris Werry,
I have no problem getting a bat, my problem is more getting the bat to hit the ball!