Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[Firky]

Yeh, I loved uni. It may have been a waste of time in some regards but it was certainly some of the best years of my life - great memories

Half the reason I chose the university I did was because it was near the sea and was then one of the few places in the UK which had broadband

 

[goldenecitrone]

Yeh, I loved uni. It may have been a waste of time in some regards but it was certainly some of the best years of my life - great memories

Half the reason I chose the university I did was because it was near the sea and was then one of the few places in the UK which had broadband

Yep. I studied the completely wrong subject, but I met some great people and really woke up to some aspects of the world. And it was all free. Poor bastards now.

 

[Belushi]

Poor bastards now.

Aye, so many people I know were the first generation in their family to go to University, now thanks to the tories they may well be the last.

 

[goldenecitrone]

Aye, so many people I know were the first generation in their family to go to University, now thanks to the tories they may well be the last.

And the Lib Dems. Anti-education cunts.

 

[cesare]

And the Lib Dems. Anti-education cunts.

Not anti-education. Anti-affordable-education.

 

[frogwoman]

i think the proposed country-wide reintroduction of grammar schools can only be a bad thing as well

 

[Firky]

Yep. I studied the completely wrong subject, but I met some great people and really woke up to some aspects of the world. And it was all free. Poor bastards now.

Aye, so many people I know were the first generation in their family to go to University, now thanks to the tories they may well be the last.

Laurie Penny: ...<snip> I enjoyed an expensive education....

Just keeping things on topic - we have much in common.

Alas it matters where you enjoyed yourself more than what you did.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

And the Lib Dems. Anti-education cunts.

And the Labour party - look at their record.

 

[frogwoman]

i probably worked harder for my sociology a level than i have for anything else in my life and also learned the most of it from any school subject. supposedly thats a mickey mouse subject as well.

 

[Firky]

My A-levels (psychology, philosophy, biology - dropped out of law, far too hard) were much harder than anything I did at university.

 

[frogwoman]

anyway i've been doing some cover supervisor work in schools in the local area, hopefully will get some more this yer, and all the kids are hard working and want to learn. to listen to the tory party you would think all schools are like beirut and it fucking depresses me how they are trying to get rid of coursework and gcses which despite their faults are still better than the fuckin "international baccaluriat" and all of the things which can often make kids enthusiastic about learning and replace it with some pre-1950s ideological bullshit. I enjoyed doing coursework at gcse more than writing an exam which you could easily fuck up on a particular day

 

[Firky]

I don't know what to make of that one. In some subjects I preferred an exam and in others I preferred course work.

TBH it's over 15 years since I left and school and there's so much that has changed since then I don't think I am really qualified to have an opinion. There was no internet when a were a lad, and essays were written by hand.

 

[Balbi]

LP's off to Cairo. No, really.

 

[equationgirl]

Aye, so many people I know were the first generation in their family to go to University, now thanks to the tories they may well be the last.

This was me. My grandad was dead proud I went to uni in Scotland. At this rate even selling a kidney won't get you a uni education.

 

[equationgirl]

LP's off to Cairo. No, really.

No way.

 

[Firky]

She's asking for fashion tips on what to wear from "Egypt people" [sic] and if anyone wants to hang out.

Someone recommended mace :dacepalm:

 

[Delroy Booth]

My A-levels (psychology, philosophy, biology - dropped out of law, far too hard) were much harder than anything I did at university.

Yup I feel the same way, I also reckon I got a better standard of teaching at too Huddersfield New College than at Salford uni, with one or two exceptions.

 

[Firky]

Yup I feel the same way, I also reckon I got a better standard of teaching at too Huddersfield New College than at Salford uni, with one or two exceptions.

The teaching at Newcastle College was awful when I was there. My Law teacher was a rampant alcoholic and would drink in lessons. She'd also take us down to the canteen for a lecture so she could smoke. Really quite sad in retrospect - someone should have intervened. Maybe someone did but I sometimes wonder what happened to her.

 

[Firky]

Karrie Kehoe @KarrieKehoe

@PennyRed You have the most amazing life! You were in my home city this weekend and next stop Cairo! Have a great time! #Jealous

 

[weepiper]

Yep. Same at Edinburgh - the only people who wanted to speak to me were staff. The thought of spending time there not speaking to anyone brought me out in a cold sweat.

I went to Edinburgh. The open day and most of first year were horrible. Then I found some people like me

 

[equationgirl]

She always asks if people want to hang out.

 

[Balbi]

Pointing out the obvious, but the twitterati won't be able to provide her with the insight into the actual action. But may constitute her sources.

 

[DotCommunist]

less pussy riot more football riot

 

[Firky]

C

She always asks if people want to hang out.

I wouldn't hang out with randoms I met on twitter, especially considering some of the abuse she gets. There's some right fucking oddballs out there on twitter. If someone did a Jonathan May-Bowels to her she'd shit herself. To hell meeting some random in Cairo!!

 

[equationgirl]

C

I wouldn't hang out with randoms I met on twitter, especially considering some of the abuse she gets. There's some right fucking oddballs out there on twitter. If someone did a Jonathan May-Bowels to her she'd shit herself. To hell meeting some random in Cairo!!

Exactly - and given some of the nasty threats she's received I'm surprised she isn't more cautious about publicly displaying her plans.

 

[Firky]

Exactly - and given some of the nasty threats she's received I'm surprised she isn't more cautious about publicly displaying her plans.

The cynical side of me wonders if it is premeditated titillation for her hate mongers. The more abuse, the more she puts her hand in the fire, the more she is revered by her sycophantic followers on twitter. Or perhaps she rightly believes that she should be able to announce her plans on twitter without the threat of harm.

It's a bit of a conundrum.

Must be nice to go to suddenly decide to go to Cairo. If you and I were going to Cairo it would be planned, saved up for, and anticipated months if not years in advance. She suddenly announces it one day as if it was no different to going to the shop. Must be nice to have that kind of privilege and lifestyle or work in an environment where that sort of thing is normal. Could be in Cairo next week, New York the week after that and then back to the hovel in London. Hard life.

The other half, eh?

 

[equationgirl]

The cynical side of me wonders if it is premeditated titillation for her hate mongers. The more abuse, the more she puts her hand in the fire, the more she is revered by her sycophantic followers on twitter. Or perhaps she rightly believes that she should be able to announce her plans on twitter without the threat of harm.

It's a bit of a conundrum.

Must be nice to go to suddenly decide to go to Cairo. If you and I were going to Cairo it would be planned, saved up for, and anticipated months if not years in advance. She suddenly announces it one day as if it was no different to going to the shop. Must be nice to have that kind of privilege and lifestyle or work in an environment where that sort of thing is normal. Could be in Cairo next week, New York the week after that and then back to the hovel in London. Hard life.

The other half, eh?

Definitely - and in both our cases don't forget all the medical preparation we'd have to do, vaccinations, supplies, meds. Not just a case of popping round the corner at all.

 

[rekil]

LP's off to Cairo. No, really.

We/PD have a man in Cairo - The Kingster.

Patrick Kingsley is the Guardian's Egypt correspondent.

Our/PD traps are just too good.

Maybe.

 

[Sue]

I used to live on Clapham Park estate in the '80s, which was like a condensation of every tabloid scare-story about "sink estates" and "drug dens" (as they used to be called B.C. [before crack]) into a dozen acres of crumbling urban housing stock, and it was pretty much like that for everyone who lived there.
Same where Greebo and I live now. It used to be a crime pit (we had more serious crimes on our small estate in 1999 than the entirety of the Tulse Hill estate, with about 5 times as many housing units, for the same year), although it's better now (possibly due to the higher average age of most tenants).

Lived there in the mid/late 90s for a couple of years. The block I was in (one of the tower blocks) wasn't too bad and was kind of on the edge of things but some of the other blocks were in a shocking state. When people at work asked where I lived and I said 'Clapham', they used to think I was posh.

 

[SpineyNorman]

Yup I feel the same way, I also reckon I got a better standard of teaching at too Huddersfield New College than at Salford uni, with one or two exceptions.

Standard of teaching at my college was better than it is at my uni too - and Sheffield's in the Russell Group.

The apprenticeship I did when I first left school was miles more difficult than my degree has been. Half the kids on my course here wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes doing that. Fortunately for them they're not generally the kind of kids who'd ever need to survive an apprenticeship.