The Student Room Group

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rockrunride
He's clearly not in favour of flat rate student loans.

exactly.
Reply 41
JordanCarroll
hmm, i'd like to see some sort of nationwide study into this,
as we could argue all day anecdotally and get absolutely nowhere.

you see both, those from middle class families having no problem with their finances, and the opposite, usually those on the cusp of losing benefits or whose family have a lot of debt.


I guess, but I still think it's unfair. Alot of families will refuse to fund their children to try to initiate some kind of financial independence. In any case they should at least have enough money to live (I'd bump up the student loan to £6000 a year non-means tested).
Overall, not too bad. His hobbies bit was kinda adorable really - young hippy GBrown has become sad old pm. However -

2010 Election
Question 9 - Asked by: Flossy_, robbo3045, fretter778, Schmokie Dragon, emmarainbow:

How and to what extent will your party continue to fight for LGBT equality/issues? How much of a real priority is this for your party?


Gordon Brown's answer:

"It's a massive priority for us and a cause we have consistently promoted in the last 13 years. Despite fierce and well-organised opposition, Labour introduced gay adoption, civil partnerships, an equal age of consent, fertility rights for LB women, protection at work and in the delivery of goods and services and an end to the military ban. Going forward there is still a lot to do, including promoting gay rights abroad.

I have already challenged the Ugandan President about proposed anty-gay legislation there and if Labour are re-elected Britain will continue to be one of only a handful of countries with the promotion of LGBT rightly as a formal key plank of foreign policy. And Labour's Equality Act will ensure that lesbian, gay and bisexual people are treated fairly by public bodies, and we have made a manifesto commitment to reverse the so-called Waddington amendment which saw Tory Lords water down our legislation to protect people from incitement to homophobic hate. I have to question the Conservatives’ commitment to equality after their Shadow Home Secretary said people running B & Bs in their own home should have the right to turn away gay couples, and David Cameron spoke out against repealing Section 28 and voted against allowing gay couples to adopt."

Good answers. I think he really means what he says about LGB people.

WHERE'S THE ******* T??
jashan
I see that even private schools can't instill some manners.


Sorry, what?
JordanCarroll
well i stand corrected :h:
I would ask then, if government financial help has benefited yourself and your family previously, why do you feel it unecessary now as a soon to be university student?


I don't feel it's unnecessary... On the contrary, it's been very necessary for me, I just feel it should be open to everyone. It's been immensely helpful for me in terms of my education so far. And IMHO it's insane to decide how much money someone should receive as a LOAN based on "ability to pay" when their PARENTS' income is not an accurate protrayal of THEIR ability to repay THEIR loan. That's what pisses me off about Brown's answer, other than the fact that he didn't even answer it properly.

EDIT: to clarify the "available to everybody", I mean apart from those who plan to just scrounge off the state. If they're getting financial support it should be going towards something necessary, like education or basic survival.
Reply 45
Bring him back and ask what he want to make universitys fees and whether this will still be covered by grants/ loans.

I put no because I think the last thing students need is more people forced into university.
Reply 46
"I would also take the chance to catch up on some reading and films. I’ve recently saw The Damned United and Invictus but it would be nice to have a chance to see some more."


YEEEEESSSS :biggrin:
hhmmmmmm......
Reply 48
Quite a few of them were pretty poorly answered. Sorry Gordy, but I voted no.
Reply 49
Question 2 - Variations asked by DiamondsAreForever, Ronar, Aimee, Philosopher-of-sorts, Schmokie Dragon:

With many students living independently of their parents, why should student finance depend on their income? Why not be fair, and give everyone an equal platform in which to start their education, giving everyone the same amount of money? Then the rest that they need they can supplement from external sources i.e. a job/overdraft/family.


Gordon Brown's answer:

"We want everyone to have the chance to go to university if they want to – and more than half of all young people in every social group say they want to go. We have eliminated up-front fees paid by parents and students, and ensured that the repayment of loans is related to ability to pay. Forty per cent of students are in receipt of a full grant with many others eligible for a partial grant and there are bursaries available.

We have commissioned a review of the whole system of student finance which is due to report later this year. Ahead of the review, we have provided universities with funding to recruit an extra 20,000 students this year."


Well this was a pissy answer :rolleyes:
I normally support labour, but Gordon Brown is driving me further and further away. He always seems to dodge the questions and talk about everything that labour has done in the past. We know what you have done in the past, tell us what your going to do in the future for christ sake!!! Also, would it have killed him to run a spellcheck?
Reply 51
:-) Just made my decision so much easier! Labour :-)
LadyGaGa
:-) Just made my decision so much easier! Labour :-)


care to elaborate as to why this reinforces your view of Gordon Brown?
The only thing I care about is asking them how they plan to reduce fuel costs !!!!!

How do I ask these so called leaders a question...


As for disinvesting in South Africa how hypocritical be a proud friend of Israel yet oppose apartheid ?
Shame there wasn't a question on civil liberties. I'd love to see him try and defend Labour's disgusting record on them, and how much they've done to ruin this country and **** on the Magna Carta.

Oh well.
Reply 55
DiamondsAreForever
Why Will None Of Them Answer My Question Properly :angry:


Because it's a good question?
Actually this would probably be the easiest issue for him to skirt around thanks to those two magical words: "national security". We'll never get a decent answer on this.
Captain Haddock
Actually this would probably be the easiest issue for him to skirt around thanks to those two magical words: "national security". We'll never get a decent answer on this.


Well, they have skipped around it for 13 years I guess. But you're right - they'll never explain why they think it is okay to limit freedom for a supposed threat - you're more likely to be killed by a police officer than in a terrorist attack by the way.

The Benjamin Franklin quote springs to mind.
Reply 58
Bobo1234
I don't feel it's unnecessary... On the contrary, it's been very necessary for me, I just feel it should be open to everyone. It's been immensely helpful for me in terms of my education so far. And IMHO it's insane to decide how much money someone should receive as a LOAN based on "ability to pay" when their PARENTS' income is not an accurate protrayal of THEIR ability to repay THEIR loan. That's what pisses me off about Brown's answer, other than the fact that he didn't even answer it properly.

EDIT: to clarify the "available to everybody", I mean apart from those who plan to just scrounge off the state. If they're getting financial support it should be going towards something necessary, like education or basic survival.

That was my immediate reaction to that too, but I'm pretty sure there he was referring to the way loans are repaid as a proportion of income and not repaid at all if you don't earn over a certain threshold (around £15,000?) The rest of the answer though was unbelievably poor, even worse than the previous answers to that question. Maybe it would have helped if it was more explicit and included more explanation of what's wrong with the current system.

Overall, disappointing. I thought Brown did surprisingly well yesterday, so it's a shame about this.
It would be interesting to hear the press' reaction to this...