Blair won his vote (education bill) today. This is a huge relief and a ...

[AP]

...triumph for liberalism. This is going to get a lot of kids better educations than they're getting. It's going to help political, economic and cultural power flow to the middle and working class and it's going to lift a lot of people up.

The right wing really didn't want this bill to pass.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3434329.stm

[bigwillq]

1. The news channel's were saying it might not pass

they also said if it didn't pass it would be Blair's first defeat in the commons. IS that true? I'm not a big Blair fan.

[goobergunch]

3. True

Only passed by 5 votes (316-311).

[bigwillq]

9. Thanks for the scoop

Go Dean!!

[goobergunch]

2. Don't top-up fees mean that people have to pay more for college?

:shrug:

[Born_a_Democrat]

5. yes it does

not too long ago I was in a restaurant and happened to catch this knockout babe with a "brit" type accent. We got into a conversation and I found out she is Welch but has lived in London (when not here in the states) and she was very dissapointed by the prospect of having to pay this money. In contrast to how Universities here in the US filter out who they "want" to get an education or not by pricing out of their range.


This is a sad day for the Liberal party in the UK

[AP]

8. Wrong. Read my post.

[AP]

7. That's the spin. Here's the truth:

The reforms tripple the incredibly low cost of a university education from 3,000 to 9,000 dollars a years (university in E&W is a three-year degree, in Scotland - four years). However, now you don't pay up front. You pay over a period of time AFTER YOU GET A JOB, and you only pay something like 10% of your salary until it's paid off, and there's no loan or financing, so you're paying only principle and no interest.

Before, you'd have to pay every year in college, when you had no money, and if it sent you into debt, you'd have to live off your overdraft (a bank loan charging interest).

I don't know about you, but I think my college loan principle ended up being way more than tripple the principle.

Bottom line, this bill is going to make it CHEAPER for anyone who had to go into debt to pay for college, it's going to give the universities more money, which they desperately need, and they're going to force employers (rather than parents and students) to contribute to paying for the education of their employees.

It's very liberal and very smart.

(I'm sure someone who knows the exact numbers can correct me, but I think I have them pretty close)

[Born_a_Democrat]

4. IT would have been better if he had lost the vote

That way Parliament would have called for a "confidence vote" which although Blair might have won anyway would have been a nice hotfoot for the poodle.

[AP]

10. Yeah, make the kids suffer so that the Tories can get their shit on.

Right.

[Virgil]

6. Wednesday is Blair's big day

On Wednesdays Blair is on C-SPAN where the Parliament drills him. Tomorrow he will have his real challenge because of the Kay report coming out saying there was no WMD program after the first Gulf War and there were no WMD when the US and UK warred on Iraq. Tomorrow is what I am waiting to see on Blair's situation.