Tuesday 23 November 2010

STUDENT PROTEST 24/11/10

There is another student protest regarding university fees and EMA dissolution tomorrow, in Liverpool, at the Guild of Students outside Mountford Hall at midday. Provided I feel somewhat healthier, I will be there. This time the protest is aiming to condemn the Liberal Democrats - which should have been done from the off. Nick Clegg has severely disappointed the country in his lack of backbone and complete U-turn on his original educational manifestos regarding university fees. Without his support, the proposal would not have gone through.

Disgusting.
I will be tweeting throughout. Do pay attention.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

STUDENT PROTEST 10/11/10

Today at 11.30am, hordes of students will be protesting against the forthcoming increases in university fees. The Guardian website is broadcasting live feeds of the protest and students are tweeting as the day goes on. Although the act hasn't been passed yet, I hope this protest brings awareness to the issue and contributes to the eventual decision by the government.

The government increased the number of students at university during the Labour years, which has now led to increased competition and an increase in educational spending. For some unfortunate reason the current government, ahem, the Conservatives, have decided this is a viable area to make cuts and increase fees to contribute towards Britain's extreme debt. If this is passed, it will create embarrassment for the Liberal Democrats (who have always been against fee increases) and, I believe, will result in a future of professional uncertainty.

As Jeevan Vasagar, the Guardian's education editor says 'the cuts are expected to hit the arts and humanities hardest' and it is truly an issue for anyone who hopes to enter either industry in the near future.

Read the full interview and keep up to speed with the progress of the protest at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2010/nov/10/demo-2010-student-protests-live

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the protest myself, but I will be following the events closely.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

BLOGGERS - 'INADEQUATE, PIMPLED, SINGLE'

An article on the prweek.com website has recently come to my attention. It concerns the demand, or lack thereof, in the opinion of Andrew Marr, of bloggers in the current promotional and public relation industries. Here is the link....

http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1038899/Social-media-Know-Bloggers/

There are some interesting points made; about the five types of blogger in the current markets.....

1. Experts
2. Hobby bloggers
3. Mummy bloggers
4. Professional bloggers
5. Opinion bloggers

....and there are some insightful statistics concerning how much trust is placed in the information given by bloggers - to be honest, the figures are a little lower than I thought they would be!
I count myself amongst the 'opinion' tribe. I am by no means a fashion expert but I do have strong opinions about the industry and it's influence on society (or vice versa), which luckily cannot be deemed 'right' or 'wrong'. I got into blogging because I wanted to have my say and discuss important and relevant issues with people who are on the same wavelength, and my opinion of this issue is that bloggers and journalists fulfill very different roles in society.

Bloggers are allowed opinions, theories and ideas which people can relate to and embrace. They are also broadcasting in real-time and real-life. Journalists must generally remain impartial and informative. They pretend to know everything, whereas bloggers can admit they don't. Journalists don't connect with people on the same level as bloggers. The relationship is formal and distanced. Nevertheless, we need journalists, just as, in this developing digital world, we need us bloggers.

Monday 1 November 2010

BYE BYE CREATIVITY

I found out recently that the whole fashion department in Liverpool JMU has been, well, effectively deleted. And, as I am lead to believe, has the Geography and Politics departments. A worrying time for us all in the creative industries. It's a well-known secret that the Conservative government are not huge advocates of the arts - the dissolving of the British Arts Council hailed the slippery slope in my opinion - and these new revelations are indicating more is yet to come. Rumours that the Manchester and Salford fashion departments are at risk are also circulating. Only time will tell.