Wednesday 10 November 2011 was a cold, grey day in London but, seeing as that isn’t anything new, we’ll assume that day will be remembered in history for the sounds travelling through the brisk air: the marching of feet, the roaring of police helicopters and the tapping of keypads and keyboards frantically tweeting. London was witness to a protest march of thousands against the government’s plans to raise tuition fees for university education.
Not to say I told you so, but our very own Nostradamus, Francis Beckett, did kind of predict such policies by studying the patterns in governmental spending over the last few decades. Not only that, but he probably saw them first. So, neerrrrr.
In his book What Did The Baby Boomers Ever Do For Us? Mystic Francis (doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, I know) discusses the way in which the baby boomer generation are reversing the welfare state from which they have benefited most.
“Most capital expenditure for education and health no longer comes from the present-day taxpayer, but from the next generation, because the baby boomers have been too stingy to pay for the welfare state. This trick is done by means of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which are scams for getting the cost of public buildings like schools and hospitals off the present government’s books, and placing them on the books of governments ten or twenty years hence.”
His arguments stretch beyond education to all aspects of politics, arguing that the children of the 1960s have betrayed the generations that came before and after, and maybe reading Francis will help in predicting further angry protests. He is, after all, the new Professor Trelawney (some character in Harry Potter who can see the future... we ran out of psychics).
Get your copy of Francis Beckett’s What Did The Baby Boomers Ever Do For Us? here for £12.99
NOTE: We at Biteback hope that the protest will be remembered for these brilliant placards...
1. I thought I was going to Alton Towers
2. This s**t wouldn’t happen at Hogwarts
3. I wish my boyfriend was as dirty as your policy
4. Kiss my arts
5. Is this the queue for Justin Bieber tickets?