Grimsdale's Ire: 29/10/08

Grants for 'middle-income' students to be cut 29/10/08
“The amount of student support available for children of middle-income parents will be cut next year, the universities secretary confirmed today.

Growth in student numbers will also be cut next year to "no more than 10,000" after the government miscalculated increases in the bill for higher education, as revealed by the Guardian.” [Guardian]

On the right track 29/10/08
“He was born in Jamaica, grew up in a deprived inner-city neighbourhood of Birmingham, and has first-hand experience of racial hatred and rejection. He left school without qualifications, was booted out of the army for being too lippy, and latterly has found out just how hard it is to make a living as a farmer in modern-day Britain.

It is not surprising, then, that Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones comes chock-full of opinions. He fumes about social exclusion; he is angry at how black people have been let down by the middle classes; he is hugely critical of corporate Britain, particularly the ever-more powerful supermarkets; and he has little time for the world of finance and banking.

What may be more surprising and interesting is that Emmanuel-Jones is thriving in the Conservative party. He has been invited for tea with David Cameron - despite labelling him a "toff" - and was given a prominent place for the leader's speech at the Tory conference. Most surprising of all, he has become a darling of the Wiltshire blue-rinse set and is to fight the newly minted seat of Chippenham for the Conservatives at the next general election.” [Guardian]

White working class need help in recession, says Phillips 29/10/08
“Special measures are needed to help the true losers from the economic recession - the poorer, white working class - if an anti-migrant backlash is to be avoided, the head of Britain's equality and human rights commission, Trevor Phillips, warned yesterday.

He said that historically ethnic minority groups and women were worst hit in an economic slowdown.

But it had to be recognised today that in some parts of the country "the colour of disadvantage isn't black or brown. It is white."” [Guardian]

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