Lecturer strikes are a betrayal of their students
I AM An 18-year- old student of English literature who has little sympathy for lecturers striking over changes to their pensions.
One lecturer spent 15 minutes of a 45-minute session to rally us to be outraged that university lecturers earn less than secondary school teachers.
But I wasn’t convinced by this argument. Five of my secondary teachers changed my life by passionately engaging me in their specialist subject. I am sure there are countless university lecturers who possess that inspirational spark, but I won’t see it because they don’t work hard enough to show me.
As a first-year student, I am entitled to six contact hours, including lectures and seminars, each week. I can book a tenminute appointment once a week to discuss my progress.
With only a few hours of teaching time with their students, how do lecturers fill the rest of their week? Compare this with my friend’s father, a secondary school science teacher, who often works until 9pm. Why do lecturers feel entitled to earn more than him?
I am paying £9,250 a year in university tuition fees and it has been estimated that my financial loss as a result of the university strikes will be £3,000. But I am not entitled to a refund because fees contribute towards the ‘overall university experience’ and the upkeep of buildings.
Students have been treated as political pawns in this dispute, but I for one will not forget this betrayal of our education.
Added to this is the news that the student loan interest rate is to be increased to 6.3 per cent, which is well above the market rate for loans and double the rate of inflation. At the end of my fouryear course, I will have racked up debts in excess of £54,000.
When Theresa May promised to tackle burning injustices in society, I believed her. But unless she starts showing students some respect, they are empty words.
BEN DOLBEAR, Southampton.
Windrush fiasco
HOW incompetent that the Home Office shredded the landing cards of the Windrush generation (Mail). It is ludicrous to demand proof of these people’s entitlement to remain when officials have destroyed much of the evidence.
There should be a presumption of entitlement, with the requirement being that the Home Office must disprove this on a case-by-case basis.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd is not to blame for this fiasco; senior civil service jobs should be on the line. She can only be culpable for any failure to take swift and decisive action to rectify matters and to limit the damage. COLIN MACDONALD, Nottingham. THE Home Office’s mishandling of the Windrush migrants is yet another legacy of the Empire. The introduction of a national identity card would enable Britain to control its borders.
Many will object that an identity card is un-British, but we will need some means to account for EU migrants who will have the right of permanent residence post-Brexit.
YUGO KOVACH, Winterborne Houghton, Dorset.
War bride legacy
THE same situation that the Windrush migrants find themselves in applies to many children of war brides who returned from abroad with their British mothers after marriages broke down. My sister came to Britain from Canada on our mother’s passport, grew up, married and had three children. When she applied for a passport in the Seventies, she was told she had no proof of citizenship.
If she left the country, they said, she would not be allowed back in. Only her MP’s intervention resolved the situation.
I was born in England before we went to Canada so the issue did not apply to me. One sibling was a citizen and the other was not.
M. W. H. WILSON, Lancing, W. Sussex. I WAS born and brought up in this country and have attended the same hospital for years — my medical records are 6 in deep.
So imagine my surprise when I received a letter telling me that to have further nHS treatment, I would need to prove my identity.
For my next appointment with the specialist, I will have to bring my passport, medical card, bills and council tax details. Mrs B. M. PARRISH, Haslemere, Surrey.
Charities need clarity
I AM FEd up with the business model employed by charities.
I have had fundraisers knocking on my door at 8pm trying to get me to sign up for a direct debit, I can’t walk down the High Street without being bombarded by chuggers, and I’ve had numerous phone calls asking for donations.
Charity shops sell new items rather than donations at a bargain price. When I offered to volunteer, I was told I would need to have two interviews, two references and wait for six weeks due to strict regulations. Is this why charities are losing support?
GORDON KENNEDY, Perth.
Town vs country
AnOTHER sorry tale of a guardian of our countryside hounded by incomers with a disneyesque vision of rural life.
A local council, which should support farmers and smallholders, has slapped a noise abatement order on a farmer because hens, pigs and horses are doing what comes naturally (Mail).
The council should stand up to the self-important town escapees who expect farming communities to conform to their unrealistic, sanitised version of the rural idyll. If they don’t like it they can trot back to the suburbs.
S. PEACOCK, Doncaster, S. Yorks. IF FARMYARd sounds offend, why buy a home near a smallholding?
If church bells annoy, why move to a village? If you are irritated by the centuries- old tradition of a trader shouting about his produce, why live near a market?
Why do the authorities jump after one irrational complaint?
COLIN BOWER, Nottingham.
Target litterbugs
HOW wonderful to see the public reaction to plastic waste. But as well as organising schools and communties to collect this waste, we should also target the litter louts. They should be educated on the environmental harm and be told to clean up their mess.
G. KEMP, Maryport, Cumbria. WHEn you order a child’s meal in a fast food restaurant, it is put in a colourful cardboard box, which is immediately discarded.
At one time, youngsters would bring these home to play with, but now the restaurant bins are full of these five-minute boxes.
M. CAMPBELL, Norwich. IT’S wonderful that scientists have created an enzyme that consumes plastic. But I am reminded of the Seventies TV drama doomwatch, which featured plastic- eating bacteria that escaped on a plane. It didn’t end well . . . J. BLACKBURN, Wetherby, W. Yorks.