OK the title may be obvious but after the rare occurance of serious conversation taking place today in my office, I am taking to the internet to personally highlight why I found the result of the vote yesterday so traumatic. Having witnessed some heated debate on Twitter, I hope that those invoved will read this, and hear a new view on the topic.
In July I had the trauma of turning 30 - shortly followed by the joy of getting engaged to the most wonderful man in the world in August. I have a fairly good job, we have a heavily mortgaged little house, and two cats. I graduated from Uni in 2002 with what some would classify as a 'noddy' degree, but going to Uni honestly armed me with many tools and techniques that I use in my role today.
Not being from a rich family, and being the first year of students to have to pay tuition fees, I had to pay some tuition fees and to take out student loans to live. I worked during all holidays but not during term time, requiring flexibility with my hours due to the nature of the course. I had some financial support from my Dad, and my Mum struggled to find the money to pay my (reduced thru means testing) tuition fees. I graduated with £11.5k debt of student loans, a £2k overdraft, and having to take out a postgrad loan to put a deposit on a flat to start my first job. 8 years later, I still have £7.5k of student loans to repay, and lose over £200 per month on repayments, plus large chunks of any bonus or backpay. When I was earning less money, I once paid off only £40 in a year follow interest payments. I will be paying this back for years. YEARS.
I am trying to save for a wedding. My fiance works in public sector and his employment security is therefore under threat. People are asking us if we are going to have kids. Why? Why would we have kids? We wouldn't get financial support. One of us may be unemployed. We don't have any family nearby who could support us. We couldn't afford to send them to Uni. What quality of life, what options and freedom, could we offer our kids?
I find it a struggle, psychologically, to reconcile how much money I have paid back to the student loans company. We get told 'the amount taken is so small you don't notice it'. Do you notice £200 per month?? I sure as heck do. And this was with a paltry £11.5k of loan debt. Students moving forward will have the cost of living loan as well as the tuition fees (minimum £6k). Let's say £11k per annum. How many families can afford to give that to their children? So a graduate would leave Uni with £33k of debt, all ready to pay back when they're earning £21k p/a. Which will be when??
What kind of government is this? One that saddles these young adults with a life sentence of debt before they've even really started? That decides that education is a privilige of the wealthy, rather than a right of the able? And to think that my Lib Dem vote actually ended up supporting this sickens me.
Violence is abhorrent and wrong and the scenes yesterday appalled me. But I can understand why it happened. We have witnessed hope being taken away from a new generation for no justifiable reason. This money isn't going to be reinvested in HE. So our University system will be the most expensive - and yet possibly one of the lowest calibre - in Europe?
I wish I could make millions so that I could set up bursaries for these bright and capable individuals to attend University. I wish I could take my vote back. I wish that our MPs really did do what the people who voted for them really wanted.
If you have made it to the end of this post without wanting to call me a 'leftie' then I thank you. I wanted to share a little bit of my life, my thoughts, in a rare moment of being serious. I could go on for hours but I shan't. If you support our students-to-be, please re-tweet, and let's see if between us we can think of what we 'ordinary' people can do to help people get the education they deserve.
Friday 10 December 2010
Thursday 21 October 2010
Bums and Noses
Ok maybe a childish way to start a post, but for those of you who follow my Twitter you'll know that I was fool enough to fork out money to see Guns n' Roses this week in Manchester. Yes, I know they're past their best, but we saw them about three years ago and they were pretty darned good! So decided to treat ourselves - £50 per ticket!! - on a wet Monday night.
So basically, in a nutshell, we went for a curry, went to the Arena at 8, they were scheduled to be on stage at 8.30 and we expected them on at 9-9.30. Axl Rose, notoriously mature and reliable, is always late on stage. This we know. It's relatively amusing. And, as my future husband said (in an eerie moment of foresight) "Let him be late; it is all he has left".
He wasn't kidding either. He certainly doesn't have his voice left. But I'm jumping ahead. The complete prat actually came on stage at 10.40. We left at around 10.52.
The reasons are many. But the worst reason, the complete truth, is that I couldn't watch him. It was uncomfortable. It was like watching an aged, fallen beauty get trashed at a party and try to cop off with young handsome men. It was like being in Yates's on a Friday night. It was....just.....horrible.
The problem is that Axl still thinks he is a legend. And he's not. He's an older gentleman. He looks like Obelix. And yet in his deluded mind he is a God. But his voice has gone. That amazing wonderful voice that horrified our mothers in the 80s and 90s has gone. And he has nothing left. Lacklustre musicians pretending to be Slash. The most entertaining thing was the fat streaker, who they actually let back in after throwing out. Tells a story that does.
I learned a lot on Monday night. I learned that sometimes in life, you have to accept that your star has fallen. you have to accept to move on and not live in the past. You have to realise what and who you are and live accordingly. He could have gotten away with it if he'd sent himself up, had a bit of humour even!! But no. Mr B's observations were along the lines that he's rich, has all the money in the world, and can do what he wants. Never mind the people who work their arses off to pay £50 to see a washed-up moron try to re-live his youth (hmmm, perhaps not quite over the rage then??). Mr B thinks that people who are rich, proper rich, have their own rules and their own way of life, and constantly look for ways to torment the underclasses.
I believe in living a long rich and fulfilling life. I also believe in breaking the rules and having fun and being cheeky and disrespectful when required. I also believe that you can't polish a turd.
I broke one of my own rules in the car on the way home, by uttering a phrase that had one of our managers at work said it to me, would have met with my response of " would you like some wine? to go with your cheese?". I turned to the lovely man next to me, who has never been a rock God and never will be, and was so happy that we'd had the evening together and had this daft experience, and said to him "You know what? I'm far richer than him".
Cheesey and awful? Yes. True and heartfelt. GOD yes!
So basically, in a nutshell, we went for a curry, went to the Arena at 8, they were scheduled to be on stage at 8.30 and we expected them on at 9-9.30. Axl Rose, notoriously mature and reliable, is always late on stage. This we know. It's relatively amusing. And, as my future husband said (in an eerie moment of foresight) "Let him be late; it is all he has left".
He wasn't kidding either. He certainly doesn't have his voice left. But I'm jumping ahead. The complete prat actually came on stage at 10.40. We left at around 10.52.
The reasons are many. But the worst reason, the complete truth, is that I couldn't watch him. It was uncomfortable. It was like watching an aged, fallen beauty get trashed at a party and try to cop off with young handsome men. It was like being in Yates's on a Friday night. It was....just.....horrible.
The problem is that Axl still thinks he is a legend. And he's not. He's an older gentleman. He looks like Obelix. And yet in his deluded mind he is a God. But his voice has gone. That amazing wonderful voice that horrified our mothers in the 80s and 90s has gone. And he has nothing left. Lacklustre musicians pretending to be Slash. The most entertaining thing was the fat streaker, who they actually let back in after throwing out. Tells a story that does.
I learned a lot on Monday night. I learned that sometimes in life, you have to accept that your star has fallen. you have to accept to move on and not live in the past. You have to realise what and who you are and live accordingly. He could have gotten away with it if he'd sent himself up, had a bit of humour even!! But no. Mr B's observations were along the lines that he's rich, has all the money in the world, and can do what he wants. Never mind the people who work their arses off to pay £50 to see a washed-up moron try to re-live his youth (hmmm, perhaps not quite over the rage then??). Mr B thinks that people who are rich, proper rich, have their own rules and their own way of life, and constantly look for ways to torment the underclasses.
I believe in living a long rich and fulfilling life. I also believe in breaking the rules and having fun and being cheeky and disrespectful when required. I also believe that you can't polish a turd.
I broke one of my own rules in the car on the way home, by uttering a phrase that had one of our managers at work said it to me, would have met with my response of " would you like some wine? to go with your cheese?". I turned to the lovely man next to me, who has never been a rock God and never will be, and was so happy that we'd had the evening together and had this daft experience, and said to him "You know what? I'm far richer than him".
Cheesey and awful? Yes. True and heartfelt. GOD yes!
Friday 24 September 2010
Support from surprising quarters
So I've had an interesting week. Been to London, been to college (in London - reward module of PM&D, gawd bless the CIPD), interviewed in London and been to the #recnet event which led to me meeting some wonderful 'tweeps' for the first time - something I was really anxious about actually but ended up really enjoying!
As many of the 'tweeps' know I had a complete nightmare yesterday. My recruitment officer had buggered up the interview timetable so I had to interview til about 6.30 in central London. We then had to review the candidates - having seen 7 at 50 minute intervals with no review time in between. Naturally we did this in the pub because....erm I could say because the building was closing but the truth is I needed a vino and my colleague needed a 'larger'.
So we evaluated the candidates and realised that we had to second interview which was a bummer, but at least there were 3 appointable candidates, always a bonus and fairly unusual. So we drained our glasses and went our own ways home.
Arriving at the train station I noticed that all the trains were showing delays...and then the dreaded announcement: 'due to signal failure all departures are suspended until further notice'. At 8.45pm in London during London Fashion Week (i.e. no hotels) this is not what you need to hear.
Cutting a potentially longer story short (including someone's stolen purse, a tearful girl who'd had an interview and me giving her money for a burger) I managed to catch the last train from the station to somewhere near where my Dad lives - luckily catching him at home on his only night in the country this month. So I relaxed knowing I'd be there at 10. Only then there was a bomb scare at a station en route and we were delayed; by this time gone 10pm, I'd had no dinner, my phone battery was dying, I was beyond tired and yes, I'll admit it, I had a snivelly pathetic cry on the train. I'm not a cryer so this was fairly bad.
So what's my point? My point is this. I was greatly cheered on this journey. By charming lovely people from Twitter - some I'd met the evening before and some I'd never met before. Some offered messages of support 'let me know if you have to go back to London and I'll do what I can to help' for example (not an exact quote in case that particular pedant responds!), some made witty banter to distract and amuse, some just sent good wishes for a safe journey. It was too late really to phone my friends on a' school night' whilst I was in this state, so I'd just been offloading to the 'Universe' on twitter - and by goodness was I supported.
Some people look down their noses at social networking and see it as pretentious, sad, for the lonely etc... I'm not lonely. I have wonderful friends, a wonderful fiance and a wonderful family. What I have now, hopefully, is the start of several new wonderful friendships.
Damn you guys are awesome :-)
As many of the 'tweeps' know I had a complete nightmare yesterday. My recruitment officer had buggered up the interview timetable so I had to interview til about 6.30 in central London. We then had to review the candidates - having seen 7 at 50 minute intervals with no review time in between. Naturally we did this in the pub because....erm I could say because the building was closing but the truth is I needed a vino and my colleague needed a 'larger'.
So we evaluated the candidates and realised that we had to second interview which was a bummer, but at least there were 3 appointable candidates, always a bonus and fairly unusual. So we drained our glasses and went our own ways home.
Arriving at the train station I noticed that all the trains were showing delays...and then the dreaded announcement: 'due to signal failure all departures are suspended until further notice'. At 8.45pm in London during London Fashion Week (i.e. no hotels) this is not what you need to hear.
Cutting a potentially longer story short (including someone's stolen purse, a tearful girl who'd had an interview and me giving her money for a burger) I managed to catch the last train from the station to somewhere near where my Dad lives - luckily catching him at home on his only night in the country this month. So I relaxed knowing I'd be there at 10. Only then there was a bomb scare at a station en route and we were delayed; by this time gone 10pm, I'd had no dinner, my phone battery was dying, I was beyond tired and yes, I'll admit it, I had a snivelly pathetic cry on the train. I'm not a cryer so this was fairly bad.
So what's my point? My point is this. I was greatly cheered on this journey. By charming lovely people from Twitter - some I'd met the evening before and some I'd never met before. Some offered messages of support 'let me know if you have to go back to London and I'll do what I can to help' for example (not an exact quote in case that particular pedant responds!), some made witty banter to distract and amuse, some just sent good wishes for a safe journey. It was too late really to phone my friends on a' school night' whilst I was in this state, so I'd just been offloading to the 'Universe' on twitter - and by goodness was I supported.
Some people look down their noses at social networking and see it as pretentious, sad, for the lonely etc... I'm not lonely. I have wonderful friends, a wonderful fiance and a wonderful family. What I have now, hopefully, is the start of several new wonderful friendships.
Damn you guys are awesome :-)
Tuesday 21 September 2010
To love or not to love?
I've recently been joining the worlds of Twitter and Linkedin and realising that there's a whole heap more social and professional networking going on than I've realised, and I feel left out. Whilst never exactly 'cutting edge', I do like to consider myself 'up to speed' on most things, and as a 'professional' Resourcing Manager I'm clearly missing a trick or five.
The problem has been that I have been out of love with the establishment I'm working in recently. I'm fairly pragmatic underneath the insanity. I can deal with change and challenge and trauma as long as I understand the end game. And the end game is not clear to me. So I became demotivated and my level of emotional commitment bottomed out. Then I was ill, which is unusual. And didn't care about being off work. And so it goes and so it went.
I've been back at work for two days and seem to have some love back. I think that my body gave up for a little after a huge amount of time working solidly with no break. I'm being lined up to work on a huge project which is exciting, challenging, and according to one Director a 'vote of confidence in my abilities'! I'm discovering the art of delegation. And I'm going to brave a networking event in the big city. Probably. Unless I bottle it. Which I am only aware of through Tweeting. I'm catching up!
So I guess my first question would be, do you have to be in love with the establishment you work in, to some degree, in order to do a good job? Are you more effective out of love? Does it make you challenge more?
I've got a good idea what has worked best for me in the past but maybe I need to change and evolve, and not just in terms of social and professional networking. I've always excused myself the emotional stuff because I was 'young', but I can't hide behind that one anymore!
In a nutshell - fight or flight?!?
The problem has been that I have been out of love with the establishment I'm working in recently. I'm fairly pragmatic underneath the insanity. I can deal with change and challenge and trauma as long as I understand the end game. And the end game is not clear to me. So I became demotivated and my level of emotional commitment bottomed out. Then I was ill, which is unusual. And didn't care about being off work. And so it goes and so it went.
I've been back at work for two days and seem to have some love back. I think that my body gave up for a little after a huge amount of time working solidly with no break. I'm being lined up to work on a huge project which is exciting, challenging, and according to one Director a 'vote of confidence in my abilities'! I'm discovering the art of delegation. And I'm going to brave a networking event in the big city. Probably. Unless I bottle it. Which I am only aware of through Tweeting. I'm catching up!
So I guess my first question would be, do you have to be in love with the establishment you work in, to some degree, in order to do a good job? Are you more effective out of love? Does it make you challenge more?
I've got a good idea what has worked best for me in the past but maybe I need to change and evolve, and not just in terms of social and professional networking. I've always excused myself the emotional stuff because I was 'young', but I can't hide behind that one anymore!
In a nutshell - fight or flight?!?
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