Skipper

The Daily Telegraph reckons the students' 'perfectly good case'. case has been 'undermined' by their illadvised attack on the Millbank Tower Tory HQ. The Guardian, on the other hand thinks that the clashes which saw 14 injured and 34 arrested is 'just the beginning'. It's fairly obvious that both assessments are correct; the minority who led the attack- some brandishing anarchist flags we learn- have certainly alienated some moderate opinion but their excesses have certainly won the headlines- modern media being what it is.

Given the relatively liberal setting in which the cuts have been made- poor students receive more help and the threshold for repayment has been raised from £15K to £21K- such robust protest would seem to presage much more of the same on this the six month anniversary of the Coalition's creation. So far people are still digesting the scope of the cuts and few of them have had a chance to bite. Once the pain is felt I think we will see many more demonstrations and quite possibly more violent protests. It is often said British political culture is relatiovely calm and peaceful compared to the volatile French and the even more so Mediterranean Greeks. However, the poll tax riots in 1990 showed that while the Brits are slow to anger, once their blood is up they can riot as much as anyone in Europe. I tend to think The Guardian's headline was then more relevant to the future than the Telegraph's.

It's unfair for the Coalition to receive all the blame for cuts any government would have had to impose to some extent- though the depth and timing of such cuts is of course debatable- but, as Labour discovered with the Economic recession and the Expenses scandal, incumbent governments tend to be balmed for bad things which happen on their watch. I think Coaliton ministers should start getting measured up for tin hats.