Thinking back to Tom Geese’s blog on community spirit, I came across this when I should have been doing something more productive. The original article is a pile of shite, but the comments below give an interesting if depressing glimpse of the two Selly Oaks- the permanent comunity and the student bubble…
Daily Archives: 16 January, 2008
No Platform Policy thunders on…
Weary readers will remember that a short while ago we had a blog debate on No Platform Policy. One of the points I raised in my arguments against it was the (ever so slightly provocative) suggestion we No-Platform the entire Catholic church, for the devastating effect their policies on abortion and condoms have on thousands of people.
Imagine the grin on my face when I picked up my Guardian today to find that an Italian University had gone one better, and No-Platformed the Pope. Scores of students and teachers held protests highly reminiscent of those that greeted David Irving and Nick Griffin at Oxford to protest against this denier of science and inquisition-sympathiser being allowed in to speak.
Tomorrow the Guild of Students will be debating banning yet another group from campus, in this case arms dealers. I will be voting against it, and will be very interested to see if the voting profile on this one matches that for No Platform Policy. People have tried to explain to me how this is not the same issue, that arms dealers do peaceful things too and that if our graduates were not allowed access to such companies they would just go to the next campus and pick up the graduates there. My reply to these arguments is that they can also be applied to No-Platform policy; fascists will just spread their message elsewhere, and not all of the BNPs policies are racist (at least I assume their environmental policy isn’t, although if I’m honest I haven’t checked).
I’m scared that we are becoming swept up in a hysteria of banning everyone we disagree with. I have asked the question before, if we are going to start banning people where do we draw the line? Right now the line is to me blurry, and slowly slipping into the distance…
Tory MP in alien shock!!
Towards the end of Prime Ministers Questions today, a senior Conservative MP admitted his habits of planet hopping. Brian Binley, arose to ask a question but failed to get the words out of his mouth. After some gentle nudging from colleagues, Mr. Binley was stirred from his daze, admitting “Mr. Speaker, there are times when I am on another planet, that was one of them!”
Leader of the Conservatives, Uncle Dave, failed to comment, instead rushing from the scene to hold top-level talks about the future of Mr. Binley, the MP for Northampton South. Sources have told BULS that a comprehensive review of the Tory selection procedures will be undertook, to ensure that no further extra-terrestrial beings are able to work their way into the Conservative Party.
