I remember how it was -- JR
Communist Pro-Gaza Students Chase Jacob Rees-Mogg After Speech at Cardiff University
Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg was hounded by student protesters waving communist and Palestinian flags after giving a speech at Cardiff University on Friday evening.
The former minister was escorted to a vehicle by a group of security guards, with protesters shouting, drumming, and pressing placards against the window, footage shared on social media show.
The protest was organised by socialist Welsh Underground Network and societies including Cardiff Communists, Socialist Students, Lecturers Against Genocide, and Cardiff Geen Soc.
MPs criticised the protesters, saying their behaviour was “unacceptable” and “shrill intimidatory idiocy.”
Sir Jacob was invited to Cardiff University by the college’s Conservative and Unionist Association.
Following the event, he was filmed being bundled into a security vehicle, as one protester draped himself over the car’s bonnet before being pulled away by guards.
Protesters were filmed waving placards, a Palestinian flag, and two Revolutionary Communist Party flags.
They were also shouting with megaphones and drumming. One protester could be heard shouting “Tory [expletive].”
Ahead of the event, Cardiff Communists shared a poster on Instagram, calling on students to “unite against imperialist politicians” on campus.
Welsh Underground Network said it demands that “no politicians be allowed to speak on campus for the wellbeing of all students and faculty” in a poster shared on X, formerly Twitter.
After the incident, the group wrote that protesters had “managed to block the doors, shutting them inside for several houes [sic],” and doubled down on their hostility against Sir Jacob.
“Mogg left under a barrage of our anger, anger at his zionism, anger at his cruelty to the working class, anger at his very existence,” the X post reads.
The group added, “No zionist politician should be able to walk our streets in peace, they shouldn’t be able to open their mouths without being shouted down.”
Commenting on the protest, Sir Jacob said, “It was a legitimate and peaceful if noisy protest.
“The Cardiff University security team was exemplary in allowing a lawful protest while keeping everyone safe.
“Universities ought to be bastions of free speech and as both the protesters and I were able to give our views without fear or intimidation the proper traditions of adversarial debate were upheld.”
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden posted on X that he’s sure Sir Jacob “will have taken it in his stride but no elected politician should have to put up with this shrill intimidatory idiocy.”
Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, said she’s “concerned by footage of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s treatment by protesters in Cardiff.
“I disagree with him on almost everything, but we cannot accept a culture of intimidation in our politics,” she said.
“The right to lawful protest is sacrosanct, but harassment and intimidation is unacceptable.”
The incident came after the Office for Students published draft free speech guidance for universities on what they should and should not do.
Gearing up for its new power to police free speech on campus, the OfS has warned universities against cancelling speaking events, and said they should resist pressure to fire or penalise staff or students over their speech and provide timely support to them.
According to the Cambridge Independent, The new Revolutionary Communist Party was launched across the UK on April 6.
The Leninist party also said on Thursday that it’s “organising on campuses across the country” to “kick capitalism out of education.”
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New York School Spending Led All US by Record Margin in 2021-22
Public elementary and secondary school spending in New York hit a new record high of $29,873 per pupil in 2021-22, according to the Census Bureau’s latest annual school finance data—inching closer to fully twice the national average of $15,633 amid a significant post-pandemic decline in pupil performance.
Inflated by a massive increase in state “foundation aid,” New York’s preK-12 per-pupil spending was up $3,302, or 12.4 percent, which was the biggest increase of any state in dollar terms. In percentage terms, New York’s increase ranked fifth highest in a year when total U.S. per-pupil spending rose 8.9 percent, which the Census Bureau described as the largest nationwide percentage increase in 20 years.
The education spending gap between the Empire State and the rest of the country has more than quadrupled since 2000, as shown below.
With total public school enrollment sinking to levels unseen since the early 1950s, New York’s per-pupil spending is sure to rise comfortably above $30,000 in 2022-23. New York’s latest school property tax report cards, covering districts outside the state’s five largest cities, point to spending levels of nearly $32,000 per pupil in 2023-24.
The Census Bureau’s annual Elementary and Secondary Education Finance data for 2021-22 reflect a continuation of several long-standing patterns in New York school spending as compared to education finances in other states:
New York’s high spending level was driven primarily by instructional salaries and benefits—which, at $20,533 per pupil, were 120 percent above the national average of $9,348, the census data show. New York’s spending in this category (i.e., money in the classroom) exceeded the total per-pupil school spending of all but five other states and the District of Columbia.
In the category of “support services,” which measures the bureaucratic overhead of central district and school building administration, New York ranked sixth with spending of $8,762 per pupil, which was 54 percent above the national average.
However, if New York had only spent the national average in the support category, it still would have ranked first in overall per-pupil spending among the 50 states—undercutting any claims that New York’s high spending is due simply to the administrative costs of maintaining nearly 700 school districts.
Relative to personal income, New York’s elementary and secondary education spending of $56.49 per $1,000 ranked third, slightly behind Alaska and Vermont, 38 percent above the national average by this measure.
Excluding charter schools, New York’s public elementary and secondary schools had 2.37 million pupils and spent $76 billion on current operations in 2021-22—exceeded only by California, which spent about $93 billion on a public school system with 5.35 million pupils. Public schools spending in Texas, with 5 million pupils, was $16 billion lower than in New York. Florida schools had 2.8 million pupils but spent $32 billion, less than half the New York total.
New York City’s spending of $35,914 per pupil topped all of the nation’s 100 largest school systems. Los Angeles, second only to New York City when measured by enrollment, spent $21,940 per pupil, and Chicago spent $21,050.
As shown in the comparative table below, New York State also continues to spend considerably more than neighboring northeastern states with similarly powerful public education lobbies and high living costs. On a per-pupil basis, New York’s public school expenditures in 2020-21 were 22 percent higher than Connecticut’s, 19 percent higher than New Jersey’s, and 36 percent higher than Massachusetts’.
https://heartlanddailynews.com/2024/04/new-york-school-spending-led-all-us-record-margin-2021-22/
******************************************Australia: Financial Help for Uni Students on Placement Floated
Financial help might be offered to university students completing unpaid placements as part of their degrees, as unions warn failure to provide support will result in greater workforce shortages.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the federal government was considering relief for people with university debts and students undergoing required practical placements in their courses.
“We are looking at both of those things for the budget,” Mr. Chalmers told reporters on April 22.
Students studying nursing and teaching are among those required to complete unpaid placements to finish their degrees, and can be left struggling to pay bills especially during the cost of living crisis.
Last week, the prime minister suggested Labor was looking to reduce the rate of student debt indexation to stop money owed growing by more than four per cent in 2024.
Higher Education Loan Program (Help) debts are indexed to inflation, which resulted in a 7.1 percent jump in people’s debts in 2023.
Mr. Chalmers said the government acknowledged that students were under pressure.
“If we can afford to do something to help on that front, that’s obviously something we'll consider as we finalise the budget,” he said.
The Universities Accord report, released earlier in 2024, recommended the Commonwealth ensure student loans did not outpace wage growth.
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association assistant general secretary Michael Whaites said he strongly recommended paid placements for nursing and midwifery students.
They must carry out up to six months or 800 hours of unpaid clinical work in NSW, which carried immense financial pressure and at times placed students in poverty, he said.
“Failure to address this will continue to contribute to the workforce shortages that currently exist in nursing and midwifery, and this is untenable if we are to continue to deliver high quality health care in our health systems,” Mr. Whaites said.
“We hear a lot of stories of people having to ultimately drop out because they’re just not able to maintain the full amount of unpaid work, which can be as much as six to eight weeks in their final year of study, which is devastating after already having undertaken more than two years of study.”
The budget will be handed down on May 14.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/financial-help-for-uni-students-on-placement-floated-5634435
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