I had it drawn to my attention by the wonderful Mediawatch that Kezia Dugdale was having a go at the YSI.
I'd considered whether to respond to this on her blog, but as Ms Dugdale moderates comments, I didn't think it would be worth it.
For her, and anyone elses's benefit, the YSI wouldn't be having info on policies like student debt on it's website because it's the youth, not the student wing of the party. Student issues are not our bag. We draw our membership from young people aged 14 - 26, and campaign for things like votes at 16, rights for the children of asylum seekers, and, of course, we take the independence message to Scotland's youth.
Student interests are particularly narrow and selfish interests - which I respect, having been a student - but these interests are much better served by the FSN acting on it's own than a joint organisation trying to meet the needs of very different groups. Not all young people are students, and not all students are young people.
Anyhoo, perhaps Ms Dugdale will have less time to spend slagging off other parties on her blog now she's taken on such an elevated position. Wonder whether she'll manage to do any better in the job than her predecessors...
I'd considered whether to respond to this on her blog, but as Ms Dugdale moderates comments, I didn't think it would be worth it.
For her, and anyone elses's benefit, the YSI wouldn't be having info on policies like student debt on it's website because it's the youth, not the student wing of the party. Student issues are not our bag. We draw our membership from young people aged 14 - 26, and campaign for things like votes at 16, rights for the children of asylum seekers, and, of course, we take the independence message to Scotland's youth.
Student interests are particularly narrow and selfish interests - which I respect, having been a student - but these interests are much better served by the FSN acting on it's own than a joint organisation trying to meet the needs of very different groups. Not all young people are students, and not all students are young people.
Anyhoo, perhaps Ms Dugdale will have less time to spend slagging off other parties on her blog now she's taken on such an elevated position. Wonder whether she'll manage to do any better in the job than her predecessors...
2 comments:
Alison,
Yes, i do have comment moderation on my blog and if you she received the level of abuse that I do - I'm sure you'd do the same. However, I can categorically assure you that I publish every comment as long as the writer puts their name to it and uses appropriate language.
And as for the student debt policy. You are perhaps naive to pigeon hole it as a "student" issue. There are currently 352,000 people in Scotland withoutstanding student debt. They could £1 or £5,000. They could be 22 or 56.
The range of Scots the SNP have let down on this issue is breath-taking. Your attempts to shake it off and make hay out of my predecessors is weak politics indeed.
Of course it's a student issue - non students don't tend to have student debt.
If you mean that it's a wider economic problem and part of the increasing indebtedness of our society, then you're right, and that should have been fully considered back when the system was being set up and grants largely abolished.
That said, it's not necessarily an issue for the YSI to deal with as an organisation, so it's still unfair of you to make mention of our website in that sense.
Regarding the moderation of comments - I've not had anything I've had to moderate on so far (touch wood), but maybe I'm just lucky that way.
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