Support our Students

Last night, on the way home from work, I thought I’d pop into WH Smiths to have a browse of their books while I waited for my train. But when I got to Euston Station I found that it had become the scene of a student protest about the controversial proposed hike in tuition fees.

Student Protest at Euston Station

For those of you not in the know, the British coalition government want to dramatically increase the annual university tuition fees from £3,290 to as much as £9,000. And although these fees don’t have to be paid back until after the student graduates and is earning £21,000 per annum, many people are vehemently opposed to such measures.

I am one of those people – and that’s why I ended up making an impromptu, impassioned speech at Euston last night.

I went to university back in the 1980s – in the glory days of student grants and minimal fees.  This was also back in the day when only 10% of people went to university (now I believe that figure is something like 46%).

I was the only person in my (very wide) friendship group who came from a council estate. And most of my friends were lucky enough to have wealthy parents who would magically pay off the debts they had run up each term. Several friends even had credit cards given to them by their parents so that they  could spend to their heart’s content while at uni. 

By the time I returned home for my second year summer holidays I was deeply in debt and deeply depressed. I remember (to my shame) actually being resentful that my parents didn’t have the means to pay off my overdraft. I got a summer job in a video store, felt a massive sense of relief at being financially solvent, and never returned to university to complete my degree.

All of those who argue that students from poorer backgrounds will be put off applying to university by the prospect of accruing massive debt are absolutely right. When you are eighteen years old and have experienced financial hardship your entire life the last thing you want to do is saddle yourself with thousands of pounds worth of debt.

I found the students at yesterday’s protest really inspiring. And it was really nice to see people voicing their concerns in such an articulate and passionate way.

To echo a sentiment from my last blog – what kind of society indirectly denies huge swathes of its population the access to further education? As one of yesterday’s speakers so eloquently put it, us coming together to protest about the cuts to further education is what ‘big society’ is all about, David Cameron – not targeting the poorest and most vulnerable. 

To see a video of highlights from yesterday’s protest please click here.

Don’t Be Silent Over Libraries

When I was a kid we didn’t have a TV.

In the playground this could be a real source of embarrassment but most times it didn’t matter at all because I always had an endless supply of books.

And I always had an endless supply of books because of my local library.

Every Saturday my mum would take us to the library and I can honestly say it was the highlight of my week. This was back in the day before barcodes so I would browse the shelves clutching my scruffy cardboard library tickets, wondering what magical worlds they would take me to this time.

Who needed a TV when you could escape through the back of a wardrobe to a place called Narnia or experience pioneer life in a little house on a prairie?

I can honestly say without a shadow of doubt that it was my local library that instilled in me the love of books that would ultimately lead to me becoming a writer.

I even used to play at being a librarian, setting up a pretend library in my bedroom and forcing my younger siblings to come and ‘borrow’ books from me. I would issue them with home-made paper tickets and pretend stamp their books with the end of my biro. Over and over again. No wonder none of them have set foot in a library since!

But all jokes aside, libraries have always played a key role in my life – from providing me with access to shelves full of of dream worlds when I was a kid, to a quiet place to study for my A levels as a teenager, to a place to take my own son for story-time when he was little. And more recently, as an author, I have run weekly writing groups in two London libraries for six years. And countless workshops for children in between.

Giving an Author Talk in a Library

Recently, when I moved to a new area, one of the first things I did was join my local library. When the librarian was telling me all about the fantastic services they offer apart from books she finished with the rather ominous, ‘of course that’s if we’re still open next year’.

Because right now the austerity axe hangs over our library service, poised to cut up to half of the libraries in some boroughs.

Now I understand the need for cuts in the current economic climate but really, what kind of society decides to deprive its kids of books?

And it will be the poorer kids who suffer the most. The kids like me, growing up on council estates whose parents can’t afford to buy them four new books every week.

As someone who has run many writing workshops for kids in deprived areas I have seen at first hand the power of books and writing to transform lives.

For the government to target these kids whilst bankers’ bonuses continue to soar is to me unforgiveable. Other writers have described it as ‘cultural vandalism’. I would say it’s a cultural travesty.

So let’s break with tradition and rather than be silent, let’s shout for our libraries before it’s too late.

The writer Alan Gibbons is running a fantastic campaign on his website and you can also join the Facebook group Campaign for the Book for more details of how you can help.

Let it Snow

Hands up who’s snowed in?

This week in my new home village (and most of the rest of Britain!) we got the first snowfall of the winter and I have to say it’s so much nicer in the countryside than the grey slush we would get in London.

I’ve spent most of this week feeling as if I’m walking around in a Christmas card.

Here’s a picture of a cottage I pass when I’m walking my dog…

See what I mean?!

I also love the way the snow shakes things up a little – schools and offices are forced to shut and people are able to break from their rat race routine to do fun things like sledging and have snow ball fights.

In my job as a children’s fiction editor I normally commute to East London but this week I’ve had to work from home, snuggled up on the sofa with my dog Max.

Max helping me edit a manuscript!

I’ve also had a massive snowball fight and drunk mulled wine by an open fire.

I think it’s a really healthy thing to break from routine. It makes you feel fresh and alive. Maybe we shouldn’t wait for snow to come along to prompt us into doing crazy things… Maybe we should make at least one day a week a ‘snow day’ and do something fun and different…