Student Question Time – Timetable and Questions
From Friday the 16th of April the party leaders will begin replying to students questions on the site, the schedule is as follows:
The Q&As will take place within the official election forum on The Student Room, with the responses eagerly awaited from the audience of The Student Room. The General Election 2010 is the most active forum ascross the whole site now, generating over 2,000 posts in the last 24 hours!
We had a massive response for questions, over 400 were submitted in the thread. So thank you to all of our users who feel strongly enough about their vote and the political future of their country to engage with the leaders of the major political parties. As you will read (if you have time to go through 16 pages of posts!) pretty much all of the questions submitted are thought-provoking, genuinely heartfelt and evidence of the astuteness of today’s (historically much-maligned in the media) graduate generation.
From that 400 we chose 10 questions that were either reocurring ‘hot topics’ or that we felt would provide genuinely unique or insightful information from the leaders that they haven’t provided elsewhere.
The questions that have gone to the leaders, and the usernames of the TSR users who had their questions submitted are below. Congratulations to those whose questions were chosen.
Questions to the leaders from the Students of the UK
Q1: How do you plan to respond to the growing prevalence of unpaid internships, including parliamentary internships? What is your view on unpaid internships, placements and work experience in relation to the law and to National Minimum Wage rules? How will you ensure that internships are open to all, rather than to those who are in a position to work for free?
Posted by eddy2375
Q2: With many students living independently of their parents, why should student finance depend on their income? Why not be fair, and give everyone an equal platform in which to start their education, giving everyone the same amount of money? Then the rest that they need they can supplement from external sources i.e. a job/overdraft/family.
Variations posted by Ronar, .:Aimee:., Philosopher-of-sorts, Schmokie Dragon
Q3: To what extent do you view university as a place for personal development and interest, learning and beginning research compared to providing training for the business world or world of work?
Posted by Prudy
Q4: What clubs and societies were you a member of in your university days? Do you still have the same interests today?
Posted by iloverockandroll
Q5. There’s been an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the young to the old over recent years – unsustainable pensions that won’t be available for our generation, huge house price rises and vastly increased healthcare spending primarily for older people – and this is likely to get worse as the baby boomers retire and there will be far fewer workers to pensioners. Do you think this is fair and what will you do, if anything, to address this?
Variations posted by Krakatoa, Tednol
Q6: Will you reconsider the Digital Economy Bill considering the manner it was pushed through, without proper scrutiny, the lack of MPs in attendance at the Bill’s hearing and also taking into account that some ministers have demonstrated considerable lack of technical knowledge on the consequences of the proposed legislation?
Variations posted by The-Wi$e-One, SumTingWong, Tawm, ScoCmac, Repressor, Slam, CompactDestruction, Squirrelbo1, passthelemon,The Magic Manatee,
Q7. What would you do on a gap year if you could take one today?
Posted by Spongepantssquarebob
Q8: For some time now, monetary policies have been made independently by the Bank of England, which stops decisions on these policies from being politically biased, thus preventing such situations as interest rates being modified unfavourably simply to garner votes. Similarly, are there any other areas of decision-making you feel would be best delegated to an independent body instead of remaining under government control (i.e. an independent drugs advisory committee) whereby these policies could then be decided free from political bias?
Posted by: innerhollow
Q9: How and to what extent will your party continue to fight for LGBT equality/issues? How much of a real priority is this for your party?
Posted by Flossy_, robbo3045, fretter778, Schmokie Dragon,
Q10: Recent discussions with regard to the cuts that need to be made to recover the national deficit has highlighted (by all parties) the scientific research budget as one of the places where cuts will take place.
I, like many others, believe that science is one of the key ways to bring us out of the economical situation we are in by reducing our dependence on banks. Simultaneously, won’t this result in a brain drain from the UK? What are your views on this, and what are your party policies on scientific research funding?
Posted by tangohead, whizz_kid
Every month we’ll be gathering all the latest and greatest Insight from The Student Room and producing tailored newsletters for each key area of student life.
Student Question Time – Shortlisted Questions and Timetable
Student Question Time – Timetable and Questions
From Friday the 16th of April the party leaders will begin replying to students questions on the site, the schedule is as follows:
The Q&As will take place within the official election forum on The Student Room, with the responses eagerly awaited from the audience of The Student Room. The General Election 2010 is the most active forum ascross the whole site now, generating over 2,000 posts in the last 24 hours!
We had a massive response for questions, over 400 were submitted in the thread. So thank you to all of our users who feel strongly enough about their vote and the political future of their country to engage with the leaders of the major political parties. As you will read (if you have time to go through 16 pages of posts!) pretty much all of the questions submitted are thought-provoking, genuinely heartfelt and evidence of the astuteness of today’s (historically much-maligned in the media) graduate generation.
From that 400 we chose 10 questions that were either reocurring ‘hot topics’ or that we felt would provide genuinely unique or insightful information from the leaders that they haven’t provided elsewhere.
The questions that have gone to the leaders, and the usernames of the TSR users who had their questions submitted are below. Congratulations to those whose questions were chosen.
Questions to the leaders from the Students of the UK
Q1: How do you plan to respond to the growing prevalence of unpaid internships, including parliamentary internships? What is your view on unpaid internships, placements and work experience in relation to the law and to National Minimum Wage rules? How will you ensure that internships are open to all, rather than to those who are in a position to work for free?
Posted by eddy2375
Q2: With many students living independently of their parents, why should student finance depend on their income? Why not be fair, and give everyone an equal platform in which to start their education, giving everyone the same amount of money? Then the rest that they need they can supplement from external sources i.e. a job/overdraft/family.
Variations posted by Ronar, .:Aimee:., Philosopher-of-sorts, Schmokie Dragon
Q3: To what extent do you view university as a place for personal development and interest, learning and beginning research compared to providing training for the business world or world of work?
Posted by Prudy
Q4: What clubs and societies were you a member of in your university days? Do you still have the same interests today?
Posted by iloverockandroll
Q5. There’s been an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the young to the old over recent years – unsustainable pensions that won’t be available for our generation, huge house price rises and vastly increased healthcare spending primarily for older people – and this is likely to get worse as the baby boomers retire and there will be far fewer workers to pensioners. Do you think this is fair and what will you do, if anything, to address this?
Variations posted by Krakatoa, Tednol
Q6: Will you reconsider the Digital Economy Bill considering the manner it was pushed through, without proper scrutiny, the lack of MPs in attendance at the Bill’s hearing and also taking into account that some ministers have demonstrated considerable lack of technical knowledge on the consequences of the proposed legislation?
Variations posted by The-Wi$e-One, SumTingWong, Tawm, ScoCmac, Repressor, Slam, CompactDestruction, Squirrelbo1, passthelemon,The Magic Manatee,
Q7. What would you do on a gap year if you could take one today?
Posted by Spongepantssquarebob
Q8: For some time now, monetary policies have been made independently by the Bank of England, which stops decisions on these policies from being politically biased, thus preventing such situations as interest rates being modified unfavourably simply to garner votes. Similarly, are there any other areas of decision-making you feel would be best delegated to an independent body instead of remaining under government control (i.e. an independent drugs advisory committee) whereby these policies could then be decided free from political bias?
Posted by: innerhollow
Q9: How and to what extent will your party continue to fight for LGBT equality/issues? How much of a real priority is this for your party?
Posted by Flossy_, robbo3045, fretter778, Schmokie Dragon,
Q10: Recent discussions with regard to the cuts that need to be made to recover the national deficit has highlighted (by all parties) the scientific research budget as one of the places where cuts will take place.
I, like many others, believe that science is one of the key ways to bring us out of the economical situation we are in by reducing our dependence on banks. Simultaneously, won’t this result in a brain drain from the UK? What are your views on this, and what are your party policies on scientific research funding?
Posted by tangohead, whizz_kid
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