NUS thugs must be arrested and thrown out of their unis

[longfingernails]

Criminal damage, arson, assualt - even attempted murder (throwing a fire extinguisher into the crowd from the roof). This is unacceptable behaviour.

I am disappointed that the police didn't have a grip on the situation.

The only good thing to come out of all this is that it will totally undermine support for the NUS and Labour. The new solution isn't perfect but takes all the important steps. It is a vast improvement on the current situation.

I'm impressed that students, who have been quiescent for so long, have proved thay still have it in them to make their mark. I'm proud of them. This is an important matter.
As for the lad who threw the fire extinguisher - what a fool. It WAS lucky he didn't kill anyone, but now he's thinking straight again he'll definitely be regretting having been carried away so dangerously. Remember, he was one in 50,000.

Me too Custy, I dont condone the violence and am pleased that there wasn't anyone seriously injured, but am impressed with the strength of the demo. About time.

Thought HH was hilarious at PMQ yesterday. Good on her.

Oh the black flaggers always turn up at every demo...they are small in number, but super aggressive.

And yes, HH was on top form yesterday.

''Did I dream it today or did David "cap immigration because it is the root of all evil" Conmaneron actually say that the rise in tuition fees for UK citizens will help Chinese students to come and study in England because it will lower prices for them?'

I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand it is appalling, hypocritical and insulting. On the other, thank goodness he realises that higher education is effectively one of our most successful export industries and China is a crucial expanding market. The way he's been handling the immigration issue made me wonder if he had actually noticed.

LFN

oh really, and what happens when we're back in credit. will students have to pay privately for higher education then?

We haven't been in credit for about 400 years, so I'm unsure whether the plan is to go back to the situation as it was then.

The suffragettes caused criminal damage when their blood was up. They were good people and we should be proud of our students as well.

The boy who threw the fire extinguisher was a fool and dangerous - but
I bet he's a boy, not a man, and got (dangerously) carried away. The Daily Mail is pressing for him to be charged with attempted murder! Bollocks. But it IS still lucky he didn't kill someone; he could be facing a manslaughter charge.

Does anyone else think it was a jolly good thing that the police presence was 'inadequate'? Nobody got killed, unlike that unfortunate newspaper seller at the G20 demonstration in the summer. And he wasn't killed by people voicing their protest, but by our forces of law and order, was he not?

Trying to justify attempted murder is just wrong. There is no excuse. None. The evil perpetrator who tried to murder the brave riot police should face the full weight of the law, and be sentenced to at least 10 years.

What a pile of rubbish - why not call for real murderers to be brought to account eg the copper who killed Ian Tomlinson! Throwing a fire extinguisher was stupid and dangerous and that's why it was the students themselves that put a stop to it - once again here are the real students who are to blame!

iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-bullingdon-club/

Can I just say that fees for Chinese students will always be higher as non-EU citizens?

Has Dave any idea abot higher education and its workings at all?

It seems the person arrested for throwing the extinguisher was 23. Hardly a small boy in the first flush of youth!

An example should be made of him. If he is guilty, I hope he doesn't see freedom before he is 35.

bad luck LFN, the government are so broke they're even cutting prison funding! sentences are going to plummet!

you see, this government can't even please hard line right wingers.

allegrageller They are cutting short prison sentences. Thankfully, attempted murder still carries a long sentence, last time I looked.

Ain't going to happen, Longfingernails.

dotnet

Why not? The video footage fairly clearly shows it was deliberate and pre-meditated.

attempted murder sentences are usually less than life (which as you should know is 14 years). The most this guy will get is manslaughter. It will be very hard to prove he intended to kill; he was being stupid and reckless (can you tell I'm a criminal law lecturer?)

he will get less than 10 years believe me. And be out in a lot less.

If you think they're just cutting short sentences you are direly wrong. This government don't actually give a shit about justice, protection of the public, anything whatever except the unacceptable size of Vodafone's tax bill.

nb the 14 years is the usual 'life' sentence. usually the recommendation is 'at least 10 years' in prison- for actual murder.

alle - are you really a lecturer in criminal law? It doesn't read that way. You read incredibly ill-informed.

The reduction in imprisonment, as a result of spending restrictions, will be acheived at the expense of short prison sentencing i.e les than 12 months. The rate of recidivism for this group is at 75%.

The other notable thing is that women tend to spend no more than 7 weeks in custody, on average at our local priosn. Magistrates need to grasp the stupidity of their sentencing practices.

btw, why are we talking about manslaughter, or attemted murder??

ah! I seeee..it's LFN again. Ok.

Hello longfingernails! Other people have made the point really, but the fire extinguisher boy/man...
is most unlikely to be proved to have attempted murder.

No jury in the country would see his stupid deed as anything other than the unthinking action of someone who is young, adrenalin-pumped and who lost his head.

He won't get off scot-free, though. What he did was just too stupid.

I'm 99.9% certain he must now be feeling, 'oh, shit...' and is very, very embarrassed and ashamed.

"It will be very hard to prove he intended to kill; he was being stupid and reckless (can you tell I'm a criminal law lecturer?)"

It would be argued that the act of deliberately throwing a heavy metal object from a tall building in to a crowd is sufficiently reckless that the perpetrator would have known that it stood a good chance of killing someone - even if he wasn't aiming it for anyone in particular.

There doesn't necessarily have to be an "intent" for it to be murder.

He probably won't be charged with attempted murder - though he definitely should.

LFN, your comment regarding demonstraters attempting to murder the Police, all I can say is what goes around comes around, Tomlinson anyone

Tomlinson wasn't murdered - not even close. The two aren't even remotely comparable.