I just watched the bbc lunchtime news as usual and was appalled to see that there was nothing about the closure of the ILF on there. As I write, thousands of people with disabilities are protesting in Whitehall. I would have been there too had circumstances permitted. We are fighting for our freedom, indeed our lives, against a group of inhumane p’tahks who think it is more important to lower tax for the rich than to fund independence for people with disabilities. I cannot find the words right now to express my hatred and revulsion for the conservative party: thousands will suffer, yet they don’t give a shit. We’re expected just to sit back and allow these insults to humanity rule over us, preaching their doctrine of greed as if it is somehow noble to be selfish, while more and more people die. The welfare state and the nhs, the two great British contributions to civilisation, will be destroyed by the tories, and we can do fuck all about it – they don’t even allow our protests to be shown on the lunchtime news.

How wonderful it was to watch Sir David Attenborough meet Barack Obama last night. I was entranced. Say what you might about television history, use all the glowing adjectives you like, just to see those men chatting like old friends, putting the world to rights, was sheer joy. Mind you, I also found it very educational: the range of Attenborough’s knowledge combined with Obama’s warmth to draw the viewer in. My only regret was that there wasn’t more of it – the interview only lasted 35 minutes and was interspersed with cut-aways, so I was left wanting more. It was clear that both men were highly intelligent and vastly knowledgable, yet there was little in the way of detail. Oh well, a great piece of tv nevertheless.

(it’s no longer on bbc iplayer. Check it out here)

Lyn and I rarely discuss her financial situation, and I try not to pry much into that area, but Lyn is an Independent living Fund user. She has not said much about how she’ll be affected, and indeed I’m not sure she has received any information about it, but I’m very concerned about what will happen tomorrow. Many people with severe disabilities face severe cuts to their care packages: one need only look at what happened last Wednesday to see how scared they are.

I keep thinking about how wonderful Lyn is and the great things she has done, from the days when she used to come to see me up at uni to going to france together, to playing at the paralympics and the Liberty festival. She is a very independent woman, but when I consider that that independence could now be taken away, if not from her certainly then from many like her, my blood boils. How can the tories be so barbaric? How can they cut tax for the wealthy few while sending ‘us’ back to the institutions? With the right support we can flourish, from doing a masters to performing before the world; the tories would strip that support from us, sending people with disabilities back thirty or forty years in one greed-ridden stroke. I say that without a glimmer of hyperbole: the closure of the ILF means that is a very real prospect – tory lies about replacement funding soothing only the gullible.

Today, sunny though it is, a dark cloud hangs over the disability community. It feels like almost everything we have worked for for so long will tomorrow be take away by the tories, and, try as we might, we are powerless to prevent it.

Apparently a new episode of top gear airs tonight. I expect it to be the last new Top Gear, as frankly I can’t see the program surviving without the original team. Sunday nights won’t be sunday night without that semi-fascist car-oriented anarchy. For some reason we let these men whose views we’d ordinarily find repugnant get away with so much, like a collective guilty pleasure. Something about the antics of Clarkson, Hammond and May appealed to the children in us all. I can’t see anyone replacing them, as the dynamic will be lost. No doubt the beeb will try replacing the team, then shelving the idea and letting it pass into history. Tonight, then, probably marks the end of a television era.

As someone who does not buy into the ‘normal’ binaries of gender, sexuality and so on, I must say I find the news that gay marriage has now been legalised in the US awesome. Paul, our PA today, came in ecstatic about it. As he put it, amid all the bad stuff we hear about on the news, we finally get this glimmer of light; one fragment of progress which restores ones faith in humanity. Mind you, as monumental as this step is, there’s still a long way to go before LGBT people achieve true equality; and indeed it had to get past fervent opposition from right-wing conservatives. We better not be too jubilant, then, but I think we can allow ourselves to smile awhile over this.

I saw an advert for this yesterday, and of course was instantly stunned. On sunday evening, the beeb will air a program in which David Attenborough meets Barack Obama. It promises to be an incredible piece of television; the two great men are said to discuss the natural world, climate change and so on. I suppose it’s quite a coup for the bbc, although it was apparently Obama who requested the meeting. Something to look forward to, then – expect my customary rave on here on Monday morning.

Part of me feels guilty for not having been up there yesterday. A large part of me says that if there was any meaning behind all the political ranting I do, I should have been up in parliament yesterday, protesting, trying to break down the door of the house of commons with my fellow disability activists. Another part of me says I as right not to go; that, had I gone, there’s a good chance I would have lost my head, done something stupid, and would have woken up in a jail cell this morning. In that case, Lyn would have been fully justified in packing my bags and putting me on the next train back to cheshire. I owe it to her to be sensible – well, at least try to.

Yet the fact remains we need to protest. Disabled people are desperate and angry right now, and that desperation and anger need to be shown. I was glad to see news of the protest on both the BBC and Channel Four bulletins last night, yet I noticed the story slipping down the running order as the evening wore on. There was no word if this morning. Thus we need to keep it up. The country needs to be shown videos like the ones here. The truth about the tory cuts, rather than the blatant lies about ‘protecting people’ and ‘ring-fencing funds’ they spout, needs to be told. We need more actions like yesterday, and I hope by the next one to have grown some cajones and be hammering on the commons doors alongside my comrades. I’d just have to tex Lyn and ask her to keep my dinner warm.

I volunteer at school on Wednesday mornings, so turned down an invitation a few days ago to go to an Independent Living Fund protest up in parliament. I had been very tempted to go, but thought I better carry through on my other commitments. I’m now very pleased with that decision. I just checked the headlines and saw this! The crazy sons of bitches tried to storm the commons chamber: ”Protesters have attempted to enter the House of Commons chamber during Prime Minister’s Questions. The group, campaigning against the end of the Independent Living Fund, were prevented from getting in by police.” I’m stunned, astonished, and, I must say, quite impressed.

Further updates no doubt to follow.

Just to post a quick update on one of my favourite topics, I heard today that Paris has entered the race to host the 2024 olympics. I know that won’t matter too much to anyone reading this blog, but forgive a cripple his little obsessions. It just seems to me that one can read a plethora of international rivalries and attitudes into this process: countries compete for national prestige like nowhere else, as hosting the olympics is a huge international status symbol. Given that the french now seem quite desperate to win this time after their beloved capital was rejected three times, I think this contest has higher stakes than ever. They will throw everything into this bidding process, as will, I suspect, the other bidders, giving rise to what promises to be a fascinating competition.

Turning on my computer this morning, I read of the sad news that James Horner, one of the all-time great film composers, has died in a plane crash. Not all that much has been written about the role of music in film, but, when you think about it, it plays a huge part in structuring emotion in film, helping to guide the viewer. Horner’s scores were among the best at that. With that in mind, I’d like to direct you here, to one of his greatest, and a favourite of mine.

I realise that saying this might make me sound a bit screwy, but I can’t help thinking that there is a definite mismatch between how people currently feel about politics and the general election result. Saturday saw a huge anti-government protest in London: the anti-tory feeling was palpable in that crowd, yet just a few weeks ago they won a general election. Given that I doubt that feeling had arisen since the election, or that it was just the protesters who felt that way, I suspect something is amiss with the election result. Has any other government faced so fervent a protest so soon after they were elected? Of course, to say the election was rigged is to cross into cloud cuckoo land, and I’ve seen no evidence that it was, but it’s clear that vast numbers of people don’t want a Tory government, and are very angry indeed at what they are doing. If people are this angry already, just think of the protests to come

I only heard about the protest yesterday in the morning. At first I was in two minds about going, having had one or two bad experiences at protests before. But I told myself I can’t write all this anti-tory stuff on my blog and not follow through with it, so off I set. Fortunately for me, getting up to parliament square is easy – it’s just a few stops on the jubilee line – allowing me to decide such things at such short notice. Once I got there, I found the place thronging with people, including, it was great to see, a large contingent from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC). As I noted yesterday, there was a party atmosphere, with people milling about, singing, bands playing and so on. Yet one could also sense a seriousness to it; there was an undercurrent of anger in the air, a fury at the tories and their cuts. I spoke to a few people there, and found I’m definitely the only person who wants the Tories expelled from office immediately. Before long, there were speeches from politicians and celebrities, including a brilliant one by caroline lucas. We heard that, while the tories talk of austerity as a necessity, it’s not necessary at all: the tories have been lying to us as they impose their wholly ideological cuts, as an abusive parent lies to a child as he beats him, saying ”its for your own good.” I came home more angry than ever at what the tories are doing, but also relieved to have found that I’m not the only one who wants the tories booted from office. I’d worried hat we’d all just sigh and just tell ourselves to wait for the next election, like good Brits. Mind you, one must wonder what effect such protests have, and whether it’s just a lot of sound and fury which won’t change a thing.

I have taken myself to the anti austerity protest in Westminster. While I’ll probably write a full account of it tomorrow, I must say, sat here in parliament square, how amazed I am. A quarter of a million people are here apparently. There’s a friendly atmosphere: it’s almost like a party. Yet, beneath, one can sense the anger at CaMoron and his government. Anyway, better stop writing and investigate more.

Now that I can, with great joy, tick off watching the cat empire with charlotte from my to do list, my appetite for music and gigs has been whetted. I think now it’s time for me to look for more great gigs to go to; but now I’ve done so much big stuff, I’m in the mood for something smaller. Venues like the albert hall and o2 arena are awesome, but everyone knows about them: gigs there lack intimacy and personality. I’ll always find the fact that I’ve seen my fiancee play a paralympic closing ceremony, and watched monty python perform, very likely for the last time ever, sources of pride beyond words; but you can’t get much bigger than gigs like that. Having ticked them off, it’s time to go to the other end of the scale. This city is throbbing with small, live music events in the back rooms of pubs or in community halls where one can get a feel for the personalities of the performers and your fellow audience members – I think those are the kind Lyn prefers too. The only problem is, they’re a bit harder to find than the things I’ve been going to, so I better go out and get searching.

Part of me says I just wasted an entire afternoon, although given its my own fault for not checking before i set off, I can’t really complain. Last night on the London news I learned about a summer festival up in Hyde park and, still in a party mood from the weekend, thought I’d go look. I was sure they said it was free entry, and an afternoon like this is too nice to waste. There was definitely talk of free film screenings, which was especially alluring. I set off at about one, taking the tube then the bus. It looked great in the distance, but as I rolled up to the turnstyles I began to see signs about tickets. To cut a long story short it turned out it was £65 just to get in, so I simply turned and headed home – I just wanted a nice, pleasant walk somewhere fun rather than a full-on outing. Oh well; it seems there’s no such thing as a free festival, but at least I had a good walk.

It was great to see Sir David Attenborough on our screens once again last night. This time, he was telling us all about flightless birds in those homely, paternal tones of his. What amazes me is, he started presenting nature programmes before my parents were born, yet he still makes some of the most interesting stuff on tv. That’s why I’ll always make an effort to tune into his programmes.

I cannot help but wonder, though, how many more of his programmes we’ll see. It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable happens, yet David Attenborough’s nature documentaries have been such a constant in British cultural life for so long that it’s hard to imagine there being no more. For now, though, I think we’ll see plenty yet; and if they’re all as fascinating as the one last night I can’t wait.

I got int an argument on facebook this morning over transability: I showed some people on a disability-related forum my recent blog entry on the subject, and they disagreed with it vehemently. They pointed out that I had missed the point: the concept is actually about breaking down the disabled/able-bodied binary I seemed to be wanting in that entry to cling to. I was directed to a quite fascinating video lecture on the subject, and in fact it is about rereading the ‘us and them‘ paradigm I once tried to reread. If you think about it, we are all disabled because we all face disabling barriers; and thus disability can be seen as a transcendable concept. In my blog entry of a couple of weeks ago, I was maintaining a barrier I’ve been trying to break down all my life. Time for me to read more on this subject, and learn to think before I pass comment.

Yesterday was yet another of those truly awesome days which will remain a fond memory for years. To have at last seen The Cat Empire with charlotte, and at a venue as magnificent as the Royal Albert Hall, is incredible. It was C who introduced me to them, and I knew one day we needed to go to one of their gigs together. Mind you, it had been an amazing weekend even before we got there: up to Chester on a train on Saturday; seeing Will perform on Saturday evening (I still can’t get over what an incredible actor he is); the obligatory house party after. Then, yesterday, travelling back down with charlie, heading for the Albert Hall, meeting up with James in a nearby pub and going to one of the best gigs I’ll ever see. I’m pleased to report too that charlie and james got on like a house on fire – but then, I had a feeling those two would match up.

Charlotte stayed here overnight and has just headed off. Going to see the cat empire the first time was cool enough, but what happened yesterday was special to me beyond words. To have at last seen them with charlie, one of my best friends, the person who introduced me to the band of so many awesome nights at uni, feels like something that I really wanted to happen, has happened. To see The Cat Empire with charlie is something I needed to do. There was a moment as we sat in the Hall waiting for the gig to start when I thought, ”Holy shit, how can life possibly get any better?” On top of all the other amazing things I’ve done – watching Python, meeting Patrick Stewart and so on – it just seems nights like last night remind me how great life is. My jaw drops when I think about all the incredible things I’ve done; yet, as Lyn often points out, there will always be something else to look forward to and work towards.

It was through L that I came to this awesome life, and I owe her so much for it. My gratitude extends too to my parents, as it was mum and dad who gave me the confidence and potential to do these marvellous things. It’s mum’s birthday today, and I really hope it is a good one. My mother taught me to hold my head up and go out into the world; it is because of her, because of all the cuddles and chats, flapjacks and life lessons, that I know I can do anything. I thought of her too last night, sat there with my friends. The life I lead is so awesome because of the gifts I got from my parents: it was only due to them that I went to university, where I had the opportunity to express myself and meet wonderful people like Lyn, charlie and james. I know I make them worry sometimes, but I hope they know how great I think they are, and how lucky I feel to have them.

I’m currently sat at the table of the kitchen of the house i once dubbed the burrow. The jones household is as homely as ever: after an epic night in which will Jones revealed himself to be an actor of the most astounding quality, I woke up wondering where I was. Needless to say, the after show party was quite a heavy one. However, after a shower and with a good meal in me, I feel quite perky. Now, though, it’d time to get back to the metropolis for part two of this truly amazing weekend.

I have a feeling this will be a long, awesome weekend. I’m already up, breakfasted and caffeinated, and I’m just waiting for John to arrive to get me to Euston. From there, I’ll get a train to Chester, where I’ll visit charlotte and the jonses. Apparently young (well, not so young now) will has a gig tonight in Liverpool we’re going to see. Then tomorrow it’s back down to the metropolis, Charlie with me. We’ll head for the Royal Albert Hall, where we’ll rendezvous with James and go to a Cat Empire gig. I have a feeling that that will be truly, truly special: I have long wanted to see the cat empire with C. After all, she was the one who got me into them all those years ago at university – she used to put the on as we prepared ourselves for Wednesday night discos. All being well, tomorrow night will be amazing. But there’s a lot to happen before then, and indeed we have to get back here to Charlton after, so I better go get myself sorted (and have another coffee).

I may or may not have described a similar episode on here before a while ago, but this morning, when we got into our living room, Lyn and Marta our PA noticed the mouse trap had been filled. The prism-shaped piece of card was shaking; it obviously had a mouse stuck on it’s adhesive base. L and M didn’t know what to do Marta could not deal with it. We couldn’t leave it there, so I had no choice: on my own I half filled a bucket with water and took it back into the living room. I then pressed the cardboard prism into the water, making sure it was submerged for thirty seconds or so, before taking the damn thing outside, putting it in the bin and tipping out the water.

I instantly felt wretched. I forced myself to do it, but after it was over I realised I had killed a mammal. Last time this happened it was up to me to clout its brain out with a hammer, and I didn’t want to repeat that abhorrent episode. But this time it felt no less base. I may like fictional characters like James Bond, but I am not James Bond – I am not a killer. I felt insecure and disgusted; it is still playing on my mind. I keep telling myself that I had no choice and that I did what I had to do, but I hope I never have to do it again.

I’m suddenly rather sad. I saw a friend mention it on facebook, and checked the beeb. It was true: Sir christopher Lee has died aged 93. While he had a good, long life, to loose such a great actor is always a pity. He was saruman in lord of the rings and Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, so he was in two of my favourite franchises; not to mention count Docu in star wars. all one can do is sigh; we have lost another of the greats.

This will probably be the first of many blog entries i make on the subject, but I want to state openly and absolutely that I want the uk to stay in the European Union. As far as I am concerned leaving the eu would be a monumental act of folly. It would mean a catastrophic pulling up of the drawbridge; a withdrawal from the world along outdated nationalistic lines. We cannot let such stupidity prevail. That’s not to say I oppose holding a referendum: the sooner its held, the sooner the issue can be put to bed, and the sooner Farage and his bunch of twits are made irrelevant. But of course, that assumes voters make the sensible choice.

I’m not an economist so I can’t even pretend to debate the maths, but every fibre of my being tells me that what George Osbourne will announce tonight is wrong. He arrogantly plans to enshrine his greedy, selfish politics into law by making it illegal for governments to spend more than they receive. While on the face of it, that might sound like a good idea, it effectively makes austerity permanent. We would no longer be able to borrow, so, given that any government will be reluctant to raise tax too far*, it will lead to deeper and deeper cuts. The welfare state will be ransacked; the NHS unsustainable. As noted here it returns us to a victorian mindset, and we all know how much the Victorians cared about the less fortunate in society. Thus, by passing this law, Osbourne imposes his greedy worldview on us all; he would make it normal to see things his way, criminalise trying to care for others. As wise as it may seem, this law will alter how we think by making frugality a norm. If government and the state shrinking, we’d withdraw into ourselves, care only about ourselves: upon seeing a suffering person, we’ll no longer think ”I hope they get help soon” but simply ”tough shit”. By enshrining these ideologically-inspired cuts into law, Osbourne makes tory greed permanent; what that insult to humanity is doing is utterly, utterly evil.

*unless our collective attitude to tax changes and we become more tolerant of contributing to society, which I’d see as a more mature worldview but which the greedmotivated tories no doubt have ruled out.

Although the video might be temporary given we’re considering getting better footage, I really must send you here. Lyn’s new singe To My Knees is out on Itunes today, so we made a quick video for it yesterday. I shot most of the video on our Gopro bolted to my chair, and L edited and uploaded it. I think it has turned out pretty well, Lyn being an excellent editor. More importantly, you can now buy the single here.

I may have been rather negative about the paraorchestra on Friday, and still say that performance was incredibly cringeworthy, but I still support them in principal. We all know how great they can be, and the work they are doing for inclusion can only be applauded. I just wish they had picked a better song.

Something like this. When I came across Jonatha Bastos last night, having seen a link on Lyn’s facebook, my jaw dropped. The guy is astonishing: he has no arms or hands, but he plays piano incredibly well. He also play electric guitar sublimely…with his feet. I try not to be impressed by such things, as it smacks of a ”aww, didn’t he do well” attitude to disability; but, credit where credit’s due, the dude can play. I think he’s brazillian (I haven’t read much about him yet) so I wonder if he’ll be appearing in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Either that, or he could be a member of the International Paraorchestra Charles Hazlewood is trying to create. From what I’ve seen, his skill is phenomenal.

I must say, the devil in me wonders what Nicolas McCarthy will think when he finds out about Bastos. Having built a career from being an apparently unique onehanded pianist, to discover you have been trumped and that there’s someone even more unusual than you, doing what you do, could be quite a blow. Then again, they have vastly different repertoires and play entirely different genres, so there is clearly room for both. In fact, the two performers could be seen to complement each other. I wonder whether they could even perform together.

It might be a bit random, and it’s not as if I’ll be using one anytime soon, but I just stumbled over this shopping-related news and thought it deserved flagging up. ”Sainsbury’s has responded to calls from parents with disabled children for a more secure shopping trolley and, after months of testing a prototype with parents and children, the retailer has today announced that they will begin introducing nearly 600 of the new trolleys to supermarket stores across the UK from 15 September.” I can still remember mum trying to put me in one of those trollies; as I grew, it got harder and harder. Eventually mum had to stop taking me shopping. Thus, even though it’s of no use to me personally, I think this is great news, and certainly a sign that at least some people think about families who don’t fit the standard model.

It has been another long saturday afternoon in the park. I just popped back to check everything was ok and answer the call of nature. I know I’ve said this before, but it always amazes me how welcome I feel there: I count most of the Mighty eights cricket team as among my friends, especially James who I’ll soon be going to another gig with – more on that soon. Another chap was telling me earlier about a Star Wars event in town. I googled it and found this – I’m not an especially big star wars fan, but frankly that looks awesome. I’ll certainly try to check that out, but now it’s time for me to head back to the cricket.

I’m afraid to say that, after watching The One Show this evening, my attitude to the pararchestra has changed completely. Unlike Lyn, I could forgive them True Colours; while it was a bit saccharine, it sort of fitted the post paralympic moment. After the awesomeness of the Paralympic Closing ceremony I was prepared to let things slide. Yet this evening, having watched them perform something so sickly I almost wanted to vomit, I thank smeg Lyn withdrew when she did. The group is capable of greatness – the closing ceremony is proof of that, and being there to watch it remains one of the proudest moments of my life. Yet now they do twee, feel good stuff with no artistic merit, usually alongside a bunch of nauseating kids. This evening they were used as little more than stage dressing, needed to sit at the back and look good while a load of school kids sang. They were used more as tokens than as musicians in their own right. Of course, I can only go by what I’ve seen, and they may have done better, untelevised stuff; but, judging by what I saw this evening, Hazlewood is allowing his once mighty creation to be turned into something abominable.

I’m looking forward to tonight. Although Lyn was not involved this time, the British Paraorchestra is taking part in the bbc’s music day. I am eager to see what they’ve been up to. Apparently they will be on The One show tonight – the second time they have been on it – but I cant be much more specific than that. Meanwhile, I’d also like to flag up that there’s quite a nice piece about Lyn on the can do musos website, which showcases musicians with disabilities. It’s a lovely little page all about L’s musical work. Lyn sort of withdrew from the paraorchestra in order to concentrate on her composition work, but it seems both are thriving, so tonight I hope you will all be flipping between the one show and Lynrock.

Late last night I came across something I genuinely do not understand and do not know what to think of. It was late so I just went to bed, but this morning I’m still perplexed. I had come across the notion of transability – the idea that some people seek to become disabled. At first I thought it was a joke, but I googled it and found it to be quite real. I don’t know what to think: part of me says such people are quite mad – being disabled is often neither easy or fun, so why would anyone want to deliberately damage their bodies? Maybe they just want to jump on the bandwagon, and claim to belong to the disability community. To be honest, while I’m not going to name names, I think I know one or two people like that.

Part of me asks what is the difference between this and transgenderism? If i can accept that some people were born into the wrong gender and have a right to change genders, I should accept this. My initial reaction would be that gender can be swapped either way: men become woman and women become men, and neither necessitates a lessening of ability. Of course, you could say that people with disabilities always seek to become more able-bodied, be it through medical procedure, specialist equipment and so on; but we aren’t trying to become something fundamentally different to who we now are. To try to make our lives a bit easier is not the same as thinking we were born in the wrong body. Thus I’d say there is a fundamental difference between transgenderism and transabilitism, and that I can be perfectly fine with one and deeply skeptical about the other.

I’m very troubled by this. According to this article, this very real phenomenon can be seen as a neurological condition – itself a disability. But I can’t help thinking there might be imposters in our community, bandwagon jumpers who profess to be disabled for some kind of street cred or fashion accessory, as if wanting to be in an oppressed minority is in vogue. I wonder how many users of the ouch message boards or the DPAC facebook group claim to be disabled, yet know nothing of special schools, long stay hospitals and so on? Of course, they might genuinely think they are disabled or might not be conscious of what they are doing; but I just fear, looking at the numbers of people now using those forums, that our community could now be usurped as a political force by people wo don’t have the rest of our interests at heart.

Going back to my masters for a moment, much of the writing by the old cinephiles concerned the idea of ‘aura’ – the special feeling you get when you go into the cinema and the lights go down. Writers like Bazin argued that it was specific to the cinema. However, I argue in my thesis that people try to recreate that effect at home by closing the curtains and turning down the lights, although this suggests that people might be taking that just a little too far.

I have the pleasure of reporting Lyn has a new single out soon. ‘To my Knees’ was created entirely on Lyn’s Ipad apart from the mastering, and sounds wonderful. As always, it was great to hear Lyn composing in her studio: I listen as she gradually builds up her tracks. It’s a slow, magical process. This time, she has used a sampled woman’s voice to give her song quite an etherial quality. You can check it out here.

It’s amazing to think how much I owe to the fact I went to university. I know I’ve written about this here before, albeit not for a while, but I really think going to uni made me who I am. It brought me out of my shell: I went from being a home-loving, nervous boy to an outgoing, gregarious man. At uni, I did some of my best work, and my master’s thesis is probably the best thing I’ve ever written. At uni I did things I never knew I could do. And at uni the pictures were taken which caught the eye of the woman who later became my fiancee. That lead me down here to all the incredible things which have happened over the last five years. Had I not had the experience of living in halls, I doubt I would have had the confidence to move to London.

Thinking about it, in fact, it’s hard to estimate how much I owe to university. And I doubt I’m alone in uni being highly formative: for many young people, uni is the place you discover who you are. To have just come across this Huffington Post article, then, chills my blood. ”Stephen Hawking has voiced his fears students with conditions similar to his will not receive the support they need to succeed due to funding cuts.” Due to new government cuts to Disabled Students Allowance, the support which enabled me to attend MMU will no longer be there. I was bloody lucky to go to university when I did; had I been born later, had the insults to humanity we now have in power been in control just over a decade ago, I probably would never have gone. More to the point, how many young people will now be denied the opportunity I feel so fortunate to have had? And just because of the tories and their cuts. As angry as I feel at them, I feel sad for the victims of their greedy, selfish politics.