RagnaToad
Shake it like a polaroid picture

****ing VM's. Seriously. Everything's in the wrong order now. Oh well.

I not sure our socialism is fake, but there is class discrimination. It runs both ways. Crap postcode gets you free stuff, but also means you get crapped on more than people who live in nice places. The Scottish government are trying their best to fix it, though. I get extra free money for being working class and going to university, and I get a much bigger loan. I'm not sure I agree with the getting a bigger loan, because people whose parents earn more get a lot less in their loan and don't generally get a lot in parental contributions. My boyfriend is one of those.

I wish I'd studied literature. One of my best friends is doing it in Edinburgh, and oh, I envy her. What kind of books do you have to read? I sometimes wonder why I chose to study language. More people in this country need to learn foreign language, that might have something to do with it. Almost nobody does, and it's just ignorant. I went out for dinner tonight with a Polish friend and a German friend, and I had to express to them both just how ashamed I sometimes am of my country. I don't like being a part of a place where poor kids get laughed at for going to university and rich kids get laughed at for wanting to be hairdressers. I don't like that British tourists in groups have been banned from Riga because so many of them kept urinating on a war memorial.

Much as I would like to continue the various threads of this conversation, I must sleep. It's been good to talk with you. Take care, and goodnight.

Haha, it would be strange if Belgium became two countries. I heard some people muttering about Wallonia being 'absorbed' (their word, not mine) into France, which I wasn't sure about. I had no idea your political system was so convoluted, though I suppose it's not vastly more complicated than the constitutional mess people refer to as the UK political system. They might be roughly the same model, actually. Federal government in Brussels, smaller parliaments in Flanders and Wallonia? Am I guessing right, or being stupid?

Also, I'm glad that Europe isn't as affected by class stereotypes. Judging people based on their wealth is an ass-backwards way of doing things. I have to admit that I do it all the time, and it's a constant effort not to. But when the middle class kids at uni complain because petrol's so expensive, all I can think of is, 'You have a CAR?!' You can tell a person's class by the way they dress, which is weird, because the middle class think it's cool to look scruffy. I don't know how they manage to look poor and rich at the same time. Maybe we'll never fix it, but I really hope we do. It pisses me off when the phone company can piss on my household back home because of its 'blacklisted postcode'. It's so entrenched that companies can deny you broadband and credit just based on where you live, and the government are totally cool with it. Ass-****ing-backwards.

Freedom of speech is such a contentious issue. Strict Muslim countries, for some reason, just tend to approach it from the rear end. And I'm not sure what a diplome is, exactly. My HNS is equivalent to a 'diploma', but it's not the same as a degree. I take it you're a uni too?

I read a bit about Belgian politics last year, when people were barging around saying they'd be amazed if it didn't split within ten years. Do you think it will last? By the sounds of things you're content with the way things are, and despite knowing very little, I'd have to agree. It reminds me of the independence debate here. All it does is make quiet voices quieter by splitting things apart.

I'm doing a Masters in French and Internation Relations just now. I have a Higher National Certificate in Psychology, Politics, History, and Sociology. What is it you study?

Our class system is so entrenched that I don't think we're ever going to rid ourselves of it. I don't like the way everyone judges everyone else based on criteria that run in this order: postcode, wage (estimated or known), accent, clothing.

Does the same system exist in Europe? Seeing as I'm moving to France in a month, I figure I should be finding these things out. I've been researching the banlieues in France, it reminds me of here, only with higher percentages of immigrants. Oh! I started reading Never Let Me Go a few days ago; what strikes me is how calmly Kath puts across ideas that just make you go, 'WHAT?!' I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for recommending it.