Daily comment: There may be trouble ahead
Cuts in the education maintenance allowance (EMA) are being blamed for students quitting college or not going at all after GCSEs. The idea of the EMA was to allow students to pay for travel to college and buy books, etc. It was an incentive to learn and would help the poorest people. I remember when I was at college talking to people on the EMA and they told me they would not be able to go to college without it. It was a lifeline to them. 20 NHS trusts have been named as 'vulnerable' by the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley. This includes Winchester and Eastleigh, which are my local trusts. This is a scary prospect that they face cuts. The NHS is something that we should be putting more into, not letting it fail. Use the #SaveTheNHS on Twitter to make this heard. Unemployment is at its highest level for 17 years! It currently stands at 2.57 million. Gideon needs to get the economy on track to create jobs for these people....