Austerity Brings Violence to London. Charles and Camilla Caught in the Chaos. Anarchist Pisses on Statue of Churchill.

Britain’s coalition government is trying to put the nation’s calamitous finances in order and cope while maintaining the senior partner Tory pledge not to reduce spending on the National Health Service, the largest employer in Europe.  The ax must fall disproportionately in other areas.  The budget change that’s attracted the most attention has been a rise in university tuition fees to a maximum of 9,000 pounds, deferred until the student reaches a certain income threshold after graduation.

Today was the House of Commons vote on raising the tuition cap.  It passed. Thousands of protesters descended on Central London.  Most of them were peaceful, but some hijacked the day into violence and mayhem.  The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were on their way to the storied Palladium when demonstrators set upon their car.  Worse, a protestor, according to the Daily Mail, was seen (and photographed) urinating on the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.  Is there a prison cell barren enough for him?

Taking the brunt of the political anger are the Liberal Democrat members of Britain’s coalition government.  They promised to oppose university fee increases but abandoned that pledge when they formed a government with the Tories.  Most Britons understand the nation needs to reform its finances.  Labour would have rammed through many cuts and changes if it had won May’s election.  What baffles and incites is a party that abandons one of its key pledges 7 months after the campaign ended.  That is a reaction not confined to the United Kingdom.

Columnist Stephen Glover explains the price of discarding campaign promises with ease. It’s essential reading anyone in a free society charged with bringing discipline to public spending while maintaining their credibility.