Scientia est potentia

[strange_complex]

You've probably heard about this on the news already, but the government is planning to cut the budget of the British Library by up to 7%. The library is saying that the only way it can survive if this happens is to dramatically reduce its opening hours, and charge fees to use its reading rooms.

In other words, the nation's greatest and most comprehensive repository of printed information could be changed from a freely accessible resource into one which is only available to those with the wealth to pay its entrance fees and the flexibility to attend during limited opening hours. Personally, I feel very strongly that this should not be allowed to happen.

Thankfully, over 6000 people so far have shown that they feel the same way by signing a petition on the new Downing Street petitions website to protest against this. If you'd like to join them, the link is here. (But only UK residents and ex-pat citizens can sign up, I'm afraid).

Edit: or, as sushidog advises, go to Write To Them to send an email about it directly to your local MP. It only takes a minute or two, and you don't even have to know who they are - just where you live.

Comments

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I have my doubts about online petitions, so I'm writing to my MP instead.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know what you mean, and I'd love to be the sort of person who takes the time to write to their MP about these sorts of issues. Unfortunately, in real life I'm clearly not, so my thinking is that for people like me, signing a petition is better than not doing anything at all.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

If you use www.writetothem.com, it only takes a few minutes, and you get a warm glow of actually doing something for real. And then a while later, you get a reply from your MP, which makes you feel terribly important and effective.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's rather good actually, isn't it? Since I'd already written half of what I needed to say here, I've just used it to fire off a suitably copied-and-pasted missive, ending with the words, 'Surely this is
contrary to the principles of a Labour government?'

Plus, I now know who my local MP is, which I'd been wondering about since moving here!

I think I shall edit the link into my main post.