What a twat
Knowing the guy involved personally, he is honestly one of the nicest people I have ever met. I have no doubt that he genuinely didn't want anyone to get hurt, and I honestly think that it was a simple lack of judgement. After all, if you're in a crowd like that, and everyone's shouting "Toss it, toss it, toss it", what are you going to do?
Actually, a blog claims the chant was "stop throwing shit". As I commented in IRC, attempted murder may well have stuck but I didn't feel it to be in the public interest. Possibly the CPS did not either; possibly there are other reasons behind the charge.
I haven't a clue what happened on the roof. Surely "stop throwing shit" must have started after the fire extinguisher was thrown; unless something was thrown beforehand?
I honestly don't recall if the blog said it came before or after.
As an aside, while he should be charged (assuming he actually chucked it) I can understand how one could get there. Yes, he is a twat for doing it, if he did - but, I say that as someone who has himself done twattish things.
I do hope he will eventually find a sympathetic employer if convicted.
It's just so senseless with respect to himself, never mind the danger imposed to others. Assuming he was there with the genuine intent to put pressure on the government and not just for a 'lark' then he's going to struggle to get in to a university, not just because he doesn't want to be saddled with much more debt, but because everybody knows him as 'that fire extinguisher guy'.
On the topic of the protest in general it's such a shame that the disruption ruined the message. The public image of students is already poor - I'm just glad I did my undergraduate when the tuition fees had only trebled to £3000
I don't understand why you think a thrill-seeker is better than an actual genuine protester; other way round, surely?
I'm Scottish. It's subsidised. Were I English, I can honestly say that I would not consider Uni a viable option. I'm fairly well off. What on Earth are students less lucky than I supposed to do? The whole thing stinks.
What I meant was; if he thought he was doing the right thing for a cause - he may have considered risking his academic future worth it. However if he was just there for a laugh - then he would have thrown it all away for no good reason.
But I'm not sure he thought it through at all, I'm sure he regrets it.
Yeah, I'm scottish heritage but I'm english and owe about 24 grand for my 4 year undergrad. The thing is I'll now not have to even begin paying it off until i'm earning 21,000 a year, not 15,000. It's not like taking money from a loan shark, it's not going to cripple me - but its gonna be there. My main 'beef' is that I'm not sure what its paying for - I know plenty of BA students that have very little contact time (I myself had lots) so what is it paying for. Reputation I imagine
He's still a knucklehead for making that screwup to begin with.