What a day for democracy around the world…..
Let’s start with a quick recap of Middle East events….Prime Minister of Egypt steps down……Gadaffi is basically gone….and well…what’s this…the Director of LSE steps down….over ties with Libya????!?!?!? This is nuts! The allegation is that Sir Howard Davies, the former Director of the LSE, created links with Libya which he knew were not proper. That is to say, on the balance of probabilities, he erred towards the monetary side over the ethical side.
On that note, I am quite glad to see him go. I did not perceive really that he was acting in the best interests of the School in promoting, or even allowing ties with such terrible people. By ties, we mean that so far, the LSE had accecpted some 300k GBP from the Gadaffi International Charity fund. In total, the LSE was to receive 1.5million GBP. As of now, the 300k already accecpted will be used to fund scholarships for applicants from Northern Africa…..interesting…..and a start yes….
What is even more ironic….being on the idea of democracy, is that the Student Union (e.g. Student Government) elections took place today. You should have seen the main street, loaded with all these people campaigning for candidates left and right….one promoter wanted to give me a cup of coffee…the other a candy bar, the other a back rub! The things to differentiate yourself as a candidate! Well it’s interesting that this coincided with the resignation of the top man at LSE.
It’s interesting how democracy works…….at a national level, at a school level, and at a student body level…. These are just some musings and posting about recent events on my mind.