In Yet Another Example of Our Continuing Slide into Mediocrity, the UK government has slashed funds for the British Library, which is going to cut access hours and have to charge researchers. And this from a Labour government, supposedly the champion of public education and culture. Ha!
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Meanwhile, even under a government that doesn't even pretend to champion the people, the Library of Congress is still free. I live in Washington, DC and tend to go to the reading room there at least once a month.
Library fees are hardly a good indicator of the general governmental outlook. I used to be a postdoc in Canada (in the pre-Harper days) and was shocked that interlibrary loans, which are a free service in the ultra-capitalistic US, require payment in semi-socialistic Canada.
John - you've fallen into a common trap in commenting on the politics of a country you don't live in. Blair's party isn't the Labour Party, it's New Labour. Which is the Tories with a paint job.
Bob
D'oh! That's the second time that's happened to me this week. You'd think that I'd learn not to trust the self-description of political parties...