“Given the choice between being ‘credible’ and being fair, a choice was made that strengthened inequality and erected roadblocks to social mobility for the poorest and most disadvantaged. In a just world, it would be the SQA and the Scottish Government that bore the consequences of that decision. In this one, that price will be paid by the nation’s youth”
“The problem at the heart of the statistical standardisation is that it can be simultaneously unfair to individuals, but also maintain the integrity of the system. However, if system integrity damages the life chances of individuals, then it is not much of a system.” Professor Guy Nason of the London School of Economics’ yesterday, summing up […]
“Clearly, a mood of desperation has gripped party managers north and south. A project to save the Scottish Tories from another distant second place in the 2021 Scottish election has swung into action.”
With the long-weekend behind us, Source Direct is coming late to the SNP bunfight. The room is being tidied up, and the National Executive Committee are nursing hangovers, as well as one or two bruises. Why did it happen, and what does it mean? First, for those of you who missed all the fun and […]
“If we fail women now, we will be failing women for a long time to come.”
What would you do if you were Prime Minister for a day? It’s not a bad question to get a sense of someone’s character and creativity. Douglas Ross, hotly tipped to be the next Scottish Tory leader after Jackson’s Carlaw’s shock departure yesterday, was once asked this in an interview, and, quick as flash, without […]
“If you were to line up everyone in Scotland, with the most left-wing at one end and the most right-wing at the other, then keep walking until you were precisely half way and asked the person standing there for their opinions, Scotland’s media would probably describe them as ‘the far left’.”
“It is hard to understand how the policies in the Growth Commission, and the Economic Recovery Group – both unelected elite commissions made up largely of corporate, banking and landholding figures – are designed with middle Scotland in mind.”
“What’s needed now is a critical grilling of the role of the Scottish Government in the care home disaster. Without great public pressure, fed by the voices of those harmed by the crisis, that will be a long time coming.”
Don’t call it a second wave. Most experts are saying that Europe is still in the grips of wave one, as while cases had been significantly reduced over the past couple of months the virus had not been effectively eliminated, and thus the spike in recent weeks in many European countries is part of the […]
74% of self-employed mothers have had their earning potential reduced because of a lack of access to childcare.
One thing I’ve learnt from this crisis is that you have to be careful to avoid being seduced by what appears to be a consensus of the need for systemic change. In the most dramatic moments of the pandemic, you couldn’t pay for someone to criticise key workers. They were lauded by every bad boss, […]
“When you make the gun, put the bullet in the chamber, then point the barrel while another man pulls the trigger, who is responsible for the shooting? By any reasonable definition the UK is at war with the people of Yemen.”