“As the necessity of extending the eviction ban grows ever more obvious, we must remember: Your landlord is not your friend. They are not your genial host. They sustain themselves by leeching from you all they can get, in exchange for which they occasionally send someone round to fix the boiler.”
John Swinney
“It would appear that Police Scotland are more frightened of belligerent football fans than nonviolent anti-racist protestors. That may be entirely rational – one does not need to be an expert in urban pacification to conclude that the latter can be kettled and bullied far more easily than the former. This does not make the double standard any less grating.”
Sean Bell: It is Police Scotland’s responsibility to answer to us, not vice versa
There is a rumbling debate about the timing of a proposed Scottish independence referendum, highlighted by remarks from Labour’s Keir Starmer and the SNP’s John Swinney.
Source Direct: One More Time
With Covid having struck everyone from the Windsors to Donald Trump, a myth emerged that it does not discriminate on grounds of class. But on almost every metric this is false. Pandemic-related school absences have thus been highest in Scotland’s poorest communities.
Source Direct: School’s out for summer
Education Secretary John Swinney’s U-turn was about as complete as could be, to the extent that it was more an O than a U. All those SQA moderators may as well not bothered – Swinney has rubbed out their markings. The questions about what this means for the future of Scottish education are profound (David […]
Grading U-turn is the starting pistol on 2021 election
“People will see straight through an expansion of university education with large numbers of working class students frozen out, not by their grades, but now solely by their inability to afford higher education.”
Analysis: What does Swinney’s retreat mean for the future of Scottish education?
Education Secretary John Swinney has created the expectation of a major reversal on the SQA pupil grading system when he speaks to the parliament on Tuesday. “These are unprecedented times and as we have said throughout this pandemic, we will not get everything right first time,” he said yesterday. Politicians willing to admit to mistakes […]
How the Education Secretary can save his job
“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”
Sean Bell: Burn down the SQA
“As ever, a small group of particularly loud voices was presented as representing ‘parent power’. None of this is new in Scotland but for the sake of our kids I really, really wish we could move beyond it.”
‘The only immediate consequence is more uncertainty’: James McEnaney talks Scottish schools and Coronavirus
Let’s start with the good news. One in every 200 tests are now coming back positive for Covid-19 in Scotland. From 32,021 tests in Scotland last week, 155 were positive, just 0.5 per cent. The WHO says tests should be delivering sub-5 per cent results for two weeks before lockdown easing measures are considered, so […]