Butterfly or dysfunctional caterpillar?
The Curriculum for Excellence was designed to be a transformation. Instead it looks too much like the old system with bits bolted on. Just don’t blame the teachers.
Scottish Policy
Neither a diversion nor a cause, but a big question
Blaming universities for graduate unemployment is an intentional diversion from the real cause of youth unemployment. But we need to open up a much wider and better informed debate about what universities are for.
Read More »Neither a diversion nor a cause, but a big question
Salmond must end this Nato speculation – or pay the price
Whomever is briefing that the SNP is going to U-turn on its opposition to Nato must be stopped immediately by the Party leader. If this speculation is allowed to continue, the inference that the left will draw may irreparably damage the Party’s support.
Read More »Salmond must end this Nato speculation – or pay the price
Big Society fund – an abyss we would do well to avoid
Claiming to understand ‘the Big Society’ and casually suggesting that we can’t afford universal social provision are quite the fashion. It is time for people to wake up and understand how the project to dismantle society really works.
Read More »Big Society fund – an abyss we would do well to avoid
It’s not really free speech that matters – hence the web crackdown
The obsession of ‘freedom of speech’ is in part a smokescreen to disguise our lack of ‘freedom to hear’. This crackdown on web freedom is simply another step towards a world where we can say what we want but only ever hear what we’re given.
Read More »It’s not really free speech that matters – hence the web crackdown
No-one will learn anything – unless we stop Big Money
Forget what Ed Milliband says – he will learn nothing from Bradford. But then, neither will anyone else – unless we reform the relationship between money and politics
Read More »No-one will learn anything – unless we stop Big Money
Oil exploration – risk and reward
The oil industry is still important to Scotland but that is all the more reason for absolute transparency about what are the real risks involved.
Regulation keeps us in the light, but in the dark there must be compassion
The terrible case of the death of Alison Hume makes clear the tension between regulation which protects us from harm and compassion which reminds us why we have the regulation in the first place.
Read More »Regulation keeps us in the light, but in the dark there must be compassion
Poor bus vultures
Free money isn’t enough for those complaining about being asked to run ‘private’ bus services. They want you to think that they are a business and the state is the customer when it’s the other way round.
Scavenger strategy won’t change Britain or Scotland
For the SNP and Labour to respond to the unpopular bits of the Budget without convincing us this is part of a realistic programme for the transformation of society is simply failure hiding in a sheen of victory.
Read More »Scavenger strategy won’t change Britain or Scotland