The 2014 independence referendum in Scotland proves a useful guide to how the bookies’ odds on #Brexit have changed – and may go on changing. Remain and Leave may be neck-and-neck in the polls but Boris faces a mountain to climb according to one of our leading economists.
Archives for June 2016
Gold standard for Scottish education?
Nicola Sturgeon, we know, has chosen her experienced deputy John Swinney to spearhead improvements to the Scottish education system over the next five years. But, argues an independent school head, writing in a personal capacity, there’s more to fix than the (narrowing) attainment gap.
James Hutton and deep time poetry
James Hutton, the great Enlightenment scientist, was born 290 years ago today (June 3). Here Ron Butlin, former Edinburgh Makar, celebrates the work of the Father of Modern Geology.
The decline of Scottish media and political scrutiny
The news is of newspapers falling off that ‘print cliff wall’ – certainly in Scotland. But ‘real’ journalism – perceptive and objective as well as investigative – is required as never before to subject politics and the state to proper scrutiny.
£350m a week and all that: bananas!
Boris Johnson (BoJo) made his reputation and career making up stories about the EU when posted as a correspondent in Brussels. He’s still working that old bananas number…
Commoditising student life
Is this the shape of higher education to come? In Scotland we worry about widening access; in London about being able to afford it all. The sheer cost of student living must act as a deterrent – and turn the entire HE experience into a commoditised service.