There was a collection in church today for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF). It is intended to relieve famine conditions which threaten 12million people in seven countries of Southern Africa. The El Nino weather phenomenon, one of the worst in 50 years, has caused intense
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Redundancy payments to Cameron’s political aides, as he left Downing St., are a glaring example of the chasm between the rights of most workers and those of the extremely rich. Before packing Samantha and the children off to their new £17m, you scratch my back, freebie home
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The outcome of the EU Referendum has left many small savers worried about their future finances. Brexit has caused a sharp decline in the value of the pound, panic in the markets and it is widely believed that a further cut in interest rates would mean very
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The Queen purred, apparently, when David Cameron phoned with the result of the Scottish Referendum; we have not been informed of her emotional reaction when the PM visited her on Friday morning to offer his resignation. It was rumoured that there were indications of Brexit support from
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Watching a Party Political broadcast by the Leave Campaign this week , I was reminded of Tom Lehrer’s quip that political satire became obsolete when Kissinger was awarded the Peace Prize. This was nauseating hypocrisy at its most jaundiced; those propagating that view are the current custodians
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A belated PR exercise is in full swing this morning to assure parents that everything is being done to accommodate their children, following the forced closure of 17 PFI built schools in Edinburgh. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide education for all pupils, aged 5-15
Read more →After the inclement weather over the past couple of weeks, many parents will today welcome the end of the school holidays. For many, an anxious few weeks lie ahead as their children prepare to sit Highers at the end of this month. However, the greatest disruption will
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The Chancellor has announced a scheme to enable those on low incomes to save and gain a bonus on their investment. A good thing you might well think, as we all recognise the necessity of providing a little for the future. That it should come from a Tory
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BBC Scotland and various talking heads have spent time this week examining Scottish education and discussing how funding might be found to close what has become known as ‘the attainment gap’ ; it has been fairly well documented that children attending schools in better off areas generally
Read more →Capitalism has exploited and exported but failed totally to capture the atmosphere of an Irish pub. Amanda Gaughan’s fine production of Conor MacPherson’s award winning play , “The Weir’ at the Lyceum. permits us to sit with the drinkers by the turf fire and listen to four tales that smoulder with
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