Politics

When the Scottish government made the decision this summer to do a U-turn and award teachers’ predicted grades instead of exams, it was inevitable that England and Wales would follow. Now that Scotland has cancelled National Highers next summer, the question is: will GCSEs again follow suit? With less than 84 per cent of secondary schools fully open at the moment, it is clear that schools are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are also inching towards a cliff edge. It is estimated that thousands of children and young people were not in school last week, and further disruption is inevitable. Regional disparities will only widen the

There was a time when the announcement of new Treasury spending tended to spell good news. However, these days it usually means that something has gone wrong on coronavirus. This afternoon, the Chancellor confirmed a shift in policy — new support packages for workers. Employees at UK firms that are forced to shut by law will now be eligible for two-thirds of their wages to be paid by the government. The scheme is estimated to cost at least hundreds of millions a month.  In some quarters, this is being labelled as a U-turn — given Rishi Sunak’s previous insistence that there could be no extension of the scheme. What is being offered is not only less

Tiresome things, words. And it is even more tiresome when people insist they retain their traditional meanings. Thus I suppose one may sympathise with Peter Murrell, chief executive of the SNP and — for this is not irrelevant to the subject being discussed here — husband to Nicola Sturgeon. In January 2019, Alex Salmond was arrested by Scottish police officers and charged with 14 offences, chiefly of a sexual nature. Salmond was later, as we all know by now, acquitted on all counts that eventually made it to court (though one of those, a charge of sexual assault with intent to rape, was found not proven). But on the day