We’re about to collectively congratulate ourselves for 20yrs since smoking ban, but we’ve had our heads in the sand about the dangers of vapes, esp to kids. These shops are popping up all over our high streets promoting vapes as if they’re not bad for you. We need to change our attitude to vapes

Research director @alipayne.bsky.social has contributed to @hepi-news.bsky.social's Scottish week reflecting that without an education system firing on all cylinders, the many other problems facing Scotland cannot be fixed

"why don’t we do more? Is it because dementia & caring affect women more than men? Or because women’s unpaid labour has long been treated as an inexhaustible resource-natural, expected, & therefore invisible" Greg Stevenson's powerful piece for #NHS2048 www.enlighten.scot/nhs2048/the-...

Research director @alipayne.bsky.social writes for @thescottishsun.co.uk on why the current HE funding system is unsustainable, and why we need a graduate payment. Up-front fees can be avoided & tuition free-at-the-point-of-use maintained if we act asap. www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1582007...

“Vaccination uptake is plummeting in rural communities and areas of high deprivation, creating a stark health inequality that threatens to divide our nation’s children into the protected & the vulnerable” A worrying article from Dr Ross Jaffrey #NHS2048 www.enlighten.scot/nhs2048/has-...

“One day, unless this changes, we could be sitting in our own waste crying alone in a care home” A really important read from @neilmackay.bsky.social. Social care should be dominating discussions ahead of the election. www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/2551...

The strikes at some Scottish universities about redundancies today are symptomatic of the broader issues around the unsustainability of Scotland’s higher education funding structure. Audit Scotland warned in 2019. We can’t keep ignoring the problem.

We have news... www.heraldscotland.com/news/2516953... @heraldscotland.bsky.social @chrisdeerin.bsky.social

The Prime Minister’s statement on immigration today will damage our economy, the NHS, social care and our universities. It ignores the need to boost Scotland’s working age population. This sort of divisive language only plays into Nigel Farage’s hands. Not in Scotland’s name.

See this from the head of Scottish care which represents care providers. Scotland has an ageing population,the best care worker pay in UK(though still not enough)& can't recruit local workers,particularly in rural areas. bsky.app/profile/drdm...

This is a hugely important & must-read article in today’s @heraldscotland.bsky.social from @neilmackay.bsky.social featuring @drdmacaskill.bsky.social So much change & reform is badly needed, as article stresses. We also cant fix NHS without fixing care www.heraldscotland.com/news/2506728...

New blog from Johann Lamont who responds to Russell Findlay's 'attention-seeking' education policy, calling for more thoughtful, long-term solutions for Scotland’s education system and young people. Read now: www.reformscotland.com/hard-to-get-...

If the dreadful news from Dundee University isn’t a wake-up call on the unsustainability of Scotland’s higher education funding system, then we need to ask ourselves what will be? Tuition 'free at the point of use' can be maintained, but only if we act now www.reformscotland.com/publication/...

If we are to maintain university tuition free at the point of use, we need to change the funding system. Read about our proposals for a graduate payment here: www.reformscotland.com/publication/...

The substantial job losses at Dundee are the latest reminder that the university funding system is unsustainable. Tuition can still be free at the point of use if we consider a graduate payment. Read our chapter in @hepi-news.bsky.social report on HE funding: www.reformscotland.com/publication/...

With substantial job losses announced at Dundee University, it is clear that our tuition funding system is unfair & unsustainable, as research director @alipayne.bsky.social set out in a recent speech for @hepi-news.bsky.social www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/01/18/w...

“Yet the false notion that men are getting a raw deal as a direct consequence of women being treated more equally has a worrying degree of traction” Really important & powerful article from @becmcq.bsky.social in today’s @heraldscotland.bsky.social ⬇️

‘My heart broke, she was just six’: Inside Scotland’s safe house for child sex crime victims I was given the privilege of talking to the bravest young people I’ve ever met and the staff helping them recover I tell their stories in @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2497435...

Today’s lesson…always make sure your multi-formulae multi-sheet spreadsheet is in fact saved as an excel doc and not inexplicably as a csv one 🤯😭

Was on @bbcradio4.bsky.social on the wonderful #BridgetJonesMadAboutTheBoy Every1 grieves differently & has their own experiences but for me so much of the film resonated. It’s also prompting discussion about young widowhood & children’s grief which is good www.widowedandyoung.org.uk/news/bridget...

Finding myself in Bridget’s shoes once again, I wrote a review of the utterly brilliant #BridgetJonesMadAboutTheBoy for @widowedandyoung.org.uk. The film is an uplifting mix of raw grief & sadness as well as joy and hope, and how these can coexist www.widowedandyoung.org.uk/news/bridget...

Scottish Labour wants to maintain our broke HE tuition funding system- it’s unfair, unaffordable & unsustainable, as I said this recent speech for @hepi-news.bsky.social. It also leaves our colleges underfunded. www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/01/18/w...

As the ONS publishes data showing alcohol-related deaths in Scotland are at their highest for 15 years, @alastairmacg.bsky.social from @shaapalcohol.bsky.social writes for #NHS2048 on the pressing need for progressive alcohol policy to reduce levels of harm www.reformscotland.com/nhs2048/alco...

Hepatologist & chair of @shaapalcohol.bsky.social , @alastairmacg.bsky.social, has written an important contribution to our #NHS2048 discussion. Read his full article here: www.reformscotland.com/nhs2048/alco...

Catch up on our fascinating discussion about knowledge based curriculum. In this clip Professor Paterson explains to @chrisdeerin.bsky.social how we learn ⬇️ The full event can be watched back on our website youtu.be/vtM8SUTYJaU

‘My relative was executed for a crime they didn’t commit. We can never bring back the death penalty’ This was a difficult - painful and intimate - column to write. But I felt I had to speak as calls grow for the reintroduction of capital punishment in Britain www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

This is the HQ of Avis Capital. It claims to be one of the largest companies in the UK, with £58bn in assets and 31% returns promised to investors. Except it's all a lie. Here's how regulatory failures are letting international fraudsters create massive fake UK companies.

Read the latest contribution to our #NHS2048 discussion forum www.reformscotland.com/nhs2048/a-pa...

"Knowledge and skills are complementary. Skills are knowledge in action" Read our new report from Prof Paterson and Bruce Robertson on how a knowledge based curriculum could transform Scottish education www.reformscotland.com/publication/...

That's all folks! My last Saturday analysis column looks back on 16 years at @heraldscotland - what's changed, and the stories that stand out❤️ ANALYSIS What have I learned from 16 years in journalism? www.heraldscotland.com/news/2485404...

Was delighted to be able to talk about HE funding in Scotland as part of @hepi-news.bsky.social / CDBU event this week. www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/01/18/w...

Thread. I’m not going to post in depth about the excoriating determination of the FAI into the suicides of Katie Allan & William Lindsay. I’ll be writing about it anon & at length. BUT what runs through it is a sense of the perceived disposability of young people the state is supposed to care for

Stephen correctly identifies the root cause of the failure to protect girls from sexual exploitation in "a cocktail of misogyny and classism." Tragically for current & future victims¹, that cocktail is a 2-for-1 mainstay of populist Happy Hour, & Badenoch is properly tipsy on it.

In the UK, a third of us can’t earn enough to afford the basics. People simply *can’t* afford a decent life. Find out why on my new Substack Winning Formulas: jeevunsandher.substack.com/p/why-cant-e...

‘Deplorable’: Scotland’s school curriculum accused of being so woefully inadequate that it has ‘permanently harmed’ the education and prospects of children - particularly working-class children My long read in today’s @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2485038...

Every brilliant, quietly angry word of this by @roberthutton.co.uk:

"The 20th century was the greatest age of reading the world has ever known: newspapers, magazines, self-help books, popular classics, airport bestsellers. Literacy is now declining for the first time on record": @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on a disappearing world www.thetimes.com/article/0f9f... [£]

"If we are serious about reducing health inequalities and adversity experienced in childhood I believe we must look to provide proportionate pastoral support to parents throughout childhood not just the early years" Rhona McLeman writes for #NHS2048 www.reformscotland.com/nhs2048/earl...

How low will British politics go? Ask Elon, master of the Muskoverse – he’ll decide | Marina Hyde

Annual Christmas Eve stories. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night (or the John McLane version!)

I have now been widowed longer than married.Another reminder of the life he’s missing & how I miss sharing it with him.I wish he could know this version of me.But his influence stays with me & when in doubt I ask what would Jude do-though just as in life I don’t always listen💚

The BBC referenced a report today that @reformscotland.bsky.social published in 23. It used FOI data showing a worrying trend of growing school absence levels & covered 28/32 councils. Because it is in the news an academic has decided to question my background, re-sharing old online rubbish.1/6

The Scottish Government continues to take short-term spending decisions. This has been effective in balancing the budget. But it risks disrupting services and restricting progress towards better long-term outcomes. Auditor General's report: bit.ly/Fiscal_Sustainability_and_Reform_in_Scotland_2024

Nine years. I wish I could hold you. I wish you could see the kids. I wish I could talk to you for hours. I wish I could hear you pestering me for a cup of tea and see that twinkle in your eye. You left a huge hole in our lives, but we carry you with us always 💚

Important report from @auditscotland.bsky.social published today which needs to be widely read. All politicians & parties have a responsibility to be honest with the public about the scale of reform needed & the difficult choices ahead. These issues cannot be fixed in one electoral cycle

Would you like to follow the voices of brilliant women working in policy, politics, research, media and more across Scotland? If so, I have a starter pack for you 🌟⤵️ go.bsky.app/TyaxnV5

Gisèle Pelicot says ‘macho’ society must change attitude on rape

Our NHS is badly in need of reform if we are to preserve a service free at the point of use. I’m quoted in this article today on behalf of @reformscotland.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/article/bf2b...

There is at least recognition in England that the NHS is in critical condition & needs reform. We seem to have a health secretary refusing to admit a crisis despite warnings from Audit Scotland. Research director @alipayne.bsky.social quoted in today's @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/bf2b...