The sight of Scottish ministers boarding flights to far-flung destinations in order to “sell Scotland to the world” has been a familiar one for more than half a century.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an “in conversation” event with the American sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild at Harvard University.

To say that amateur golf in Scotland has been slow to adapt to change is putting it kindly. But where the rise of the nomads, the Equality Act, the credit crunch and repeated faltering reform efforts have failed, perhaps Covid-19 will finally be the shock that thrusts the sector into a meaningful if seriously belated overhaul.

With the Six Nations rugby in full flow (come on, Scotland – I’m forever the optimist) now is a great time to look at amazing beverages from all the nations competing.

WEEK two of the lockdown and I don't know about you, but I’m feeling a bit playful, so how about instead of a boring old wine column, we take a look at a drink that can be fun for all the family?

While lockdown has seen some people turn to DIY, it doesn't all have to be on the home or garden.

NICOLA Sturgeon has suggested the coronavirus lockdown in Scotland could end later than the one in England and that she might seek powers to close the Border.

THE Scottish Government has been formally approached by Swedish architects proposing that a bridge to Northern Ireland can be built ... and combined with 140 wind turbines to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

SCOTLAND’S towns and cities have seen a “stark decrease” in toxic traffic fumes since the coronavirus lockdown came into force.

LOCKDOWN may start easing soon, but it seems likely to be a long time yet before any of us find ourselves in an actual physical pub. It’s not of course the booze we’re missing – we can get plenty of that – but the company, the conviviality, the atmosphere, the feeling that, in the late hours, almost anything might kick off. So, for those who cry inside every time they walk past their closed-down local, or wake-up having dreamed of standing with a pint at the bar, here’s a few ways you

PLANS for league reconstruction have been scrapped after Ladbrokes Premiership clubs indicated there isn't enough support for the proposed changes at this time.

It’ll be five years next month since Gerry Cinnamon released his debut single Kampfire Vampire on Glasgow-based micro-label First Run Records, a half decade in which the Castlemilk-born singer-songwriter has gone from jobbing gig jockey on the city’s DIY scene to a bona fide musical phenomenon with combined Spotify plays of well over 100 million.

A FEW weeks ago, Wendy James was trending on Twitter. It’s been happening quite often over the last few months, a result of BBC Four’s repeats of Top of the Pops reaching 1988 and 1989, the years in which a pink-lipsticked, bra-flaunting James launched herself on the public consciousness as the brash, blonde frontwoman of Transvision Vamp.

Glasgow's Summer Nights at the Bandstand festival has become the latest major music event to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

WE start at the low point. “It’s hard doing music,” Jill O’Sullivan admits. “I love it. I feel compelled to sing and play and write. But I was thinking of quitting.”

DRAKE - DARK LANE DEMO TAPES

To make up for lost opportunities for college admissions testing during the coronavirus crisis, the board plans to offer the test more often in the fall, including some test administrations during the school day.

I’m not sure it was wise for Nicola Sturgeon to invoke Nelson Mandela in her speech on the next steps (sic) to independence. He was a revolutionary who pursued a campaign of non-violent direct action, including strikes, boycotts and other acts of civil disobedience. That’s what many ardent Yessers were hoping against hope she might authorise.

Next week, Nicola Sturgeon is promising to outline her proposals for lifting the lockdown. Good luck with that. She is unlikely to open the schools because she can't rely on parents to send their children.

Before the massive rush to remote learning, most teachers used digital resources as supplements rather than primary materials, a RAND study shows.

HELP is on hand for parents hoping to inspire their children at home during the coronavirus lockdown – and it’s all free.

THE teacher had four pupils yesterday. Just four pupils out of a class of 33 took part in virtual online lockdown lessons.

Everyone who knows anything about education seems to now be running a livestream from their room, and the explosion of home-schooling resources can be enough to send a busy parent into lockdown meltdown. That's why we've created a check-list of some of the books and sites that could help. It’s not all about BBC Bitesize and the Khan Academy – it can be all the more fun when you go a little off the beaten path.

THE SCOTTISH Government “does not consider it likely” that schools will fully re-open “in the foreseeable future” - while working from home is “likely to persist as part of the new normal”.

The Long Beach, Calif., school district is deploying a multifaceted strategy to put more students of color in high-level math courses and help them succeed.

Building science lessons around phenomena that students know equally and can see in their own lives is making the subject more relevant and interesting.

Affinity groups known as caucuses let teacher-candidates at the University of Washington gather with others who share part of their identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

Here are five takeaways on the teaching profession from the newly released 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey.

Within days of the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish union fees for nonmembers, conservative groups—including ones with ties to Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos—launched email, social media, and billboard campaigns to try to convince teachers not to join their unions.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is partnering with think tanks and advocacy groups across the country in a campaign encouraging public employees to consider dropping their union memberships.

The UK looks likely to operate under slightly different lockdown rules next week after announcements by the leaders of the Welsh and Scottish Governments suggested deviation between nations.

THE SCOTTISH Government is reviewing its Covid-19 testing strategy after the Deputy First Minster has been left “frustrated” by reports home care workers have been told to travel to the other side of Scotland for tests.

PEOPLE who are not positive for Covid-19 could be told to isolate from their families before test results are issued as a precaution, Scotland’s national clinical director has warned.

Dig into what two leading Democratic presidential candidates have to say in their platforms about charter schools with Education Week's detailed analysis.

Assuring a positive student-teacher relationship is easier said than done. Here’s what veteran educators advise about how to make that relationship work, and what to do when things fall apart.

While schools are closed to coronavirus, districts are putting together a patchwork of lessons for students to do at home. But districts’ expectations for what students can accomplish at home vary widely, according to parents.

Bernie Sanders' sweeping vision would establish a $60,000 minimum salary for teachers, while clamping down on charters and boosting efforts to desegregate schools. It's hard to see a lot of it becoming a reality.

Education Week found 22 public schools named after politicians who signed the Southern Manifesto opposing school integration after the 1954 Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision.

The Presbyterian minister's efforts in 1964 to send his son to an integrated school in Charlotte, N.C., led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding busing as a desegregation tool.

Michael Casserly, who has led the Council of the Great City Schools since 1992, will step down next year and become an adviser to the group.

Hamish Wilson, radio producer and actor

Born: July 9, 1938;

George Forfar: An appreciation

An appreciation by Maxwell Macleod

Three high school basketball players in Tennessee were charged with aggravated rape and aggravated assault in late December after allegedly sending one of their 15-year-old teammates to the hospital.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a bill into law Wednesday that expands the state's anti-hazing regulations to elementary, middle, and high schools rather than just post-secondary institutions.

Many state and local education agency websites aren't disclosing the presence of third-party tracking services, which can use information about users' browsing.

YouthTruth asked 104,000 school staff, students, and their families how they perceive the fairness of discipline at their schools. The results can help start conversations about discipline policy and leading by listening.

Stronger data practices can help leaders better utilize data as a way to deeply understand the students they serve.

The business of buying things for schools is a key part of making sure that hard-fought K-12 funding actually turns into a quality education at the school and classroom level.