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David Torrance: How Brexit vote has left the SNP making the same historical error

“Scotland”, declared a young Alex Salmond in May 1975, “knows from bitter experience what treatment is in store for a powerless region of a common market.”




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David Torrance: Standing up for Scotland may be an impossible task for Ruth Davidson

In his new book, “The End of British Party Politics?”, the political scientist Roger Awan-Scully captures the paradox of last year’s general election in Scotland.




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David Torrance: Sturgeon faces some hard choices at home when selling Scotland abroad

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.




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David Torrance: Airstrikes in Syria are far from ideal, but it’s better than nothing

Today in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister will explain her decision to authorise airstrikes against Syria alongside France and the United States.




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David Torrance: The rise of political tribalism has little to do with policy and everything to do with identity

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




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Belle Robertson endures in game of great longevity

Belle Robertson has played just one round of golf this year. She’ll double that tally with another today.




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Golf clubs need members 'more than ever' in coronavirus crisis

It wasn’t that long ago that health experts were championing golf as a soothing, morale-boosting haven away from the ravaging rigours of the coronavirus.




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Back in the Sporting Day: 1970, Billy Casper wins the Masters

It was 50 years ago this week that one of the greatest golfers ever to grace the greens set out on his quest to win his first US Masters championship.




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Golf and coronavirus: Why Covid-19 may be the final straw for outdated clubs

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.




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Golfers warned to respect lockdown restrictions as government confirms no date has been set to reopen courses

Scottish Golf today revealed that no date has been set for the sport in this country to restart and stressed that lockdown restrictions will remain in place for the foreseeable future.




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Drink with Gerard Richardson: The magic of malbec

IF you’re under 40, or as I like to call it these days, "pre-arthritis", you probably won’t remember the dark days of malbec when you had a 50-50 chance of opening something that would be as rough as sandpaper.




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Scotch Whisky Association's Karen Betts: Three reasons Scotch is the 'lifeblood of communities'

Chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association Karen Betts explains why she thinks the Scottish 'water of life' is so special.




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Christmas wine choice, by Gerard Richardson

WELL, here we go again, folks. It’s time to take a look at the perfect wines for Christmas so sit back, relax and let’s go down the rabbit hole together.




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Andy Bell: Six Nations, we'll drink to that

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.




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SNP MP Steven Bonnar apologises over altercation with neighbour

SNP MP Steven Bonnar has apologised after a heated altercation with a neighbour.




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Readers react to reports Nicola Sturgeon 'missed six coronavirus Cobra meetings'

Readers have been quick to voice their opinion after it was reported that Nicola Sturgeon missed six emergency coronavirus Cobra meetings.




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Coronavirus: PPE shipment from China remains at Prestwick Airport due to 'labelling issue'

MILLIONS of face masks to protect Scottish health and care workers against coronavirus could be stuck in limbo at Prestwick airport for a week, it has emerged.




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Health boards spend £17m on sending scans away to be read

HEALTH boards across Scotland have spent almost £17 million on sending scans to other parts of the country and across the world by private companies amid a staffing crisis.




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Jim Sillars says SNP may have to be replaced by new independence party

THE SNP is so rotten it may have to be replaced by a new independence party, its former deputy leader has said.




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Coronavirus: Dumbarton police station temporarily closed after staff member showed symptoms

Dumbarton police station has temporarily closed after a member of staff showed symptoms of Covid-19.




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Derek Mackay can pick up a ‘golden goodbye’ of £12,000 this week

DISGRACED former finance secretary Derek Mackay will be entitled to a £12,000 golden goodbye payment this week – despite not being seen in public for three months.




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Take the Penn State Community Survey beginning Feb. 3

On Feb. 3, all students, faculty and staff members at every Penn State campus location will receive an email to take the Penn State Community Survey to share their attitudes and experiences of community, diversity and inclusion at Penn State. Every 100 survey takers will have a chance to win an Amazon or Starbucks gift card.




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Upcycled Art Contest becomes popular event at Shenango Earth Fest

Penn State Shenango's Upcycled Art Contest will be held in conjunction with the campus' annual Earth Fest on Saturday, April 4.




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Shenango campus to hold virtual celebration after spring commencement

Following the University-wide commencement ceremony on May 9, Penn State Shenango will host a virtual celebration for the Class of 2020.




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We CAN build a bridge to Ireland: firm's plan for eco-link across Irish sea

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.




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Coronavirus: Passengers entering UK 'to be quarantined for two weeks' to halt spread

People arriving in the UK could be forced to quarantine for two weeks to halt the spread of coronavirus under plans for the "second phase" of the Government's response.




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Plan to replace busy Scottish ferry with bridge

It crosses one of the most scenic waterways in Scotland and is the second busiest by volume of passengers in the country.




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Coronavirus sparks calls over car use and public transport

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




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Coronavirus: One in four want police to be tougher over lockdown

MORE than one-quarter of people in Scotland want police to take tougher action against those who flout lockdown rules, a survey has found.




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Lockdown guide. Pub crawl across Scotland through Still Game, Local Hero, Trainspotting

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




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Joanna Blythman: Want to start eating Scottish fish? Here are the best places to start

If Scotland really does have such fabulous seafood, why do ordinary citizens find it so hard to tap into this much eulogised catch? The problem has been that subsequent governments have fixated on international exports, not food for citizens.




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Coronavirus: 'Low inherent risk' anglers fish for a way back onto Scottish waters

SCOTLAND's foremost angling organisation has set out a bid to allow people to take part in the sport as lockdown measures are eased saying it carries a "low inherent potential" for Covid-19 transmission.




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Groupies: muses, victims or both?

THE 2000 film Almost Famous told the love story of a schoolboy writer tracking a rock band and falling for a teenage girl – who happens to be a groupie. Or was she?




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Con man, charlatan, rebel, visionary. Who was the real Malcolm McLaren?

IN April 2004, the Victoria & Albert museum in London staged an exhibition of the work of Vivienne Westwood. The show was a celebration and a culmination of the fashion designer’s move from the margins of the industry in the 1970s, where she was creating clothes for the punks who hung around the King’s Road, to her 21st-century incarnation as first among equals in British haute couture.




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Celebrities like Victoria Beckham should be paying up in the coronavius crisis

THE Through the Keyhole Pandemic Special has certainly given rise to some entertaining sights.




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Issue of the Day: Rolling Stones are back with a coronavirus song

The Rolling Stones have released their first new song in eight years. Unlike everything else they've done in the last three decades, it's bang up to date. It even references the coronavirus crisis.




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“We’re talking 30 years ago. The culture was inherently more sexist than it is now.” Wendy James on her new album and her days in Transvision Vamp

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.




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Bored, Stressed, Tired: Unpacking Teenagers' Emotions About High School

At first glance, it could seem that teenagers just really, really hate high school. But Yale researchers found deeper student engagement issues.




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College Board Cancels June SAT and Amps Up Fall Testing Schedule

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.




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Iain Macwhirter: We're heading for a hard Brexit on Friday, but it needn't have been this way

The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill got the Royal Assent this week. It was then solemnly signed, sealed and ratified by Ursula von der Leyen, the new President of the European Commission. We’re finally out.




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Iain Macwhirter: There won’t be a 'legal and legitimate' referendum next year or for many years after that. Get used to it

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.




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Iain Macwhirter: He acts the clown but Boris Johnson is a Bolshevik about power

It was a normal Friday night in the Red Lion pub in Whitehall, where journalists gather to gossip about the week. Charlie Whelan, former chancellor Gordon Brown’s personal spin doctor, was holding court as usual, white wine spritzer in hand.




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Iain Macwhirter: Alex Salmond ... the trial that could split the SNP from top to bottom

The Scottish political world is holding its breath this weekend.




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Iain Macwhirter on coronavirus: this crisis could bring a Great Depression, not socialism

The Meadowbank Stadium was one of the shabbier landmarks in east Edinburgh until it was knocked down last year. A new one is rising from the ashes, looking like one of those massive cruise liners that appear in the Forth.




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Iain Macwhirter: Adults need a timetable for normality, not indefinite house arrest

Nicola Sturgeon won plaudits from some unlikely quarters this week for her “grown-up conversation” on lifting the lockdown.




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Iain Macwhirter: 'Hard to conclude that there are any real villains of fifth columnists in Britain’s Covid war so far'

“It's not the end; it's not even the beginning of the end; but it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. Churchill's famous wartime speech after the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by saying it was only the beginning, he was suggesting that there could be worse to come.




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TV preview: Lucy Worsley's Royal Photo Album; Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe

THE market for TV historians is crowded and fiercely competitive. Drop your guard for a second and Dan Snow or Bettany Hughes will be in the door and taking your gig faster than you can don a pair of those special white gloves all in the trade must have. Lucy Worsley made her name by combining immense knowledge – she is the chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces – with a steadfast dedication to raiding the dressing up box.




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Many Districts Won't Be Ready for Remote Learning If Coronavirus Closes Schools

E-learning may help some schools keep instruction flowing but major gaps in access and resources mean not all schools are ready to offer virtual classes, and not all students are equipped to learn online.




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How Districts Are Helping Teachers Get Better at Tech Under Coronavirus

Educators are struggling to learn how to use new tech tools—devices, apps, software, and online textbooks—in greater volume than ever before.




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RAND Study: Online Resources Not Teachers' Top Choice Before Coronavirus Pandemic

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