YOU could call it state-sponsored sanctimony. In times of crisis or national emergency we’re all urged to pull in the same direction and put partisan politics behind us. How dare you talk about inequality and the plight of the disadvantaged at a time like this? Those who tend to be loudest in rebuking these social pariahs are often those who stand to benefit most from any suspension of scrutiny.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) at Penn State is looking for undergraduate entrepreneurs from any Penn State campus to compete in the 2020 Inc.U Competition. Six finalist teams will earn a spot on “The Investment,” a production of WPSU-TV, giving them a chance to pitch their company for a share of $30,000 in funding. The 2020 Inc.U Competition submission deadline is Feb. 7.

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

The annual Earth Fest event and the K-6 Upcycled Art Contest have been canceled for this year.

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

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.

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.

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

THE SCOTTISH Government has been urged to empower the country’s towns and cities can be transformed into healthier hubs for walking and cycling amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

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

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

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

FRANKLY? The restaurant world is going mad. Consider this: I order a home delivery from Yu-ca-taco early on Friday evening. For Saturday night. By text of course.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Sharing moments of levity and hope from the education world amid the mass disruption of schooling and life from the coronavirus.

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.

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.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans has always had a gothic element. The voodoo culture dates from the African American diaspora, though it’s now mostly for tourists. But this year there was an authentically macabre dimension to Fat Tuesday.

The Scottish political world is holding its breath this weekend.

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.

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.

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

“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.

A is for Audible

FACE it – we are going nowhere. Even if we had a particular place to venture the regulations would not permit. For the foreseeable we shall have to contract out our travelling to others. On the upside, no airport hassle. On the downside, no giant Toblerone.

One of the country's most-loved couples returned to Channel 4 this week with Richard & Judy: Keep Reading And Carry On. The presenters talk to Georgia Humphreys about marriage, their love of books, and filming in lockdown.

Co-hosts Keith Lemon and Anna Richardson talk to Gemma Dunn about their new show, The Fantastical Factory Of Curious Craft.

One of the biggest pieces of unfinished business for education groups when it comes to federal help with the coronavirus is connectivity and online learning. But what's the state of play?

Chief technology officers are facing an unprecedented test of digital preparedness due to the coronavirus pandemic, struggling with shortfalls of available learning devices and huge Wi-Fi access challenges.

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.

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

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