To say thank fuck for Nicola Sturgeon

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I can't stand her anti English stance, but at least one political leader is doing something for the refugees...

Scotland is going down the pan under NS. My daughters' school is bursting at the seams. Last year she didn't have a teacher for 2 months. They cobbled together cover from all over the place. One day she had 3 different teachers and didn't know their names. This is rated as one of the best schools in the city. The council spent millions on PPI building a new flagship secondary school a few years. It's at maximum levels of 1100 children. By the time DD1 starts secondary, they estimate there will be 1400.

Scottish police force has been a disaster--according to people I know who work for the police locally.

And what's with 'our oil'? There is no oil left! What is there is so hard to get out the ground, it's not worth bothering. Nobody seems to be talking about the fact that Aberdeen's economy is crashing. My sister, BIL and DH all worked in the oil industry and all have lost their jobs in the last 6 months. Thousands of jobs have gone. The housing market has crashed. It's an absolute disaster and the SNP have been remarkably silent. I shudder to think what would have happened had we gone independent.

Oh, and I give higher education a few years before the SNP has to either introduce fees or throw a massive amount of money into the sector. I'm an academic and we just can't compete with English uni's. The gap is going to keep growing. We're frantically trying to get every English student who's willing to bring their money with them. The unwelcome truth is that English students are getting in with lower grades because they are paying. This is producing a huge amount of resentment on both sides of the student divide.

I love being up here, but NS and the SNP are building up huge problems that are going to bite us in a couple of years.

What got me about the independence debate was that there was never any clear indication that it would cost.

I actually don't have a problem with sharing our resources more equally. I came from a very poor background and worked hard to get a better life for my children but I have no issue with paying more tax and lowering my standard of living if I thought the money would be well spent and we'd all live a better life with plenty of opportunities.

However they weren't honest about what it would cost, and it would have cost everyone a lot.

The problem was that the people that thought they would benefit voted Yes as they had nothing to lose. I appreciate there would also be people on the other end of the chain that voted Yes as well. It's the fact that there were enough people who realised that the figures didn't add up that voted No that saved us. Again, i have no objection to independence per se, but maybe if we looked for ways that we were like other people than constantly searching for ways that we weren't, then racism, xenophobia and other issues would decrease?

It's this "No, we are full - fuck off" attitude that gets to me, yes it might impact on us all by bringing in some of these desperate people but take a moment to think of what would you want if the shoe were on the other foot?

What if Hitler had invaded Britain all those years ago and decide to torture kill and destroy your homeland and you were desperate enough to try to float a dingy from here to Ireland and they told you to get lost and go back where you came from? Or would you hope to be given shelter, food and water and hope?

Oh, and I give higher education a few years before the SNP has to either introduce fees or throw a massive amount of money into the sector.

I agree. I think it will be a very different situation ten years from now.

I didn't know that about the English students - that makes me really sad - I came across something similar a long time ago in England - before tuition fees.

Firstly I was told not to even bother applying to one university - they only really wanted fee paying non- EU students.
I went to another 'good' university - we had a few foreign fee payers in our year. I was friendly with one and I really felt for them. They had a completely miserable time, they had no problems with English but they struggled. They couldn't have tried any harder but were completely out of their depth. I don't think they should have been there - for their mental health if nothing else. They were devastated that they 'failed' - they 'only' got a 2.2. I honestly don't think they would have got a place if they hadn't been fee paying.. and do wonder what happened to her - she never came to graduation...I often wonder if she had a breakdown

i am scottish and i can,t stand her .she let our school system go to the dogs as education secretary our health system when she was health secretary .the free prescription thing is a joke we cannot afford this .our children sit in old over crowded classrooms but hey lets give all 5 to 8 year olds free school meals .now she will just let in anyone .while i have no problems with refugee family,s lots of them are single young men just chancing there luck especially at calais .

If she was truly a nice person she wouldn't be trying to make political gains out of the misery of others.

Its really causing a huge amount of resentment on both sides.

We are restricted on the number of Scottish and EU students we can take by the Scottish government. However, in theory, we can take as many Emglish students as we can grab. So when clearing opened up recently, there were no spaces available at all for Scottish/EU students, but almost every course was open to English students. We're not taking anybodywe still have a basic grade requirementbut Scottish students are coming in with higher grades because we have such tight limits.

The full impact of this isn't yet apparent. I've not taught for the last couple of years so I haven't had chance to see if a divide is evident.

Surely many of the things you are blaming NS for come down to the impact of austerity cuts?

They had an underspend of a couple of hundred million pounds last year.

This isn't money just out right incompetence. Plus the money we do have is being spent incredibly badly.

Oh and there's the SNP's get out clause. It's all westmonster's Westminster's fault.

ns and the snp love blaming westminster and england for everything .we underspent our budget john swinney eventually admitted this .we could bring in millions if those who could afford too paid for there medication .same again with free meals i bring my child home on prinicipal .plenty folk need this why give to those who can afford .our free education a full time course is two and a half days a week.they are always banging on about free care for the elderly well thats a lie .in falkirk the elderly pay a minimum of £90 per month and more if you need housework /laundry /food service but it makes her look good to say we will help the helpless of the world .while i am not a big fan or dave and george .i am no fan of hers .

YANBU. Im glad NS has taken this stance. Of course whatever stance she took as my dc says 'haters gonna hate'. Had she said nothing she would have been slated, had she said we cant take anymore, she would have been slated. Have to laugh at the one state party comments. Of course no one considered it a one party state when Labour were getting most bums on seats. I thinks some people really need to learn the meaning of a one party state, maybe look to China or North Korea. Its hardly a fault of the SNP that they are the party that garnered the most votes, due to a mixture of people agreeing with what they stand for and well, for most SNP voters thinking that Tory and Labour are two cheeks of the same arse.

The curriculum for excellence was a labour administration policy btw...not an SNP one.

The implementation of it was them and it was done badly, but it wasn't them that came up with it.

I don't have a problem with the theory of CfE. It's the implementation that's shite.

They didn't have to implement it though (and quite so badly) did they?

Why don't the SNP try owning some of their monumental fuck ups? It is beyond tiresome how they blame everything on Wastemonster/Tories/Labour.

yes the vale of leven hospital scandal for starters .i believe our lovely leader was health secretarty at the time .such crap care that patients were drinking water from vases .surely looking after the vunerable starts at home .

I gave birth in the vale of leven in 1996...it was pretty horrendous then too.

I'd like NS to come to our Primary.
The Head has just been 're-allocated to the Council' for the 2nd time in the last 5 years (each time there were serious and well documented issues with Safeguarding). Both families involved were then 'investigated' by SS (on Council's behest) who did not uphold allegations about either of them.

One of my children has not had Maths h/w for 3 years. Wehad thought it was his 'dyscalculia' but have just discovered that, age 11, 'many of the children in that class cannot subtract or do the other 3 basic Maths equations'. His spelling age is 7 but he will not receive qualified Support for Learning as 'he doesn't need it'. We have been told that 'his issues are because he speaks with an English accent, like his parents.' That was upheld, right to the top of the Council.
CforE ALLOWS this sort of nonsense by having such woolly 'bands of assessment' that children can sink for at least 3 years before it is even noticed.
Our Council is considering changing the School Week to 4 days, due to 'budget cuts'. We have no TA's (P2 with 28 pupils and 1 NQT, anyone?) , no music teaching, no languages, no trips. Our Primary School (in a very rural area) has NO green space and no equipment in the playground. No clubs, no afterschool provision. Kids age 11 are changing together. 2 infants toilets available at break and lunch for all to use.
No ACCOUNTABILITY whatsoever.

Our local Hospital is a sewer. Regularly assessed as being 'filthy' from the entrance hall to the Theatres. I waited nearly 2 years for an Op.
The local Council is corrupt from top to bottom.
The local Hospital is run for the staff not patients.
The local 'education' system is appalling.

But, hey, we all have free prescriptions and continue to blame Westminster, so who cares?

That's awful clearblue. I didn't mention the fact that my city has a 40% unemployment rate. I've no idea what refugees would do--no work, no space in schools.....

What pisses me off is that (bar the police), nobody seems to be talking about the big problems that we have here. The SNP just spouts the 'land of milk and honey' claim.

That is truly awful. Regardless of the system used, a good /experienced teacher will know to teach the basics regardless of how they have to report. CfE just gives the lazy/poor and inexperienced room to hide and it's the kids that are suffering.

That matches with what my high school friend said. The pupils did not know how to do simple arithmetic or how to use a clockface to tell the time. That is stuff that should be clear to the majority in P2/P3.

DD is just doing how to read a clock face in P4. A secondary school teacher I know has had children who still cannot read an analogue clock well into secondary.

According to the Scotsman, 45% of kids at S4 are struggling. 45%!!!
The gap between attainment of 5 Highers ('the gold standard') in the richest and poorest areas is over 50 times. Fifty!!!
CfE / SNP are failing a whole generation, and how...

Yy to CfE giving the lazy/inexperienced room to hide.

As for us, we are moving, but not before I go to my MP/press about it.
We are being forced out (not enough income to supplement two childrens education all the way through High School) afaiks and I am really angry about it.

We didn't do clockface reading until p6 in the 80s.

I wouldn't expect p2/3s to be taught this.

I have DCs with big gaps so am experiencing the difference between cfe and the old system.

The cfe report cards are useless but I didn't find the old ones much better. I'd much rather have some facts & figures on there such as reading age or place in class.

Most of the issues with education though are the responsibility of the local councils not the Scottish government.

People complain but voting in council elections is startlingly low. Complete numpties (from all parties) get in with a few hundred votes and get their hands on out DCs schools budgets.

The only way to remedy this is for people to pay attention to who their councillors are, what they do and give as much consideration as to who they vote for as people do in general elections.

Clear blue water- lots of schools in poor areas dont even offer 5 Highers in 5th year.

Those kids have no chance.