Monthly Archives: May 2012

Dahn Sahff Inna Smoke, Innai?

Posted on May 28, 2012 by davidsberry

And so, for my first time this year, I made a pilgrimage to the Imperial Capital—and resplendent the old girl looks too in her much-delayed Spring sunshine finery. Having lived there for a number of years on-and-off, it’s a place … Continue reading →

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Irrtumliche Weltanschauung

Posted on May 25, 2012 by davidsberry

A fascinating conversation flashed amongst the Twitterati yesterday on the unevenness of foreign  language teaching ability in Scottish primary schools, despite a recent move to introduce a second foreign language there. Let’s leave aside for a minute whether the Doric … Continue reading →

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Bams Oot the Windae

Posted on May 24, 2012 by davidsberry

They say there’s a first time for everything. In today’s Torygraph, Alan Cochrane found common cause with SNP Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MSP and—for the first time to my recollection—I find myself agreeing with both of them. Arch-unionist Alan is, … Continue reading →

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Taking the temperature: what the Eurobarometer tells us about attitudes to the economic crisis

Posted on May 23, 2012 by davidsberry

Taking the temperature: what the Eurobarometer tells us about attitudes to the economic crisis.

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It’s the Education, Stupid

Posted on May 22, 2012 by davidsberry

Politicians of all stripes seem ferally inclined to have a go at one another. But one area on which even they all agree is on the importance of education. And, having led the world in getting its broad citizenry into … Continue reading →

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Drachmatis Personae: Angela vs Bob

Posted on May 21, 2012 by davidsberry

In my second Silicon Valley job 30 years ago, I launched the engineering department of a start-up PC company years before IBM rolled out the PC or Apple the Macintosh. ACS was run by the most plausible Southern good-ole-boy salesman … Continue reading →

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Fun Isn’t Weather-Dependent

Posted on May 20, 2012 by davidsberry

After a record cold/wet April, May is bidding fair to make this the worst Spring in decades. Farmers are staring morosely at crops that, after a good start from a mild winter, have barely grown any in seven weeks. Blossoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Environment | 1 Comment

Creative Skintland

Posted on May 18, 2012 by davidsberry

And while we, as we were yesterday, are on the topic of the arts and creativity in Scotland, today’s Herald carries a piece on how Creative Scotland is shaking up the way it disburses the £50-or-so-million of their largesse to … Continue reading →

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Hollywood Comes to Town

Posted on May 17, 2012 by davidsberry

Not often our corner of the county gets the attention of the rich & famous but for the last ten days, we’ve had the production crew for Johnathan Teplitzky’s film of The Railwayman (from the book by Eric Lomax) camped out … Continue reading →

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The Early Days of a Better Council?

Posted on May 16, 2012 by davidsberry

Yesterday was the first day of term—the first meeting of the new East Lothian Council after the election of May 3rd. It would have been easy for me and my eight SNP colleagues to have grumped about the place but … Continue reading →

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