The story of the boy who cried wolf is primal, told to us in childhood and virtually etched in our synapses. It is a formative fable whose impact is universal, one of those stores which, while ostensibly aimed at children, actually help to set out rules of good conduct and effective ways of behaving which […]

(This week’s blog is the basis of an article which was printed in the Sunday Herald Scotland on 25th April 2010.) Methadone, the substitute drug for heroin, has come in for some severe criticism of late here in Scotland. The main brunt of that criticism is that we are simply substituting one addiction (to heroin) with […]

The following is now virtually anathema in many modern educational circles. A teacher or lecturer walks into a classroom/lecture theatre. She delivers a lesson/lecture based on prepared notes consisting of a combination of an established, ‘traditional’ body of knowledge in a particular subject area enhanced by the most up-to-date results and findings in that subject. […]

The 2010 UK general election is underway and campaigning is in full swing. No-one can accurately forecast the result, but for the first time since the 1970s there is a real prospect that no one political party will secure a majority and, therefore a hung parliament will ensue with parties and senior politicians horse-trading and […]

A contemporary phrase, repeated mantra like in a wide variety of situations, is “not being judgemental”. The phrase (which in a positive negative variant can have an ism attached to as in “non-judgementalism”) is meant to clearly indicate that the person saying it brings no prior judgement or prejudice to meeting other people or any […]