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@paulbrand.bsky.social‬
· 22s
BREAKING: MSPs have narrowly rejected the assisted dying bill in Scotland by 69 to 57 with one abstention.

A pretty close vote, with a handful of MSPs changing to reject the vote in the last few days from a neutral or positive position. This morning it would likely have been close to a tie

Ironically this would have stood more chance of passing in the next parliament, when we can expect to see more than 8 Green MSPs

It is now incumbent on the next Scottish Government to significantly improve quality and availability of palliative care.

WTF?

One in ten new university students do not have a single A-level

Vice-chancellor warns that poorly qualified undergraduates are unlikely to pass their degrees yet benefit from taxpayer investment in the form of student loans

Almost one in ten university freshers do not have a single A-level or equivalent, official figures show.

The numbers have more than doubled in a decade, from 31,000 — or 5 per cent of the intake — in 2014-15 to 75,000 — 9 per cent — in the academic year 2024-25.

Of those, 50,000 students did not have a GCSE or equivalent, up from 12,000 ten years before.

The figures, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, cover undergraduates and postgraduates, part and full-time students and those studying at the Open University.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/a-levels-university-students-z76bnsj8t

Unless they are mature students in retirement, those students would be better off doing apprenticeships