The Scottish Government in 2003 outlined the most progressive housing legislation in the world when it promised to eradicate all unintentional homelessness by 2012. One of the main issues was the allocation of housing applications as priority or non-priority; families with children always fell into the priority group, which now makes up 83% of applications.…

Went with Reu for a boy's day out to the Clydebank Titan crane. There are 5 of these huge cranes on the Clyde, this was the first, built in 1907. It stands 150ft high, and could lift 200 tons. Very slowly. Amazingly, it was electric, whereas other such cranes were steam powered, which meant that…

"I have to say I liked the idea of Limbo… for the vision it afforded of Aristotle and the Buddha conversing with tiny, half-naked bushmen but mostly, if I am honest, because I thought there might (unlike in Heaven) be animals in that other world I had come to see as an endless expanse of…

IMG_4378 We took a boat trip from Carvoeiro to see the caves. Beautiful, colourful beach and village but felt extremely self-conscious getting on to the boat while all the bronzed (local?) sunbathers watched us in our straw hats and T shirts. "Ooh, look at the WHITE people!" Jennifer said. Went to the market at Albufeira,…

2nd July flew to Faro for a villa holiday at Olhos de Agua, just outside Albufeira. Went with Gailey family, Jess & Davy plus Mark's mum, Janet. Hired 2 black Megane estates with keyless ignition and built in sunshades, woo hoo! Villa Vale do Martins (the latter is a name you see on shops and…

Is 21st century youth space – where they hang out, where they become socialised into peer groups. Instead of being shocked by what we see there and worrying about the technology, we should look more closely at what is behind this narcissism. Danah Boyd blames an educational culture of over-praise, combined with a lack of…

The phenomenon whereby we unconsciously overestimate our contributions or skills relative to other peoplex92s. Not difficult to understand, because of course wex92re far more aware of what we do than what other people do. According to Jonathan Haidtx92s The Happiness Hypothesis, x93when husbands and wives estimate the percentage of housework each does, their estimates total…

From Scottish Review of Books: I'm interested in people's vulnerability and what they do with it. Some people can turn it into a weapon; some use it as a survival tool. Ultimate vulnerability, the fact of approaching death, can make some people's clarity, their vision or purpose, rise to be more than they ever imagined…

The Scottish budget nearly failed to get through parliament, until last minute wrangling achieved sufficient consensus. The block was apparently the Greens, who had wanted £100 million for a free home insurance scheme. They had already accepted some very un-Green measures, eg the M74 extension, and had decided that enough was enough. In the end,…

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