EDINBURGH coach Richard Cockerill has taken two vital steps in rebuilding his squad for next season by signing stand-off Jono Lance from Worcester and centre Matt Gordon from London Scottish. With Simon Hickey and Matt Scott leaving at the end of the season, cover for both positions was a priority.

Edinburgh Rugby have announced the signing of three Scottish qualified youngsters in Nathan Chamberlain, Ben Muncaster and Dan Gamble on academy deals which will turn into full-time contracts next summer, and head coach Richard Cockerill has promised that three current academy prospects in Rory Darge, Connor Boyle and Sam Grahamslaw will soon be elevated to the senior squad ahead of next season.

It is a tiny spit of land that lies in the Firth of Clyde two miles off the coast of Troon where colonies of seabirds have made their homes for centuries.

IT is one of he most important seabird observatories in the world, but its very future was called into question when fire ravaged through it and left it no more than a pile of rubble.

I TOOK a bottle of Cot home the other day to share with a friend and his reaction got me thinking about the subject matter for this week's column, so here’s to wines and blends you may not have come across.

Thyme: Lebanese Street Sajeria

If you need a last-minute gift, you can grab a $50 Apple iTunes gift card for $42.50. Plus, you can save $250 on the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 and $100 on the iRobot Roomba 675.

IT’S strange the different things people took away from Theresa May’s teary goodbye in Downing Street yesterday.

WELL that didn’t take long. Scotland’s latest experiment in direct democracy was all but killed off this week, barely two months after Nicola Sturgeon announced it.

The Scottish Labour Party, I think it’s fair to say, hasn’t had a good decade.

The sight of Scottish ministers boarding flights to far-flung destinations in order to “sell Scotland to the world” has been a familiar one for more than half a century.

IF you’re under 40, or as I like to call it these days, "pre-arthritis", you probably won’t remember the dark days of malbec when you had a 50-50 chance of opening something that would be as rough as sandpaper.

CHRISTMAS is coming, the goose is getting fat and there's no wine as flexible with the varied foods of the season than rioja, so let’s take a seasonal look at our favourite Spaniard.

WELL, here we go again, folks. It’s time to take a look at the perfect wines for Christmas so sit back, relax and let’s go down the rabbit hole together.

IF you’re anything like me, these weird alcohol-free January fads are to be avoided so let's raise a glass to a guilt-free month and kick it off with a look at something clean and refreshing to wash the season of excess away.

IT only seems like yesterday that we were in the season to be jolly and, all of a sudden, romance is in the air. Before we know it, we’ll all be rolling eggs down a hill but, in the meantime, I guess we should take a look at rose, the wines of love.

ONE of the trying things about being a drinks columnist is the number of wines I have to taste in order to write this Shakespearian text for you guys. Products have to be really special to stand out from the crowd and, thankfully, they occasionally still do.

WEEK two of the lockdown and I don't know about you, but I’m feeling a bit playful, so how about instead of a boring old wine column, we take a look at a drink that can be fun for all the family?

Construction work on the NHS Louisa Jourdan will conclude today with the hospital standing operationally ready to treat patients from tomorrow.

HEALTH boards across Scotland have spent almost £17 million on sending scans to other parts of the country and across the world by private companies amid a staffing crisis.

To make up for lost opportunities for college admissions testing during the coronavirus crisis, the board plans to offer the test more often in the fall, including some test administrations during the school day.

The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill got the Royal Assent this week. It was then solemnly signed, sealed and ratified by Ursula von der Leyen, the new President of the European Commission. We’re finally out.

“It's not the end; it's not even the beginning of the end; but it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. Churchill's famous wartime speech after the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by saying it was only the beginning, he was suggesting that there could be worse to come.

One of the country's most-loved couples returned to Channel 4 this week with Richard & Judy: Keep Reading And Carry On. The presenters talk to Georgia Humphreys about marriage, their love of books, and filming in lockdown.

The slur isn't appropriate for school personnel or students of any race to ever use, writes Tyrone C. Howard.

In the wake of the 'Janus' Supreme Court case, teachers' unions are facing more than a dozen legal challenges backed by right-leaning groups that could further dampen their membership numbers and finances.

While the Trump administration proposal would not strip student eligibility for Head Start, the federal school lunch program, or the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, it could still affect millions of school-aged children who live with immigrant parents.

News.

Loaded or empirical? Incendiary or honest? Unavoidable or misleading? There’s a big disconnect around how we use the word “segregation.”

Dougherty County, a largely black school district in an region heavily affected by coronavirus, is no longer subject to desegregation orders first imposed in 1963.

Lord Armstrong of Ilminster

News.

Every teacher wants his/her students to be successful and chances are, each teacher is doing so much already with the information he or she has to make that happen. As team leaders, we want to help our teachers leverage the information they have to create the most targeted and effective instruction

A new mandate under the Every Student Succeeds Act requires a top-to-bottom look at how such districts deploy their money, staff, and the time used to support improvement.

Effective management approaches are not skills principals typically learn through the traditional pathways of education. To fill the gap, they are turning to business programs and publications.

Following the thrill of launching new businesses, two ed-tech startups are facing the challenges of making smart decisions to attract more customers and grow revenues.

The resignation is the latest change for the educational software giant, which is facing increasing competition in selling learning-management systems to schools and colleges.

More than a third of the 30 biggest school districts in the United States are not using any math or English/language arts curricula that are rated highly for alignment to state standards, a new study from the Center for American Progress finds.

It is time to refocus on building competency-based schools that work over time rather than forcing top-down laws that end in superficial changes in policy and no change in student outcomes, says guest blogger Van Schoales.

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210.”

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210.”

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210

This week, our resident cartoonist turned his pen on the Coronavirus outbreak, Bernie Sanders rising popularity in the United States and the battle for an SNP seat at Holyrood.

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210

Head boy

Almost 20 percent of children, including some as young as 6-10, report being cyberbullied via social media sites and apps, according to a new study.

Amid public concerns about school safety fueled by high-profile school shootings, new federal data show reports of student fights, bullying, and other forms of victimization have continued a decades-long decline.

Microsoft rolls out a major update to its Xbox game Pass Quests system including 90 more Quests as well as daily, weekly, and monthly challenges.