Society

The cameras were on Nicola Sturgeon but it was Nick and Phil Duffy’s day. The couple sat in the public gallery of the Scottish Parliament to hear the First Minister announce her government’s Bill to pardon gay men historically prosecuted for same-sex relations. The old men, who sat holding hands, heard Sturgeon tell Holyrood that while disregards of past criminal offences were long overdue, they were not enough. A more meaningful reparation had to be made: a national apology to those whose lives were ruined and whose love was chased into the shadows. She declared: ‘Today, as First Minister, I categorically, unequivocally and whole-heartedly apologise for those laws and for the

There’s a line in ‘All the President’s Men’ which seems dismally appropriate for our current government: ‘News that would have occasioned banner headlines a few weeks ago was now simply mentioned in a larger story’. When things fall apart, boy they really fall apart.  This is not Watergate, of course, and Brexit must happen because that is what the people have commanded. Nevertheless, this is not a government that inspires confidence even on its own benches. And by God there is too much news. More, certainly, than can fit in a single story or be the subject of its own banner headlines.  Up until now, the standard view has been

Social care is in crisis: everyone knows that. And everyone knows that if nothing is done about the long-term sustainability of the sector, then the crisis will only get worse. But less well-known is that there is a short-term crisis looming that could threaten the sector very quickly, too. Over the past few years, the sector has been trying to work out the implications of a court ruling that carers who stay overnight are entitled to the minimum wage for their sleep-in shifts, rather than a flat rate fee for a ‘sleep-in’ shift. This has been made rather more difficult by the government issuing guidance on the ruling which didn’t