Conspiracy theories, indyref2, energy prices and inclusive education: Herald on Sunday letters

Asking whether inclusive education is working is asking the wrong question.

The question that needs asking is how do some schools manage to be inclusive and get good results for everyone while others struggle?

What lessons can be learned from schools and teachers who do not see the difficulties in learning experienced by some children as problems for others to solve?

How can the “practice gap” between schools which do well for everyone and schools that struggle to achieve this outcome be closed?

It is not fair to blame students, teachers, schools, families, or the rights-based policy of inclusion for what The Herald on Sunday article cites as “the ‘terrifying damage’ being done to vulnerable pupils as a result of the policy”.

As the First Minister said at the time, this policy was debated nearly 20 years ago: “Surely the challenge of inclusion is to make schools accessible for all children, not just for some? ... That responsibility should be the hallmark of a good education system.”

A policy of inclusive education requires that schools are supported to suit the abilities of all children. When pressures mount – whether that is due to budget cuts, how resources are deployed or when what counts as the hallmark of a good education system changes – there will be those who will say inclusive education is a failed policy.

Yet there is no guarantee that another type of school will be better. Where children are placed is not the problem or the solution.

Working together to ensure that the social and academic wellbeing and progress of all students is adequately resourced and supported is also a hallmark of a good education system.

Lani Florian

Bell Chair of Education

Moray House School of Education

The University of Edinburgh

The true cost of our energy

Maggie Wynton raises the issue of Grid transmission charges of 19p in Scotland but London power generators get a subsidy of 6p per kilowatt (Letters, February 10).

Charges for the Grid are dependent on distance and that electricity is lost during the transmission process.

The English have power plants near centres of population, thus transmission costs are lower. In Scotland, the Grid had to be extended to reach distant wind farms hence the difference.

The Beauly to Denny power line alone cost well over £820 million and was built for the sole purpose of transmitting the wind electricity generated in the north of Scotland 137 miles to the central belt where it is needed. A long way and just think of all the extra emissions created from pylons, transport, concrete and cables.

Clark Cross

Linlithgow

Why this lack of action on FGM?

I REFER to your article “Scots medics treated more than 200 victims of FGM” (The Herald on Sunday, February 10), which informs us that medics in Scotland’s biggest cities have treated victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) more than 230 times over the last two years.

In the UK we do not have an Act of Parliament titled Do Not Step on the Grass, mainly because it could not be enforced. However, we do have the 2003 FGM Act. Recently, we learned of the first conviction for FGM in the UK since the Act’s introduction 16 years ago. Why such an effectively zero conviction rate after 16 years? Is it because £50 million was spent by the UK Government on tackling FGM not here in the UK but in Africa, as announced by the International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, in November?

The UK Government’s track record for both convictions and funding over the past 16 years speaks for itself and shows us the 2003 FGM Act of Parliament is as useless as one that goes by the name Do Not Step on the Grass.

Dr Graham Seed

Livingston

Double standards on permission

Why does the Scottish Government need permission from Westminster to hold a referendum to leave the Union of the UK but Westminster did not need permission from anyone to leave the European Union?

Scotland voted to remain but not only are we outnumbered by English voters we hardly ever appear on discussion programmes about Brexit.

Real control over Scotland comes from Westminster, not Brussels.

Bill Kerr

Cumbernauld

Just a theory? Don’t be so sure

In his article “2 + 2 = 5”, it is sad indeed to see Neil Mackay stigmatise dissenters and parrot the Establishment’s denigration of individuals prepared to challenge official mainstream narratives (The Herald on Sunday, February 10). Mr Mackay implies those who do not believe government explanations for certain major events such as 9/11, the moon landings or the assassination of President Kennedy are innumerate, paranoid, deranged weirdos.

In doing so he disparages over 3,000 highly intelligent, educated and respected architects, physicists, civil engineers, explosives and demolition experts from across the world who have clearly stated that it is impossible for the twin towers to have collapsed as they did purely from fires on the upper floors caused by aircraft crashing into them.

Rather than taking cheap shots at these experts, perhaps Mr Mackay might care to explain how they are all mistaken. Perhaps he could also explain how World Trade Centre 7 – which had not been struck by an aircraft – likewise suddenly collapsed. By applying the basic laws of physics to the destruction of the buildings, experts have proven that official explanations that fire caused their collapse are fraudulent.

Regarding events in Dallas in 1963, Mr Mackay likewise denigrates the thousands of scientists, ballistic experts, legal experts, film analysts and others who have debunked the official Warren Commission finding that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, killed President Kennedy. Anyone who now believes that guff about Oswald must be seriously intellectually challenged.

On the moon landings, Mr Mackay likewise dismisses as cranks the many top physicists and radiation specialists across the world who state categorically that it is impossible for living beings to survive passage through the lethal Van Allen radiation belts that exist between planet Earth and the moon. Official accounts that the astronauts were protected internally with massively heavy lead shields are beyond a joke.

No astronauts have died after passing through the radiation for the straightforward reason that no manned spacecraft have ever traversed that expanse. Any Herald on Sunday reader who wishes to understand how the “moon landings” were actually faked in Hollywood studios would do well to purchase a copy of the truly astonishing documentary film American Moon by a real investigative journalist, Massimo Mazzucco.

Arguably the biggest “conspiracy theory” of all relates that the mainstream press and its reporting is controlled by the ruling oligarchs. Mr Mackay does nothing to dispel this. Indeed, with this article he does quite the opposite.

Dr Jim Macgregor

Dollar

Let’s check the list again

I AM surprised by Clark Cross’s reference to “six Green unelected list MSPs who gathered only 13,126 votes” (Letters, February 10). He knows they are list MSPs, so presumably knows they were elected with 150,426 (6.6%) list votes.

Perhaps next year Scottish Labour will support giving Scottish councils the same powers that Labour introduced in England, and perhaps the Conservative and Unionist Party will also offer a budget proposal that aligns north and south of the Border.

But if Mr Cross is concerned about potholes and the shortage of teachers, what taxes can councils use to pay for them?

Alan Ritchie

Glasgow

And one last question ...

The ultimate in Schadenfreude must be David Dimbleby smiling to himself after witnessing Fiona Bruce’s inept handling of both audience and panel on last week’s Question Time.

Come back, David – all is forgiven.

James Stevenson

Auchterarder