Notice board SNP should be focusing on current education challenges

● An Evening With Alex Gray is being held at 7pm tomorrow at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow; and at 7pm on Tuesday, April 9 at Waterstones Kirkcaldy.

The author will be discussing her best-selling series of crime novels staring DSI William Lorimer and giving the scoop on Out Of Darkness, the latest book in the series. To book a free ticket, see www.waterstones.com.

● Edinburgh Science festival runs from Saturday, March 30 until April 14. See www.edinburghscience.co.uk for programme details.

● Free Highlight Talks continue at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway at 2.30pm on Wednesday, April 3. Gordon Wilson of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society will discuss The MacGeorge Collection: Scottish Steamers in the 1930s.

● Lesley Riddoch is touring with her new film Denmark: The State Of Happiness. There are screenings at 6.30pm on Thursday, April 4 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh; at 7pm on Friday, April 5 at Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy; and at 7.30pm on Friday, April 26 at Corrie and Sannox Village Hall, Arran. Lesley will be doing Q&A sessions after the screenings. For full tour dates see lesleyriddoch.com/events.

● The Annual Arbroath Rally will be held on Sunday, April 7 at 1pm. Gathering at Kings Gate by the Harbour. March to behind Arbroath Abbey for short speeches. All welcome. Singers, musicians and pipers welcome for pub after.

● A screening of To See Ourselves, Jane McAllister’s documentary about the 2014 independence referendum, will take place at 2pm on Sunday, April 7 at Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director. To buy tickets see toseeourselves. film/see-the-film

IREAD with some personal interest in Tuesday’s National the article on the launch of the Scottish Government’s latest independence white paper. Apparently the launch took place at “a rain-drenched Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery in Fife.”

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth MSP apparently said there are a “number of things” in the paper – the twelfth in the Building a New Scotland series – that are reserved and that an independent Scotland would do to improve outcomes for children. No surprise there then.

I confess that, like 99.99% of the population, I have not yet read it in great detail. It will no doubt be like the other papers

– a half-finished blueprint for a component part of an independent nation which does not yet exist, and given the current political situation is sadly not likely to exist any time soon.

I am pretty sure that parents and we grandparents of the children in the CURRENT Scottish education system overseen by Ms Gilruth would much prefer her to address the problems of today rather than speculate on the education system of an independent Scotland of the distant future.

Increasing incidents of violence combined with falling attendance rates, falling teacher numbers and exam results need to be addressed and resolved long before there is any hope that any part of the wish list in this paper will see the light of a Scottish day.

I was struck by a photo from the event that showed a number of small children, in welly boots and waterproof coats, camping out for the day under a tarpaulin with Ms Gilruth and Minister for Independence Jamie Hepburn smiling in the background. The photo was shared by Hepburn on his X account.

It only served to remind me of the fact that almost 10,000 of Scotland’s children are currently classed as homeless and that a further 45 are falling into homelessness every day in Scotland.

While none of these children are living under a tarpaulin in the woods (I hope), the fact remains that in 2024 they do not have a permanent home to call their own. This must have a seriously detrimental effect on their educational prospects.

Politics is about priorities, and before our politicians conjure up any more fantasy future policy papers surely they need to address the urgent housing problems of today. Iain Wilson

Stirling