Positive change is possible in Scotland, and it's happening. New podcast with former East Ayrshire local authority leader Katie Kelly on how the council there helped to build vibrant communities. Political consensus needed to promote this brilliant work across Scotland.

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In the wake of disappointing PISA results, Our Scottish Future Director Eddie Barnes is joined by two experts in Scottish education: Lindsay Paterson, Emeritus Professor of Education Policy at the University of Edinburgh and Melvyn Roffe, Principal of George Watson's College.

Listen as they dive deep into Scotland's PISA results; why do they need to improve and how can they improve? This engaging and informative conversation covers multiple areas of Scottish education policy, including the Curriculum for Excellence. 

Eddie begins the podcast as a pessimist, but by the end is an optimist!

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*LINK TO VIEW SLIDES REFERENCED*

The recording of the presentation of the new report from Our Scottish Future.

Titled, "A Little Less Conversation: Closing Scotland's Implementation Gap", the report argues that the successes of devolution has been stymied in recent years by a combination of “too much politics, too much government, a failure to cooperate, and a centralised political culture”. It praises several successes under the Scottish Government but concludes that Ministers too often “govern by press release”.

The panel consists of report author, Jamie Gollings, OSF Chair, Prof Jim Gallagher and former civil servants Philip Rycroft and Lucy Hunter Blackburn.

📈 Link to slides: https://ourscottishfuture.org/closing-scotlands-implementation-gap-slides/
👉 Read the full report here: https://ourscottishfuture.org/wp-cont...
Follow us on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/scottish_future

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Our Scottish Future's Eddie Barnes is joined by Alex Neil, former Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Helen Puttick, health reporter at The Times and Professor David Kerr, head of the OSF health commission and professor of cancer medicine at Oxford University, to discuss Scotland's NHS and how it can be improved.

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Eddie Barnes interviews Robin Harper.

They cover; Harper's headline news making decision to resign from the Scottish Greens -the party he once led as the first Green MSP in the Scottish parliament- to climate change and the future of the UK. 

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Heat pumps. You've heard a lot about them, but what actually are they? Are they a solution to our energy troubles? Are the Scottish government's lofty goals deliverable?

Our Scottish Future's Eddie Barnes speaks with Dr Peter Wood, an Associate Lecturer at The Open University in Scotland, a researcher in sustainability, and a trade unionist to find out more.

You can read Pete's blog on the topic here:
https://ourscottishfuture.org/pump-up-the-volume/

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The Our Scottish Future podcast is looking at key policy areas in Scotland to ask why things aren't working, and what we can do to fix them.

This week we look at the scandal of Scottish drug related deaths. More than 1330 suffered a drug related death in the last year, 3.5 times higher than in the rest of the UK.

Why? What's going wrong? How should our governments sort it? Two leading Scottish activists - Annemarie Ward of the charity FAVOR UK and Stevie Wishart - set out their views. 

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Welcome to our revamped podcast! Rather than provide a running commentary on recent political events, we want to use this podcast to discuss policy and specifically policy implementation. How can we do things better?

This week, Our Scottish Future Campaign Director Eddie Barnes discusses education and the Curriculum for Excellence. He is joined by a stellar cast including:

Aveek Bhattacharya, research director of the Social Market Foundation.
Emma Seith, senior journalist at the Times Education Supplement.
Dr Neil McLennan, former teacher and education expert.

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Our Scottish Future Chair Prof Jim Gallagher fills in for Eddie Barnes this week and is joined by former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP, former Scottish Labour MSP (and proud Dundonian) Jenna Marra and former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft.

They discuss the challenges facing new First Minister Humza Yousaf, rebellious party backbenchers, SNP party unity, if there is a plan for Scottish independence and much more!

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This week’s Our Scottish Future podcast looks ahead to the challenge facing the new SNP leader and First Minister who will be elected next week. What should their priorities be? What do they do about independence? And how should they cooperate with the UK Government? 

OSF’s Eddie Barnes is joined by three leading experts to discuss this and more: OSF chair Professor Jim Gallagher, former civil servant and education expert Lucy Hunter Blackburn, and the Spectator’s social media editor Lucy Dunn.

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