New Statesman Scotland
If there is one aspect of Scottish life that baffles visitors and reduces many natives to despair, it is our state-funded, religiously segregated schools. Outside of Northern Ireland, there is nothing quite like them. All over central Scotland - from Dundee to Dumfries - Roman Catholic children are educated separately from their compatriots. It is a system that is both divisive and expensive. Socially, educationally and economically, the segregated school system makes little sense. But it is a nettle that the Labour Party has refused to grasp. It is no secret that Labour in Scotland relies heavily on the Catholic vote.
But the Scottish Executive may be bounced into doing something about the old system, thanks to the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the biggest of the teachers' unions. One of the anomalies of the current system is that while Roman Catholic teachers can climb all the way up the ladder in non-denominational schools, top jobs in Catholic schools are reserved for Catholic teachers. This is because the Catholic Church has the right to "approve" applicants for senior posts, which almost invariably go to Catholic teachers. This, says the EIS, is grossly unfair.
The teachers are now reaching for m'learned friends to see whether this long-standing job discrimination is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). If the lawyers decide that it is, then it poses the Scottish Executive and Parliament with a potentially explosive problem. The Scotland Act of 1998 wrote the ECHR into Scots law. Holyrood is supposed to apply it without fear or favour. If that means upsetting Cardinal Winning and his legions by removing their right to "approve" teachers, it will have to be done. But the Cardinal will not like it. And when the Cardinal does not like something, he has ways of making his feelings known. Ask Scotland's gay community. So, if push comes to shove, many Labour MSPs can look forward to heavy postbags.
The news that the town of Lockerbie has been awarded the highest civilian honour that the US Department of Justice can bestow will come as no surprise to hundreds of families across the United States who lost relatives that night in December 1988. They have always been unstinting in their praise for the little Dumfrieshire town and the way it rose to that terrible occasion when Pan Am flight 103 exploded 33,000 feet above Lockerbie, killing 159 people in the air and 11 people on the ground. They all talk with admiration of the calm way the police, the rescue services and the welfare groups set about coping with chaos and the carnage. But one act more than any other sticks in their minds. When the American families asked their own State Department if they could have back the clothes that their relatives were wearing or carrying, they were told it would not be possible. There was no way the badly burned, damaged or soiled clothes could be gathered up. They would have to be incinerated. But when the women of Lockerbie heard of this, they were outraged. Knowing how much the bereaved families needed some contact with their dead, they commandeered a little factory unit , installed a battery of washing-machines, and operated them in relays. Every scrap of clothing from the wreckage that could be identified with a victim was washed, usually more than once. Then the clothes were carefully ironed, wrapped in tissue paper, and packed into cardboard boxes for despatch to the US. It was a heart-breaking job. But all across the US, that simple act of humanity is remembered and valued. The people of Lockerbie - and especially the women - deserve their award.
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