Higher exams in Scotland cancelled next year, says education secretary John Swinney

Ayrshire care home residents have been going for gold in their own version of the Beijing Winter Olympics this week.

Caitlin Quinlan Filmmaker Ashley McKenzie (“Werewolf”) returns to the Berlinale this year with her second feature, “Queens of the Qing Dynasty,” premiering in Encounters on Tuesday. The writer-director stands out as an emerging Canadian talent, backed by the Toronto Film Critics Assn., who awarded her debut film the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award in 2017.An impressive new offering, “Queens” showcases McKenzie’s flair for loose, floating narratives and complex characters hoping to break free from their ennui.

Holly Jones By way of improvisation, relying heavily on events to naturally develop, Argentine filmmaker Gastón Solnicki presents a meandering ode to the city of Vienna, its customs, cultures, facades, and the near-sacrilege of enacting a smoking ban in cafes city-wide.In, “A Little Love Package,” two main protagonists become the vehicles through which the minutiae of everyday life in Vienna unfolds. Experimental aural and visual cues present themselves as Angeliki (Angeliki Papoulia) and Carmen (Carmen Chaplin) seek the perfect apartment in a city suspended in time.Produced by Little Magnet Films, out of Austria, and Solnicki’s Argentine production company, Filmy Wiktora, “A Little Love Package” is the fifth cinematic feature for Solnicki, whose entire catalog was recently acquired by MOMA.

Tory Burch‘s show during New York Fashion Week brought out stars like Katie Holmes and Uma Thurman!

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, R&B singers are breaking out of their Holiday Shopping Soundtrack hibernation to release some tunes perfect for another lovely time of year. LVRN signee Eli Derby steps up to the plate with "Love Song," a, well, love song with a slinky groove that sounds like a submerged and murky take on a riff that the Internet would play.

When Eminem finished performing his song "Lose Yourself" during the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show he took a knee. Though unconfirmed by the man himself, many have interpreted this as a show of support for Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers player who was largely ostracized by the league after he began kneeling before games in 2016. Early reports from Sunday suggested that Eminem had been prohibited from making the gesture while on stage, and that his decision to do it went against the NFL's demands.

Out French ice dancer, Guillaume Cizeron, won a gold medal Monday at the Beijing Winter Olympics.Cizeron skated with his longtime skating partner, Gabriella Papadakis.

Snail Mail has opened up about her road to recovery following a vocal cord surgery that forced the delay of tour dates in the US, UK and Europe.Speaking to Carmel Holt on a recent episode of the Sheroes Mixtape Memoir podcast, the singer – real name Lindsey Jordan – shared that she was “silent for the entire month” following the surgery in December, an experience that she said “was really hard”.“There were a lot of situations where I found myself just totally helpless. You know, you don’t really think about how much you need your voice,” she said.

JYP Entertainment has announced that TWICE’s North American tour will no longer include meet-and-greet events.On February 15, the agency said in a statement through the group’s fan community page that meet-and-greet events for the US leg of the group’s ‘III’ world tour, which kicked off in Los Angeles on the same day, have been cancelled. The company cited the “severity” of the COVID-19 pandemic for its decision to axe the events.“We originally planned promotional and a wide variety of opportunities for meet-and-greets,” JYP said.

Neil Young has spoken out over a developing conspiracy theory that his music publishing is overseen by pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer – the company behind one of the most widely-used COVID-19 vaccines.In a since-deleted letter posted to his Neil Young Archives website (as transcribed by Stereogum), Young addressed the circulated belief his views on vaccines were dictated to him by Pfizer – who, according to the conspiracy theory, own Young’s music publishing.The misunderstanding stems from the fact that a former CEO at Pfizer now serves as a senior advisor for asset manager Blackstone, which currently has a partnership with music publisher Hipgnosis – with whom Young presently works.Young described the conspiracy theory as “clever but wrong” in the letter, while also quipping “so much for Pharm Aid” – a reference to both the common conspiracy theory trope of “big pharma” and his own charity Farm Aid.“The publishing share Hipgnosis has in my copyrights is in the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, that is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange,” Young explained.“The Blackstone investment went into a separate Hipgnosis Private Fund, and none of that money was used for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Pfizer has not invested in Hipgnosis, but a past Pfizer CEO is a senior advisor for Blackstone.” The conspiracy theory is part of an ongoing conservative backlash against Young – most recently expressed by right-wing American rock musician Ted Nugent, who described Young as a “stoner birdbrain punk” for his recent protest against Spotify and Joe Rogan.Young removed his catalogue of albums from Spotify last month to protest the platform having Rogan’s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience as an exclusive to the service.

Chubby and The Gang have shared a new three-track EP, ‘Labour Of Love’.The EP arrived on all major streaming platforms on Monday (February 14), alongside a fresh music video for the project’s lead single, ‘Who Loves Ya? (Coup d’état)’.The ‘Labour Of Love’ EP is rounded out by ‘Twice Shy’, a punchy track about being hurt by love and now being skeptical of all relationships, and ‘Ain’t There No One?’, which chronicles the search for someone to “fix a lonely heart”.Listen to the ‘Labour Of Love’ EP below.The music video for ‘Who Loves Ya? (Coup d’état)’ was filmed and edited by the band’s tour manager during their recent run of shows supporting Turnstile, per a press release.Released on Valentine’s Day, ‘Who Loves Ya (Coup d’état)’ aims to spotlight “all the angles of love. Warts and all,” according to frontman Charlie Manning Walker.

BLACKPINK fans have expressed their frustration towards the girl group’s agency, YG Entertainment, over the act’s lack of musical output.On Valentine’s Day (February 14), YG Entertainment announced that the quartet would be releasing their ‘2022 Welcoming Collection’ with a preview video on YouTube. While K-pop fans typically enjoy such special releases, some Blinks (BLACKPINK’s official fanbase) have voiced their dissatisfaction towards the agency’s decision to release new merchandise instead of music.As seen in the replies and quotes on YG’s tweet announcing the new collection, a number of Blinks have called for a boycott of the release, while others have decided to voice their displeasure by reporting the agency’s Twitter account.

The official trailer for the upcoming Marvel movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was unveiled during the 2022 Super Bowl and there’s probably some moments you missed.

Brian Laundrie's death in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in North Port, Florida, have come to light following the release of the completed autopsy report.The 47-page report, obtained by ET, reveals the findings from examination of Laundrie's remains, which authorities found scattered in the Environmental Park back in October, following a lengthy search for the 23-year-old fugitive, who had been a suspect in the murder of Gabby Petito at the time of his disappearance.It was revealed that Laundrie had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in November, after his remains were handed over to a forensic anthropologist. The full report, however, was not released until Monday, and largely detailed the condition of Laundrie's skeletal remains.According to the forensic investigation, many of Laundrie's bones displayed signed of post-mortem scavenging, with animal gnaw marks, which is likely why most soft tissue had disappeared from the remains.«No soft tissue remains but for minimal partially calcified costal cartilage at the anterior aspects of some of the lower ribs,» the report detailed.

Kodak Black has left Cedars-Sinai hospital after being reportedly shot in the leg. In a video you can see here, the rapper can be seen getting into a black SUV while using a walker and moving slowly on Monday afternoon. The “Patty Cake” rapper was surrounded by numerous bodyguards as he climbed into the SUV which was a smart move, considering the danger he faced early Saturday morning after Justin Beiber‘s concert after party.

K.J. Yossman “Promising Young Woman” scribe Emerald Fennell and “His Dark Materials” scribe Jack Thorne were among those honored at the 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain awards on Monday night.The ceremony, which was hosted by WGGB president Sandi Toksvig in London, handed out awards in 16 categories including film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books, and videogames.Awards covered the past two years of work, after the 2021 ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic.Which is why Fennell won a prize for first screenplay for “Promising Young Woman” while Thorne picked up the award for outstanding contribution to writing.Also walking away with gongs were Chinonyerem Odimba for best musical theater bookwriting for “Black Love,” Russell T.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson is now in a position to start for Bolton while Amadou Bakayoko is reaping the benefits from the new system Wanderers have implemented and is proving any goal doubters wrong with his recent form in front of goal.

A man who allegedly tried to flee from police in Ashton-under-Lyne was swiftly arrested on suspicion of several crimes including possession with intent to supply class a drugs and possession of an offensive weapon.

Foo Fighters have expanded their upcoming North American tour with 10 new shows, set to take place this September and October.The tour, in support of the band’s 2021 album ‘Medicine at Midnight’, will now include additional stops primarily through Canada – including cities such as Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. Two new United States dates – one in Sioux Falls, the other in the central Oregon city of Bend – have also been added.Tickets for the new set of dates will go on sale this Friday (February 18) at 10am local time for each city.A post shared by Foo Fighters (@foofighters)The 10 new shows join the largely stadium-based North American tour, which is set to commence in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania on May 14.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentLeading Japanese entertainment firms Toho, Toei, Studio Khara and Tsuburaya Productions are joining forces to launch the Shin Japan Heroes Universe, a project modeled on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shin Japan Heroes brings together such iconic characters as Godzilla, Ultraman and Kamen Rider, as well as the world of anime maestro Anno Hideaki’s Evangelion sci-fi franchise.Details in Monday’s announcement were scanty, but the project team has revealed an emblem and visual showing all four “heroes” together, as well as a website.A starting point for the project was “Shin Godzilla” (translation: “New Godzilla”), the 2016 smash hit live-action film that Anno scripted and co-directed. It was followed by last year’s hit anime “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” which was also directed by Anno for his Studio Khara anime house as the fourth and final film in the “Rebuild of Evangelion” film franchise.

coronavirus pandemic. Pupils at St Matthew's Academy in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire will take part in remote learning from Monday until the festive break officially begins on December 23.

Students will return to university in staggered phases after the Christmas holiday, it was announced. Education Secretary John Swinney said most students would start the new term at home and only return to campus when told to do so by their university.

Highers have been cancelled next year following an announcement by the Scottish Government.John Swinney informed MSPs that a new model will be adopted for pupils based on teacher judgement.National 5 exams due to take place next year have already been cancelled, and Swinney has been under pressure to make the same decision on Higher and Advanced Highers.He previously said the impact of coronavirus-related disruption on school pupils in deprived areas weighed "heavily” on whether Higher exams would go ahead in 2021.He said in his statement there will be no Higher or Advanced Higher exams next year.He explained “the level of disruption to learners has not been equal”, with pupils from poorer backgrounds more likely to miss school to

pupils from less advantaged backgrounds.An analysis of attendance shows pupils in poorer areas are more likely to have taken time off in the health crisis.Figures at the end of November showed attendance ranged from 85.3% in the most deprived areas to 93.5% in the least deprived.Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “This isn’t an easy call, but in the interests of the pupils of Scotland it is time for John Swinney to swallow his pride and cancel the higher and advanced higher exams.”Scotland’s public health minister is under fire for being “asleep” during a crisis - and should not be allowed to oversee the massive covid vaccine programme, Holyrood opposition MSPs demand.Joe FitzPatrick was criticised by Labour, Lib Dems and Tories who

pupils from less advantaged backgrounds.An analysis of attendance shows pupils in poorer areas are more likely to have taken time off in the health crisis.Figures at the end of November showed attendance ranged from 85.3% in the most deprived areas to 93.5% in the least deprived.Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: "This isn't an easy call, but in the interests of the pupils of Scotland it is time for John Swinney to swallow his pride and cancel the higher and advanced higher exams."Gray continued: "The data is clear: pupils in the most deprived areas are more likely to be missing vital class time, and the provisions that the Scottish government have put in place for remote learning cannot fully replace face to face learning."In these

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.More than 20,000 people in Lanarkshire have now tested positive for coronavirus.At the Scottish Government's daily press briefing in Edinburgh, Deputy First Minister John Swinney today (Friday, December 4) confirmed that a further 166 people in the region tested positive yesterday.In total, 20,104 cases of Covid-19 have now been registered in the region since the first positive cases were confirmed in March.As of yesterday (December 3), 653 people in Lanarkshire have died after testing positive for the virus.Lanarkshire has been the second-worst affected region in Scotland by coronavirus after Greater Glasgow and Clyde where 33,797 people have tested

coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland over the last 24 hours. The Scottish Government also announced that 966 new cases of COVID-19 were reported overnight, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 98,686.

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