Co Down coffee boss banned as director after claiming Bounce Back Loan
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
University of Edinburgh 'pushing staff to cut exams'
In the latest guidance on minimum standards for assessment in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the section on exams states: "Reducing the number of exams limits the considerable additional academic, administrative and estates costs associated with exams, and minimises the need for alternative assessments for student with adjustments". It's understood that behind the scenes considerably more overt pressure is being put on departments in the school, which represents more than half of the University, to move away from exams. Read More: However, staff have questioned the expenditure the university has on external venues for exams, and raised concerns about removing an aspect of courses which cannot be influenced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). A concerned staff member, who has been kept anonymous to protect their position, told The Herald: "There is regular encouragement to get rid of exams. "A lot of the subjects within our college have gotten rid of exams in the past few years, they got suspended during Covid and everything was online. 'Then, partly under encouragement from management, a lot of them just never came back and now so many have got rid of exams a lot of those still using them are being pressured to get rid of them because the university spends a lot of money renting out the EICC (Edinburgh International Conference Centre)." The conference centre is an external venue that is used to host exams for the University of Edinburgh. It's understood the University of Edinburgh receives a discounted rate to hire rooms at the EICC. The Edinburgh International Conference Centre However, the cost of doing so is likely to run well into six figures. The university hires space at the conference centre for four to five weeks in May and approximately two weeks in December to hold exams. It's understood the rate for the university to hire the Cromdale Room in 2025 stands at £9500 + VAT per day for 2025, rising to £9700 + VAT for 2026. For the Lennox, Lammermuir and Moffat rooms the combined costs are £13,000 + VAT per day, rising to £13,650 for 2026. A staff member said: "We used to have all our exams on site, because we have a lot of large spaces like gymnasiums and stuff like that. 'Before the pandemic the regular exam diet had two exams, through May and December we'd have exams usually at 10am and 2pm. 'During the pandemic people were doing exams online and they were in different time zones all over world, so we did all of our exams at 1pm UK time which wouldn't be too insane for most other people. 'When they started doing exams in person again they just kept that, they only did one exam per day so we didn't have enough space and we started renting it at the Conference Centre - which seems mad to me. 'The whole enterprise is incredibly expensive, we're renting out at least three of their large rooms and possibly more than that for four or five weeks in May, two or three weeks in December. 'So because they're so expensive they're pressuring us to use fewer exams, but they also seem very reluctant to revert to the old system of just using the gymnasiums which we have – we do use them, but not very intensely – and some of the spaces we used to use locally aren't being used at all, we're just renting the Conference Centre and spending huge amount of money on it in the middle of a budget crisis. "If you're making cuts that seems like the first thing you'd get rid of, exams themselves should be about 10,000th in your priority list." The University said the EICC "has been used in specific circumstances as part of contingency planning to minimise any possible disruption to students". While there are some subjects where exams are less useful than in others, and ones where students will naturally sit fewer of them, a move away from exams is raising concerns over the degrees being handed out. The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT has made assessment by essay less reliable. In January 2023 a survey of 1,000 college students found that nearly 90% of them had used ChatGPT to help with homework assignments. Read More: A staff member said: "I sit in meetings with the same people who don't like exams and we're talking about AI and they'll say, 'it's crazy, it's obvious how much our students are using them, all the worst essays have disappeared'. 'You'll always have students who can barely write, can barely get words on a page, so you used to have this left hand tail of extremely low quality for all assignments and that has almost disappeared. 'The ability to rank students and assess them on their writing is so far below what it was five years ago before LLMs. "Even if we don't think exams are a great way to assess they're becoming, relatively speaking, better and better over time because it's where we know the students aren't using LLMs to completely undermine the whole process. "As universities have got bigger there's more and more bureaucracy, you have people making decisions who are not involved in teaching at all, and the people who are teaching have no way to get their voice into these decisions that are being made. 'As a result I think some people just don't realise how quickly the LLMs have taken over. "You can see it, even in the style of writing, it's so clear but part of the problem is that it's very clear, but it's also very hard to say it absolutely, definitively and fail a student for it. "The typical way of plagiarising was copying a student on the same course, which is just idiotic and you can easily recognise it because you have two assignments that are the same. The other way would be copying blocks of text from another source. 'So you could bring a student in, put them through a whole disciplinary process and give them zero. 'But when they use AI, you don't really know. A lot of students are only using it to basically clean up their essays, a lot of them don't speak English as a first language so they write the essay either in bad English or their native language and run it through an LLM to clean up the grammar. 'So that's bad - but it's not too bad, right? We would like them to develop writing skills but at least they're learning the subject and researching the core material. 'But some students are just doing it wholesale, and the trouble is that at the end it's really hard to tell the difference. They're both written in the style of an LLM, so I don't know if you wrote the thing in your native language and cleaned it up with AI, or if the AI just did the whole thing for you. 'Even if I suspect it's one of those things it's hard to punish them anyway, because you can't absolutely prove it. You can say 'you've used the word 'delve' about 12 times as much as a normal person', which is a big ChatGPT giveaway, but I can't say 'you used the word 'delve' a lot so I'm going to fail you'. You just can't prove it. 'When they copy blocks of text you can prove it, you can just compare the blocks of text, but you can't do that with LLMs so students basically just get away with it. 'You have a lot more students who have no idea what they're doing at all and they could pass – it's not like they're going to get a First, but they'll pass and do OK. 'The point is you can pass and do OK with almost no knowledge at all, it's a major concern for a lot of people in universities.' A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: "Marking and assessment procedures vary across the University, reflecting the diverse range of disciplines we offer. "Any decisions around exams and ongoing assessment take into account feedback from students and staff, the specific requirements of each programme and support needed for those who require learning adjustments. "Colleagues can share their insights or concerns through our College and School-level committees, and the University is actively engaging with students and staff on the appropriate use of generative AI. Our published guidance reflects a commitment to upholding academic integrity, while recognising acceptable and innovative uses of new technologies.'
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Edinburgh losing free and affordable places to hang out
However, with product price hikes every couple of months, rent increases and tourists in every corner, there are not many third spaces where young people can gather freely and affordably. A third place is a social space separate from home and work, where people can gather and interact. Their disappearance is a worldwide phenomenon affecting everyone who cannot afford to pay to stay in cafes, bars, restaurants, gyms, or any sort of class or workshop. In a 2021 article by Angela Henshall for the BBC, she expanded on the importance of third places for our health, happiness, and sense of belonging in our communities. READ MORE: 'Absolutely crazy': Scottish jazz artist scores new film by Hollywood director 'The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed many major shifts in society, but there are two main social effects. First, our discrete work and home spaces immediately collapsed into one another – arguably accelerating the collapse of boundaries that have been eroding for years. And second, we lost all of our third places overnight,' said Henshall. These effects are still present today, especially in Edinburgh, where prices are higher than ever and 'pay-to-play' culture prevails. High rents and expensive cafes: how third spaces are only for the few IN Edinburgh, two drinks at the bar end up costing £15, and even a cup of coffee with friends can end up costing a fiver. Community centres, youth clubs, and libraries are vanishing, and their disappearance is fueling an already existing loneliness epidemic. In a recent article for the Edinburgh Reporter, Charlie Ellis asks 'Does Edinburgh have too many coffee shops?', and highlights their increasing costs and the social polarisation that comes with it. 'When entering such coffee places, there's little doubt that the customers represent a specific slice of Edinburgh. The customers are younger than average, often students and 'knowledge workers', able to take their slim laptops anywhere, as they work in a hybrid or remote fashion,' said Ellis. I interviewed Conor Haining, communications officer for Living Rent in the Edinburgh Leith branch at the time of this interview, about a lack of free and affordable third places in Edinburgh. Tenants' union Living Rent 'Free or affordable third places are vanishing, and others are increasingly becoming 'pay-to-play'. If you cannot go out and afford a coffee every day, then you are excluded. It's the same with other third places like pubs or yoga classes. Pubs are such a massive part of Scottish culture as well, if you cannot pay, you'll be excluded,' said Haining. In addition to product costs, rent prices make it more expensive than ever for young Edinburgh residents to be out of the house. In March 2025, the average rent for a one-bedroom in the Lothian region was £1020, or £1321 for a two-bedroom (ONS). READ MORE: 'F***ing slags': Oasis take aim at Edinburgh Council chiefs in first Murrayfield gig Young people between 16 and 34 are the biggest age group in the Scottish private rental sector, and in March 2025, private rental price annual inflation in the Lothian region surpassed both Scotland's and Great Britain's, according to the 2024 Scottish Government Equality Impact Assessment. 'Evidence suggests in some cases this may be because residents in this age group may be unable to afford or access other tenures such as home ownership,' the report states. The impact of tourism: short-term lets and less space IN 2023, Edinburgh represented almost 40% of the total of staying visits in Scotland, and international tourism increased by nearly 30% in the last year, according to Edinburgh City Council. In 2023, domestic and international tourists brought a total spend of £2,321 million to the city, according to Visit Scotland. The negative impacts of tourism are well-known to Living Rent, with their two most recent campaigns relating to the purpose of the new 5% tourist tax towards council flats, and the regulation of short-term lets. 'Short-term lets have an impact on housing availability, especially in Leith. Particularly at The Shore and Ocean Terminal, these places have skyrocketed in short-term lets,' added Haining. These issues, alongside the active housing emergency declared in November 2023 by the Edinburgh City Council, raise questions about the importance of free and affordable third places for residents, free from the tourist crowds. I spoke to Alexander Savin, founder of the Open Parks Edinburgh initiative campaigning for public access to New Town's private gardens. These take up a total of 23 hectares, or 32 full-sized football pitches. 'Recently, in Dean Gardens, police have been surveying the area because youths have been trespassing into the park. They dare each other to jump the fence,' he said. 'If you look at these parks, they are largely underutilised and very much empty. Restaurants are expensive, and cafes close by 5pm. We complain that young people are always on their phones, but if we provide them with space, they will use it.' Not all is lost: building communities in Portobello and Wester Hailes DESPITE the city's struggles to provide free, affordable third places around its city centre, some community spaces are thriving in other parts of Edinburgh. You can head to Portobello's Bellfield community space, an old church hosting workshops, classes, concerts, and community group meetings. This is a space owned by locals through community shares, which act as a long-term investment for a future redevelopment. In Wester Hailes, the opposite side of the city, you can also find the Community Wellbeing Collective, a social art-based organisation with tight links to the community. Founded in 2022, the space was commissioned for the Edinburgh Arts Festival and still provides free events and a community space. Their website reads: 'The Space continues to be a living artwork brought to life each time a human comes to rest, connects, and plays within it. Local members host the space and deliver political events and wellbeing activities which suspend the suffocation of intersecting oppressions, creating space to breathe and the possibility to dream together.'
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Daily Record
Clan cash probe after trust puts ancient Highland lands on sale for £6.8m
The Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) has overseen Clan Donald's historic lands on the Isle of Skye since the 70s but decided in March to sell up. Scotland's charity regulator is investigating a trust which is selling an ancient Highland clan's lands for £6.8million. The Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) has overseen Clan Donald's historic lands on the Isle of Skye since the 70s. It announced in March it would sell the entire estate due to financial challenges. The move was met with fury by locals and families around the world with ties to the clan – one of the oldest and largest in Scotland. Now the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has opened a probe into the CDLT's governance and finances following complaints. A spokesman said: 'OSCR has received a number of concerns from the public about the CDLT. 'We are now engaging with the charity trustees to establish the facts of this case, and we have sought extensive information and explanation from them. 'We are specifically looking to understand the current financial position of the charity and the circumstances that led to the decision to put significant charitable assets up for sale.' The watchdog said it would decide if further action is necessary once it has established the facts. The CDLT was founded in 1971 to manage the clan's assets on Skye's Sleat peninsula to 'promote and preserve the history and heritage of Clan Donald'. It currently owns the 40-acre Armadale Castle and gardens, also the site of a beloved Clan Donald heritage museum. The CDLT has four trustees – its chair, London businessman Ranald Macdonald, owner of the Boisdale restaurants, Yorkshire-based landowner Sir Ian MacDonald of Sleat, US-based retired Major Bruce MacDonald, and Diane Carey-Schmitz. The entire estate, covering much of the southern Sleat peninsula, is up for sale at a guide price of £6.8million. A closing date has been set for the end of the month. We previously told how members of the US branch of Clan Donald had spoken out about their 'deep hurt' over the sale. And we revealed last month how hundreds of families with loved ones' memorials in the grounds of Armadale Castle haven't been told what will happen to them. At least 450 trees are said to have been planted in the gardens in honour of lost relatives along with memorial benches and wall plaques, some of which cost families thousands of pounds. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Joshua Vice of Clan Donald USA – which boasts more than 2000 families with Scottish ancestry – said CDLT failed to consult them and made a 'unilateral decision' to sell the castle stronghold and the 22,000-acre South Sleat estate. He told the Sunday Mail in April: 'At no point was the radical step of a sale ever brought to light.' Last month, the US organisation called for the sale to be put on hold to allow for 'meaningful consultation' with the wider clan as well as Sleat residents. Clan Donald's high chief Lord Godfrey Macdonald previously said the loss of the Clan Centre at Armadale in particular would be a 'tragedy' and a 'betrayal'. The CDLT was approached for comment. In a statement in March announcing the sale it cited the 'high-cost, low-income nature of Armadale'. It added it planned to reform into a grant-giving charity to 'focus on our core purpose of protecting and promoting clan and indigenous Highland heritage'.
