Latest news with #TomDevine
Times
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Edinburgh University accused of bias against ‘non-black' students
Edinburgh University has been accused of discriminating against 'non-black students' by whistleblowers, after a race report recommended more scholarships for ethnic minority groups. The group, identifying as academics from the institution, said evidence showed that white working-class boys were least likely to enjoy higher education as they hit back at a race review commissioned by university management. Sir Tom Devine, an historian and emeritus Edinburgh University professor, also said the findings of the review were not 'intellectually credible' and described the university principal's deep apology for the institution's links to slavery and colonialism as 'a rush to judgment'. 'This report has the very real potential to damage the university's historic reputation when it is already experiencing criticisms over its financial management,' he said. 'Therefore, crucially, careful consideration of the review's controversial content should first have been considered by acknowledged representatives of the university community and not confined only to the principal and his coterie before any major public statements were made.' The Race Review was ordered in 2021 by university leaders after the Black Lives Matter movement emerged. • Its findings, made public this week, include 47 recommendations such as renaming buildings and the creation of scholarship programmes to support students from underrepresented ethnic groups at undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral level. In response, the university has promised to take a series of actions including boosting scholarship opportunities. A statement, issued by a group calling itself Edinburgh Academics 4 Free Speech, and which is said to represent 130 staff, said: 'The University already discriminates against non-black students by allowing race-based scholarships.' They cited the Andrea Levy Scholarship, in memory of the novelist, which is directed at those with a black African or Caribbean background. The statement continued: 'The university, in today's response, appears to be committed to increasing the level of scholarships which are based purely on skin colour. 'Many colleagues have raised concerns directly with [university principal] Professor Mathieson, arguing that as an evidence-based organisation which should use empirical data to inform its policies, the university should be funding those students which research shows are most excluded from higher education. 'Countless studies have shown that white working-class boys remain the most academically disadvantaged group in the UK.' The group highlighted UK education department statistics showing university participation grew 21 per cent faster for Asian students and 17 per cent faster for black students compared with white students, adding: 'In choosing to ignore this overwhelming evidence, the University of Edinburgh is going against the very basis of academic rigour: evidence-based decisions.' Mathieson described the publication of the review as a 'landmark moment'. It found that one of Edinburgh's celebrated moral philosophers and mathematicians, Dugald Stewart, taught thousands of students that white Europeans were racially superior. The university's role as the seat of Scottish enlightenment is also reconsidered. It says: 'The University of Edinburgh was a haven for professors and alumni who developed theories of racial inferiority and white supremacism, such as the idea that Africans were inferior to whites and that non-white peoples could be colonised for the profit of European nations.' Devine, who edited a book detailing Scottish connections to the slave trade and the wealth it generated, warned the review 'crudely imposes early 21st-century values on the pre-1900 past'. 'The report gives the impression that Edinburgh was the centre for racist thought,' he added. 'Yet such views were commonplace not only among university thinkers and informed members of the public in the 19th century throughout Europe and North America. 'Only by situating Edinburgh in an international academic comparative context of analysis could rigorous conclusions be drawn. This was not done or even hinted at.' The report describes the university as 'a haven for professors and alumni who developed theories of racial inferiority and white supremacism' ALAMY In taking forward recommendations, including the renaming of buildings, he called for the university senate and court to be fully informed and the wider views of the university community to be considered. The Academics 4 Free Speech statement said its members needed to remain anonymous. It flagged the case of Neil Thin, a senior tutor who was falsely accused of being racist after opposing the renaming of the David Hume Tower owing to slavery connections. Fiona McClement, the university's equality, diversity and inclusion lead and co-leader of the Race Review Response Group, said: 'We want to ensure that are a welcoming and nurturing environment in which all members of our community feel a sense of belonging, and can flourish and succeed without facing unjust racialised barriers.'
RNZ News
13-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Outdated alcohol guidelines understate health risks, ministry documents reveal
HNZ considered updating the safe drinking guidelines was crucial. Photo: RNZ New Zealand's official low-risk drinking guidelines are outdated and "understate the health risks" of alcohol, according to Health New Zealand (HNZ) documents. Efforts to update the guidelines were halted after alcohol lobbyists complained to a Ministry of Health general manager Ross Bell. Bell, who works within the ministry's Public Health Agency, says he intervened to clear up confusion about whether HNZ or the Ministry of Health (MOH) should manage the guidelines. He said the MOH would manage them now but that work was on hold while it considered its priorities. Documents released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show why HNZ considered updating the safe drinking guidelines was crucial and that it saw "scrutiny from the alcohol industry" as a risk factor in the process. New Zealand's drinking guidelines say that to stay low-risk, men should have no more than 15 drinks per week and women ten. The maximum number of drinks recommended per week to stay low-risk (for men and women) is set at two in Canada, ten in Australia and 14 in the UK. Canada, Australia and the UK all significantly reduced their safe drinking guidelines in recent years as evidence emerged about the health risks of alcohol, which is linked to seven types of cancer. Photo: RNZ A November 2024 memo from HNZ alcohol harm prevention manager Tom Devine said New Zealand's guidelines, written in 2011, were now out of date. "The evidence around alcohol and its risks to health has evolved since then and other countries like ours, such as the United Kingdom (in 2016), Australia (in 2020), and Canada (in 2023), have updated their Alcohol & Health Advice, resulting in much lower recommended drinking limits," Devine wrote. "The current advice is complex (and) out of step with other jurisdictions." He said the current guidelines also did not meet the needs of pregnant and breast-feeding women and young people. "A review and update are necessary to ensure the advice is clear, inclusive and based on the most up-to-date evidence." Another HNZ document, written in January 2024, said "The current advice does not reflect the latest scientific evidence meaning that it understates the health risks from alcohol." The documents show HNZ commissioned Massey University to work on the first phase of a review in February 2024 - at a cost of about $130,000 - but later that year Ross Bell from the Ministry of Health intervened. Emails obtained by RNZ show a lobbyist with the Brewer's Association emailed Bell in October 2024 asking why a HNZ website was reporting that the drinking guidelines were under review. He emailed again a month later complaining that references to the review were still on the website, run by HNZ, and also took issue with the fact the site linked to Canadian drinking guidelines. Bell emailed HNZ in December 2024: "All work on this project will now pause. You will update relevant Health NZ websites to remove references to the review and also to other jurisdictions' guidelines (including the Canadian one)." Bell has declined requests for an interview with RNZ, but in a previous statement said material was removed from the website to avoid confusion, as the drinking guidelines were now led by the Ministry of Health not Health New Zealand, which runs the website. He said that was an internal decision by MOH and that a review of the drinking guidelines was now on hold while the ministry considered its priorities. But the documents released to RNZ show HNZ believe it is crucial to update the guidance. A memo from HNZ alcohol harm prevention manager Tom Devine said health professionals relied on accurate guidelines, which were "foundational" for screening, interventions and referral for treatment. "This is where health professionals ask patients about their alcohol consumption using the advice as a baseline to assess risk, which informs the need for brief interventions or referral for counselling or treatment." Devine's memo said one of the risks in reviewing the guidelines was "scrutiny from the alcohol industry" and his mitigation strategy included "a strategic communications plan to articulate the evidence base and reasoning". Associate Professor Andy Towers, the co-director of the Mental Health & Addiction Programme at Massey University, worked on the initial stages of the review for HNZ. He said the current guidelines understated the risk. "There's more and more evidence now, especially with longitudinal health data, to show that even low levels of alcohol use over a long time can result in some significant alcohol related harms." He said sticking with the 2011 guidelines could lull drinkers into a false sense of security. "For us to set low risk advice thresholds that are quite high, much higher than other countries, means that we will continue to have serious alcohol related harms occurring across the country, in communities, and that will flow through into hospitals." Cancer Society evidence and insights lead Emma Shields said a review of the drinking guidelines was needed to bring them into line with the latest evidence and international guidance. She said alcohol caused seven different types of cancer including breast, bowel and oesophageal. "When it comes to cancer risk, there is no 'safe' level of alcohol use, and even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of cancer."
The National
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Tom Devine speaks after Neil Oliver binned from Glasgow tour buses
As The National reported on Friday, Oliver has been quietly axed from City Sightseeing Glasgow, where he previously provided English language commentary and had his portrait featured on the side of the service's buses. Now, leading historian Sir Tom Devine has responded to Oliver being dropped by the tour guiding business, saying the GB News host had taken a slot which could have been filled by a real historian. READ MORE: Theatrics of Unionist duo on Question Time were cringeworthy Devine told The National: 'It has taken some time for Oliver's name to be removed from the city's tourist buses. Now that it has finally happened, I am pleased. "He is not a historian. Scotland is currently awash with excellent historians, any one of whom could have been selected as the face of this tourist campaign. 'I suspect the decision to delete his image is partly to do with the fact that he has become a much more controversial figure in recent years because of his eccentric opinions on politics and other issues, which have undermined his former public standing.' READ MORE: Bob Vylan member responds to Glastonbury backlash with lengthy statement Oliver has descended into the realm of conspiracy theories in recent years, claiming Covid lockdowns are part of a new world order and that vaccinations can give people "turbo cancer". He called the prospect of a new independence vote 'cancerous' and most recently had one of his YouTube videos blocked by the platform for using antisemitic language. His involvement with the tourism service has long been questioned, given his fierce support of the union and Glasgow's majority-Yes vote in 2014. West Coast Motors, the firm who operate the City Sightseeing Glasgow tour bus service, did not respond to requests for comment.
The National
30-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Ally McCoist to pay developer contributions in Renfrewshire
The 62-year-old football legend hopes to build 38 houses and flats of contemporary design on a site of vacant land on the western boundary of number 24 Thriplee Road in Bridge of Weir. The application has been put forward by Erskine-based company James (Glasgow) Ltd, which lists the former Ibrox striker and Jeffrey East as company directors. READ MORE: 'He's not a historian': Tom Devine speaks as Neil Oliver binned from Scots tour buses A previous report in 2018 told how the football legend had joined up with Mr East to create the venture, which at the time was described as being "involved in the buying and selling of own real estate'. The site is described in planning documents as "effectively open countryside", "some 2.4 hectares in size" and "bound by housing on three sides". Included in the proposal are plans to construct nine detached houses, six semi-detached houses and 23 flats split into three individual blocks. A council report has revealed the possible impact on local schools if families move to the new houses. They assessed nearby schools before ruling a "developer contribution" would be required if planning was permitted. Papers said: "Following assessment of the proposed development, the educational impact, has been assessed and presented in the data in appendix 1. "This shows that a developer contribution will be required for Bridge of Weir Primary School, Gryffe High School, and St Benedict's High School." READ MORE: Man charged after crucifix set alight and headstones damaged in cemetery attack The development has faced opposition from a number of locals. In their objections, residents raised concerns about issues such as increased traffic, a lack of local infrastructure including schools and doctors surgeries to accommodate the development, and the potential flood risk to existing properties. Other concerns raised included the safety of cyclists and pedestrians including children walking to and from school, noise concerns and the impact on the 'significant local bat population'. The consultation on the plans closes on June 30 and the application is currently under consideration by Renfrewshire Council.
The National
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Tom Devine 'pleased' by Neil Oliver's axing from tourism service
The National reported on Friday that Oliver had been quietly axed from City Sightseeing Glasgow, where he previously provided English language commentary and had his portrait featured on the side of the service's buses. Now, leading historian Sir Tom Devine has responded to Oliver being dropped by the tour guiding business, saying he is 'pleased' by the decision. READ MORE: Theatrics of Unionist duo on Question Time were cringeworthy Devine told The National: 'It has taken some time for Oliver's name to be removed from the city's tourist buses. 'Now that it has finally happened I am pleased. He is not a historian. Scotland is currently awash with excellent historians, any one of whom could have been selected as the face of this tourist campaign. 'I suspect the decision to delete his image is partly to do with the fact that he has become a much more controversial figure in recent years because of his eccentric opinions on politics and other issues, which have undermined his former public standing.' Oliver's removal has been called for since the broadcaster went on several anti-Covid regulations rants on GB News in 2021, as well as his previous remarks regarding a potential second referendum. READ MORE: Bob Vylan member responds to Glastonbury backlash with lengthy statement He called the prospect of a new independence vote 'cancerous' and most recently had one of his YouTube videos blocked by the platform for using antisemitic language. His involvement with the tourism service has long been questioned, given his fierce support of the union and Glasgow's majority-Yes vote in 2014. West Coast Motors, the firm who operate the City Sightseeing Glasgow tour bus service, did not respond to requests for comment.
