46 h. ago French PM François Bayrou failed to act on abuse at Catholic boarding school, report says

Damning report by MPs comes after inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at Notre-Dame de Bétharram schoolThe French prime minister, François Bayrou, failed to act to prevent physical and sexual abuse at a private Catholic school in south-west France when he served as education minister between 1993 and 1997, a parliamentary report has said.The damning report issued by French lawmakers on Wednesday comes after a long parliamentary inquiry into allegations of decades of physical abuse, rape and sexual assault at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school near Pau in south-west France. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Education inspectors' 'brilliant' report for West Lothian village's school and nursery class

The inspection team spent time at Longridge Primary in April

Politics

3 d. ago ‘A supermarket for sexual predators’: abuse scandal at elite boarding school shakes France

Legal complaints filed by former pupils accuse priests and staff of physical or sexual abuse from 1957 to 2004When 14-year-old Pascal Gélie saw a brochure for an elite French Catholic boarding school boasting swimming in summer and skiing in winter, he begged his parents to send him. He had just watched the American school drama Dead Poets Society and was expecting “sport and friendship”.“On the first night, I realised I’d made a terrible mistake,” said Gélie, now a 51-year-old office-worker in Bordeaux. “There were 40 of us in a dormitory with decrepit mattresses. When I whispered to another boy for some toilet paper to take to the bathroom, the supervisor grabbed me by the face and pointed to the stone terrace outside. Someone told me to take my coat because you could be forced to stand outside for hours in the cold and damp. I was made to stand there all night.” Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Good report card for West Lothian school and nursery class after education inspection

The Education Scotland team spent time at St Mary’s Primary and Polbeth Nursery in April

Politics

8 d. ago Pupil referral unit that takes children kicked out of school gets flawless Estyn report

Inspectors found the Tai Education Centre needs none of the usual recommendations for areas to improve

Society

2 w. ago Monk who brought shame on Catholic boarding school jailed for abusing pupils

Michael James Callaghan, known as Father James, has been jailed for seven years for preying on the vulnerable teenage boys at Ampleforth College.

Events

2 w. ago Report into 'what went wrong' with Falkirk primary school gets go ahead

Conservative councillors say they want to make sure there is 'accountability' as school will be closed for over a year

Politics

2 w. ago Glenboig Primary School receives positive report from Education Scotland

Inspection highlighted the school’s warm and welcoming environment, dedicated staff and strong leadership.

Politics

2 w. ago The victims of grooming gangs deserve justice – at long last, they may get it

Editorial: The government’s decision to launch a full statutory inquiry into historic grooming cases is long overdue. Thousands of girls were failed not only by their abusers but by the very institutions and individuals meant to protect them. At last, a national reckoning is underway

Events

2 w. ago Trump’s parade isn’t what he was hoping for. It was a disappointing, sad affair | Moira Donegan

The uniformed soldiers marched irregularly, slightly off beat; the turnout was small and the crowd seemed defeated, low-energy and wiltedIn one version of the story, you can blame the French. Evidently it was in France, watching the 2017 Bastille Day military parade alongside Emmanuel Macron at the outset of his first term, that Trump initially got the idea to stage an armed spectacle in Washington DC in honor of himself. Back then, the military said no. In a now-famous anecdote, Gen Paul Selva, who grew up in Portugal under its integralist regime, told Trump that such parades are “what dictators do”. James Mattis, his then-secretary of defense, reportedly revolted against the idea, saying he would “rather swallow acid”. Trump never got his parade.Until now. Restored to power after an interregnum in which all American institutions failed to hold him accountable for his crimes and abuses, Trump has now set about a second term in which he is pursuing vengeance against his perceived en...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘It’s not a genuine apology’: Spanish women reject Catholic attempt to redress Franco incarceration

Many survivors believe organisation’s request for forgiveness over abuse in Women’s Protection Board centres does not go far enoughAs the members of the Catholic organisation wrapped up their speech with an appeal for forgiveness, the auditorium in Madrid exploded in rage. For decades, many in the audience had grappled with the scars left by their time in Catholic-run institutions; now they were on their feet chanting: “Truth, justice and reparations” and – laying bare their rejection of any apology – “Neither forget, nor forgive”.It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented moment in Spain, hinting at the deep fissures that linger over one of the longest-running and least-known institutions of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship: the Catholic-run centres that incarcerated thousands of women and girls as young as eight, subjecting them to barbaric punishments, forced labour and religious indoctrination. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Brian Wilson: the Beach Boys visionary who changed music forever

The troubled musician was a genius whose work was the envy of generations of fellow artists. Fiona Sturges pays tribute, and recalls her encounter with Wilson where he told her about his fear of failure, his abusive father, and the voices in his head

Politics