Sam Hall

Saturday

Sam Hall

New polling: Half of Brits think Scotland will break away

From our UK edition

Boris Johnson is desperate to avoid becoming the prime minister who oversees the break-up of the Union, yet it appears many voters are already resigned to the prospect of an independent Scotland.  A new poll for Coffee House has revealed that 46 per cent of Brits think it's likely that Scotland will leave the UK within the next ten years. Only a quarter believe such an outcome is unlikely. The survey of 2,000 British voters by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that: Around 34 per cent think Scotland should become an independent country, compared to 46 per cent who disagree.

Friday

Sam Hall

Why universities are paying students to stay away

From our UK edition

In the same way that airlines overbook flights, universities send out more offers than they have places for on the basis that many applicants will not make the grade. But what happens when most of them do? Airlines often use financial incentives to persuade someone to surrender their seat and similarly universities have been known to offer successful applicants thousands of pounds to defer. The exams fiasco means universities are now under even more pressure to make students a gap year offer they can’t refuse. Scrapping the exams algorithm and replacing it with teacher predicted grades meant that students from poorly performing schools didn't miss out just because some computer code forecasted failure.