John Swinney under pressure to scrap Higher exams as fears grow for pupils from poorer backgrounds

Robert Pattinson reckons he spent so many hours filming The Batman in the dark that his skin turned green.

Kanye West reportedly held a private listening party for his forthcoming new album ‘DONDA 2’ in LA earlier this week.The rapper and producer’s sequel album to 2021’s ‘DONDA’ is set to be released on February 22. Future is said to be executively producing the record, while Marilyn Manson is also working on the album.West, who is now legally known as Ye, reportedly held a party in LA on Monday night (February 7) where ‘DONDA 2’ was played (via TMZ).The likes of Drake, Travis Scott and Yung Lean were also said to have been in attendance on the night, with West sharing an image overnight taken by Samuel Alemayhu which showed him with the three aforementioned artists and Baby Keem.A post shared by ye (@kanyewest)Yung Lean also shared the image on his Instagram overnight, captioning it: “New Beatles.”A post shared by @yunglean2001West’s Instagram post followed on from a video he shared last night (February 8) where he gave a passionate speech about “Black Future Month”.“There’s no more Black History Month,” he said in the clip.

Lady Gaga has congratulated the 2022 Oscar nominees after House Of Gucci received only one nomination.The singer and actor, who played Patrizia Reggiani in House Of Gucci, was left out of the Best Actress race at the Oscars despite earning nominations at other major award shows, like the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards.In a post on Instagram, Gaga praised House Of Gucci’s makeup artist Frederic Aspiras – who earned the film’s only Oscar nomination in the Best Hair & Makeup category.“I could not be happier for a man I call my brother, who I’ve worked with for the last 15 years, @fredericaspiras, for his nomination in Makeup & Hairstyling for House Of Gucci,” Gaga wrote.A post shared by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga)“Frederic was magical, precise, and dedicated months leading up to shoot and during filming. He prepared dozens of wigs for months and months, and did at least a year of preparation.

Lost Ark hasn’t fully launched just yet, huge demand from fans trying to pre-load the game is putting a strain on Steam servers.Amazon Game Studios‘ western release of Lost Ark doesn’t come out in full until this Friday (February 11), but demand for the game is already causing issues for eager fans.Yesterday (February 8), the official Lost Ark Twitter account acknowledged that players were having trouble downloading and pre-loading the MMO.“Steam is aware of it and is actively looking into the issue,” clarified the account, before later saying that “we are now seeing improvements in players being able to download and decrypt the game, and have confirmed this with the team at Valve.”A Founder’s Pack version of Lost Ark means that some fans have been able to get into the MMO ahead of its full launch, which has already led to some early demand.Thank you for the reports regarding game downloads timing on Steam. Steam is aware of it and is actively looking into the issue and we will update players as soon as we have additional information.— Lost Ark (@playlostark) February 8, 2022At time of writing, Lost Ark is the fifth most-played game on Steam.

A sign of Vitamin B12 deficiency may be noticeable on your tongue, according to experts.

Coastguard crews have been deployed as part of a desperate search for missing Scot Jakub Ziomko.

Rutherglen Glencairn manager Willie Harvey was left disappointed after his side’s second-half collapse at Kilwinning Rangers.

Callum Beattie reckons Ed Sheeran was faking playing electric guitar live at The Brits - because he claims it wasn't even plugged in.

The problem of “urban menace” seagulls is too big for Dumfries and Galloway Council to solve, a councillor has insisted.

Alan Irving is Mr Annan Athletic.

The BRIT Awards happened. That’s a thing that there’s no denying. But how did it happen? And why? Those are questions that may or may not be answered here.It was, of course, a night of big changes for the UK record industry’s big annual prize giving.

Will Young catapulted to fame when he won ITV's singing competition, Pop Idol in 2002.Going up against Gareth Gates in the nail-biting final of the popular evening show, Will stole the nation's hearts with his undeniable talent, outspoken nature and amazing vocals.Becoming the first winner of the worldwide Idol franchise at the age of 22, the heartthrob was the centre of media attention shortly after when he came out as gay preempting a tabloid newspaper from "outing him".Despite the controversy at the time, Will continued to have a successful career in music with a number of top 40 hits including Light My Fire and Leave Right Now.However, the star did later face tragedy down the line, with label feuds and the untimely death of his twin brother.Daily Star has taken a detailed look inside Will Young's life.Shortly after being crowned the winner of Pop Idol in the early noughties, in March 2002, Will told the nation that he was gay.However, the star also admitted that he never hid his sexuality and was comfortable with who he was.In September 2020, Will spoke openly on news night about homophobia and the terrible comments he's received regarding his sexuality.He explained: "There's intentional homophobia and there's unintentional homophobia."People get too muddled up with it and worry they'll say the wrong thing. Listen, I say the wrong thing the whole time and I'm so happy to be educated."Gay shame...

@kayla_itsines, and is the co-founder and head trainer of the SWEAT app. The brunette beauty is now a multi-millionaire having sold the app for a whopping £211million ($400m) last year.But, Kayla claims people are “so surprised” when they find out she regularly tucks into junk food.

coronavirus restrictions may end in just two weeks time.Opening Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson said: “It is my intention to return on the first day after the half-term recess to present our strategy for living with Covid.“Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions – including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive – a full month early.”Mr Johnson indicated that as long as the data remained positive, the legal duty to self-isolate would be lifted a whole month earlier than planned.The plan was for self-isolation regulations to expire on March 24., but the announcement means the law could axed on around as early as Thursday 24 February.Mr Johnson's announcement comes as a leading expert believes the UK is “past the point” where vaccinating young, healthy children against Covid-19 will do any good.Paul Hunter, professor of medicine from the University of East Anglia, said most children have already had coronavirus, with the vast majority not falling seriously ill.Prof Hunter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme infection rates in children are “falling really quickly at the moment”, adding: “So I think in many ways we’re past the point where vaccines are actually going to make much difference.”This is a breaking news story and is constantly being updated.Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest updates. Reporters working on dailystar.co.uk will be working to source the latest information, reaction, pictures and video related to this story.

teenagers in school often like to deface textbooks and walls with animated scrawls of penises.With a flip of a few pages, teens will most likely giggle at their peers' defiant artworks scribbled between the educational material they are supposed to be learning from.But some cheeky adolescents took it one step further by drawing and writing naughty messages all over their piece of work he submitted to his teacher.The educator who was given the work took to Reddit to share the task they set for the year nine boys - and it did not quite go to plan.They explained in the post: “Fun worksheet I gave the yr9 lads today, at the end of a lesson on the Greek origin of words.”Attached was the ‘fun’ A4 paper that asked the 13-14 year-old-lads to invent their own dinosaur and complete a fact file about them.In the box that was labelled ‘image of my dinosaur’ one lad drew a very questionable looking penis and a pair of testicles.Not quite the predator you would imagine trotting about in prehistoric times!Then, in the box that asked to list ‘key characteristics’ of the dinosaur the lad simply wrote “nob.”And, the teen then gave an account about what the risqué predator ate in which he described it as “pum pum” - referring to a vagina.The lad grew cheekier as when asked where his phallic shaped dinosaur lived, he explained: “In ye mums nickers (knickers).”Another teen lad drew a dinosaur that almost resembled a unicorn but instead of a horn featured a penis, in which the student aptly named a key characteristic of their creature as having a “nob head.”And, apparently this questionable living dinosaur lived at the “corner shop.”We do not think they will be ending up in the Natural History Museum anytime soon!Tickled by the teens’ raunchy

'World Scariest Man' Martyn Ford is preparing to take on the 'Iranian Hulk' Sajad Gharibi this April at London's O2 Arena.Ford, 39, who often shares shirtless images of him flexing his massive muscles to his Instagram audience of 3.3 million followers, began his bodybuilding journey after an injury at the age of 20.Once a lanky lad who stood at 6ft 8in, Ford – now muscular and tattooed - was struck down by a cricket injury which had him turning to the gym in order to bulk up and gain self-confidence. Here’s everything you need to know about Ford’s jaw-dropping body transformation.

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Dancing On Ice host Holly Willoughby has revealed a bad habit in the bedroom, which she thinks might be negatively impacting her relationship with husband Dan Baldwin.

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

Get the stories that interest you straight to your inbox every day with our personalised newsletterHigher exams will be cancelled in Scotland next year, the Government has announced.Education Secretary John Swinney today told MSPs that "teacher judgement" will be used as part of a new model to form grades.National 5 exams due to take place next year have already been cancelled.Mr Swinney said in his statement there will be no Higher or Advanced Higher exams next year.Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer said: “The Scottish Greens have called for all 2021 exams to be cancelled since it became clear in May that the level of disruption would make a fair exam diet impossible, so today’s announcement is overdue but welcome.“It provides the clarity

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