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Assisting a person with the intent of hastening death is an emotive and highly contentious issue. Currently, such an action in not legally permissible in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or England. In Scotland there is a now a proposal to change the law, through the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill (2024). For those with religious commitments, their attitude to an assisted death is determined by the exegesis of their faith's holy books. If, however, a person is faithless, how do they personally, or the wider society as expressed in statute law, come to a decision on assisted dying and what secular guidance is available? In this essay, we consider assisted dying in the context of Hume's various writings on religion, suicide, his own death and his principle of 'utility', as a prism through which to offer a wider societal perspective on the moral and ethical issues involved. Our judgement is that, were Hume alive today, he would not only believe that an individual has the right to choose an assisted death, but that – in some limited circumstances – there may even be an obligation to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of the transition from school to work has traditionally been underpinned by a three-stage model. This is one in which the first stage is a preparatory one, where the focus is on school, followed by a second transition stage and ending in a third stage, the successful entry to work. This is a model that has been challenged by work from the "cultural studies" school but still informs much contemporary work. The study of freelance dancers' entry into work reveals a very different experience of the transition. Rather than a sequence of experiences of school, preparation for work and then entry into established employment, the dancer's experience is one of coterminus experiences of work, vocational training and family life that can start before the entry into primary education. This represents a serious challenge to the three-stage model as a general model for conceptualising transitions. Using the experience of the dancers and building on the work of Becker and Wyn, this paper explores how the concept of belonging points the way forward towards a more comprehensive conceptualisation of the transition.

In September 2020, 'The David Hume Tower' in Edinburgh was renamed '40 George Square' because Edinburgh University had concluded that the philosopher, historian and essayist, David Hume, was guilty of holding racist views. There were also public allegations of his support for slavery. The supposed evidence comes from a letter he wrote to Lord Hertford in March 1766; an assumed loan to a slave plantation investor; a letter he received in June 1766 from the Marquis d'Ennery and a footnote added to his essay Of National Characters in 1753. In this essay we review the events in Edinburgh prior to the renaming of the tower and re-examine some of the documentary evidence used to support current attacks on Hume's moral character. Each of the charges of supporting slavery and being a racist is examined, both in the context of Hume's writings as a whole and in relation to modern definitions of racism. Our conclusion is that Hume is innocent of both accusations, and that he has been unjustly vilified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant view today is of a global knowledge-based economy, driven by the application of new technologies, accelerating the shift to high-skilled, high-waged European economies. This view is reflected in the expansion of higher education and the key role of higher education in national and European economic policy. The Lisbon agenda seeks to make the European Union "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion". Not only is education believed to hold the key to international competitiveness but to the foundations of social justice and social cohesion. This article outlines the underlying assumptions of this mantra, which in many respects has changed little since the 1960s when human capital theory gained increasing prominence in education and economic policy (Halsey, 1961). It examines the prospects for the creation of high-skills economies throughout Europe in light of new realities of the global economy. This analysis is based on interviews with senior managers and executives in leading transnational companies and government policy makers in seven countries including China and India. In conclusion, the authors outline a series of issues as a contribution toward a new agenda for education and the knowledge economy within the European Research Area. Following this essay are two responses: (1) "Expanding the Higher Education System and Building World-Class Universities: China's Response to Globalization and the Knowledge Economy." (Wang Yingje); and (2) "Education, Globalisation and the Future of the Knowledge Economy: Three Comments" (Stephan Vincent-Lancrin). (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 25 notes.)