A fortnight ago, the Sunday Herald remembered Arras: millions of brave men slaughtered over a royal spat (Lost in France, The big read, April 9). Last weekend's paper featured another impending spat: the possibility of another clash of mega-egos, this time with global consequences (Trump and Kim take the world to the brink, The world, April 16). History indicates dictatorships are generally brought down by revolution. The dilemma for any democratic system is how to control rampant hubris via a fixed-term ballot box when a leader/dictator emerges on a self-inflation trip. The past 100 years of Westminster's imperial government is littered with classic examples.
I believe an independent Scotland would not have been involved in the world's current conflicts except on humanitarian grounds. The challenge for the future voters within a modern, independent Scotland is to identify the problem and avoid putting a cross against political parties whose views on warfare, welfare and the environment are antediluvian.
Iain R Thomson
Cannich
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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