IT was good to see the First Minister back in fighting form last week, pushing forward the case for independence with renewed vigour. The overall approach – to contrast the risk and dangers of staying in the UK with the opportunities of independence – is a sound one. Independence will not make everything better overnight, but it offers a lifeline we must take, because if we don’t become independent, we know for a fact that things will only get worse.

THE Queen did not appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace misquoting Monty Python’s Life of Brian: “He’s not the Prime Minister! He’s a very naughty boy!”

LET’S start with geography. Scotland lies between the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

THE principle of self-government unites all supporters of Scottish independence. This principle has two dimensions. The first is a national dimension: that Scotland should be governed by people in Scotland, and not from Westminster. The second, without which the first is meaningless, is a democratic dimension: that those who govern Scotland should be representative of, and responsible to, the people of Scotland.

THE forthcoming local elections are being treated – by the media, by the political parties, and by many voters – mainly as an opinion poll on national politics.

THE moral malaise of Boris’s Brexit Britain lies not just with the current Prime Minister and his immediate circle, nor is it limited to the Tory party. It lies embedded in the very being of the British state – in its compromised political class, its corrupted institutions, and its decrepit unwritten constitution.

NICCOLO Machiavelli is best known for The Prince, in which he gives advice to the Medici prince in the government of Florence. The interpretation of that short and difficult book has given rise to much controversy. Is Machiavelli pragmatically making the best of bad situation, in at least making sure the Prince receives honest advice? Is he angling for a job, and hang his principles? Or is the Prince an elaborate work of satire?

SOME of us will no doubt remember Robert Burns’ A Man’s A Man for A’ That being hauntingly sung by Sheena Wellington at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

LIBERAL-DEMOCRACY – peace, order, good government, human rights and the rule of law – are moral ideals. In a world where fallen nature corrupts all things, the Russian invasion of Ukraine reminds us that such ideals cannot be realised by words alone.

I HAVE never been slacking in advancing the case for a proper written constitution. There are many advantages to be derived from agreeing the basic ground-rules of the state, writing them down in an authoritative Fundamental Law, and enforcing them.