I was in my mid-teens when someone gave me a copy of 'Pears Encyclopaedia of Myth and Legends' as a birthday present. It sat on my shelves for many months before I looked at it. When I did, I couldn't stop reading it.

History rarely repeats itself, but its echoes never go away.

Those who really value Ukrainian sovereignty should opt for real independence and a positive neutrality: neither a plaything of the West nor Moscow.

An independent Scotland could be far more internationalist and would benefit a great deal from links to both Scandinavia and states in other continents.

Independence is the only way Scotland can realise its full political and cultural potential in the 21st century.

Political pundits in Delhi and Islamabad have berated the West for its relativism and double-standards. After all why should Britain have a nuclear arsenal but not India? It is a reasonable question.