Alex Salmond, the ex-first minister who proved incapable of making Scotland independent, has assured the world that he and his handful of SNP MPs will force Westminster to dance to his tune, or else. So his response to humiliating failure is the threat of political blackmail. At least it is now clear what the SNP stands for.
For Cicero (106–43 bc), surveying the ruins of the Roman republic at the hands of ruthless dynasts such as Caesar and Pompey fighting for power with personal armies at their back, the question of the ethics of public service — the duty one owed to the state — loomed large. What he saw disturbed him intensely: here were people of a wealth and education that fitted them for honourable public service exploiting their power to serve their own dishonourable ends. Romans once striving for true gloria through service to the state had degenerated into those seeking blood-soaked gloria for their own advantage.
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