Hundreds of years ago, political power changed hands during periods of war and force and everyone suffered at the hands of political leaders battling it out. Eventually a lot of countries started to adopt democracy as a way to permit a change of political power without using violent activities which has evolved into the democracy that we know today. Yet even today there are still some places in the world where political leaders and campaigners will still default to violent uprisings to hold onto, or gain, power over a state or country.
Occasionally we see the rare outburst of violence during elections in the UK and it is often swiftly curbed before spreading worse than it already is.
Sadly this past week we seen more violence against a political activist who has stood as a candidate in previous council elections. Although the motive for this attempted murder in Glasgow is not certain it does bring violence against politicians back into the forefront of our minds. We should all remember that it is wiser to be able to choose our leaders by peaceful ways than allow violent acts back into the UK.
This week our thoughts are with Mr Muhammad Shoaib of the Alba Party and his family, friends and colleagues and we wish him a full and speedy recovery. I'm sure every one of our members would like nothing more than to see his name on the same peaceful ballot paper beside their own at the next election.