Tom Freeman · Holyrood Magazine
In 1999, As Europeans welcomed their new currency, in Scotland MSPs took their seats for the first time in a new parliament.
The Scottish Parliament was described as “a means to greater ends” by the First Minister, Donald Dewar.
As Holyrood looks forward to a year marking the institution’s 20th birthday, there is still a debate over what those “greater ends” might be.
For Dewar, it was upholding the values of wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity, words which are engraved into the parliament’s ceremonial mace.