Many people feel that their voices are not heard, that debate has become toxic, and that decisions are often made without honesty, fairness or empathy. At the same time, most of us still long for a politics we can respect and a public square we can recognise as our own.
Scotland’s Four Words of Hope’ starts from a simple, hopeful fact: every day, in the heart of our democracy, the Scottish Parliament’s Mace quietly sets out what good public life should look like –
These are not party slogans or private beliefs. They are shared civic values, visible whenever the Parliament meets, and recognised across political, faith and community traditions.
This project exists to help restore trust by bringing those four words to the front of our minds again – in how we speak, how we decide, how we disagree and how we vote.
In the runup to the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, we invited candidates, voters and organisations to “face the Mace”: to measure our choices and conduct against these values, and to do our best to live them out in practice. That invitation still stands.
Since May, we have been developing ways to check what is happening in reality and to equip those elected to help them stay true to their pledge.
We know that no pledge, website or campaign can “fix” public life on its own. But we also know that change begins when people refuse to be bystanders.
By lifting up the four words, listening to how people in Scotland understand them today, and turning them into practical questions for real decisions, we believe we can take a first, hopeful step towards rebuilding trust.
Our aim is that, during this session of the Parliament, politics are conducted with greater humanity, disagreement is embraced, and decisions are underpinned by wisdom, compassion, justice and integrity.
The Scottish Parliament’s ceremonial Mace sits at the heart of the debating chamber, and business cannot begin until it is in place. Designed and crafted in Scottish silver by silversmith Michael Lloyd, with gold panned from Scottish rivers, it was presented to the new Parliament in 1999 as a modern symbol of authority and responsibility.
The words wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity were chosen by Donald Dewar and the committee establishing the Parliament as reflecting the aspirations of the Scottish people for their Parliament. They are not only engraved on the Mace itself but have been a touchstone in key moments such as the first First Minister’s opening speech and in later developments like Curriculum for Excellence. That is why we show the Mace itself, not just replicas, and treat these four words not as a new slogan, but as founding values that already belong to the Parliament and to Scotland…..and in doing that, we will have done our bit to stem the loss of trust in public life in Scotland.
Scotland’s Four Words of Hope is being undertaken under the auspices of the International Futures Forum and in association with a number of other organisations, including the Royal Society of Edinburgh, The Young Academy of Scotland, Christian Aid, SCVO, The Church of Scotland and Cyrenians.
It is being led by Frank Strang MBE, former Senior Civil Servant in the UK and Scottish Governments and chair of the Solas Festival.
