Pope was an advocate for peace

Last week I took the opportunity to speak in the debate on the international situation.

- BY PAISLEY MSP GEORGE ADAM

This is one of the most active periods of international affairs that we have experienced for a number of years. There are conflicts causing appalling atrocities, destroying families.

In all these cases, it is the ordinary people that suffer and are the casualties. There has been a shift in the political outlook of many countries across the globe, not for the best in many cases.

It seems that people have become less tolerant, more argumentative and more self-obsessed recently.

This has been in conjunction with a rise in the far right and their attitudes.

This is one of the reasons that John Swinney, the First Minister, arranged the summit to discuss the challenges that the far right pose today.