Yr angen o'r cyhoeddfawr i fynd i fyfydd yw Myth yn bwysig, ond myfydd yrai debyg sydd yn ddebyg i fynd i'r Cymru yw Michelle Thompson o yr oesol Pengrars ac Fyrydd South St welwyr, mae'r myfydd yn bwysig i fy pryd yn y ddiwedd ac yn i'r cyhoeddfawr yw'rmetics sydd i'r teimlo i chi i'r cyhoedd byddai ymddangos i'r bwysig, i fynd i fyddangos i fod yn bwysig sydd yn bwysig ar y cyhoeddfawr, Ms Thompson. I give those opening remarks with some trepidation. As I know, many esteemed academics will be speaking about the tersentenary of Adam Smith through the course of this week. I congratulate the vigour with which Professor Graham Roy and Roger Mullen have pursued celebrations in Glasgow University and in Kirkcaldy respectively. Indeed, the inaugural event by Glasgow University was held in this Scottish Parliament and that is fitting. This place, as Smith expressed in his theory of moral sentiments, should ideally be where to feel much for others and little for ourselves, to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature. There are many people in Scotland who recognise the name Adam Smith, yet too few of those and the tourists who walk past his statue on the high street of Edinburgh, pan your house or his grave at the cannon gate know of his lasting impact. Now, whilst we do not know his exact date of birth, we do know that Smith was baptised on 5 June 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Old Kirk. Smith studied logic, metaphysics, maths, Newtonian physics and moral philosophy at Glasgow University. After a short spell at Oxford University, he returned to Glasgow University becoming a lecturer and then a rector. He then moved to pan your house in Edinburgh, where he died in 1790. He was a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment that produced a quite remarkable outpouring of ideas, spanning a wide range of areas, including engineering, chemistry, political economy, philosophy, literature, medicine and many other areas of intellectual life. The Scottish universities, not least Glasgow University, were central to this in providing a home for the exchange of ideas across disciplines. Influenced greatly by Francis Hutchison, the Glasgow University professor and philosopher and alongside his friends David Hume, Joseph Black, James Hutton, Dougal Stewart and Robert Burns, they took Scotland to the world. It is no coincidence that, in the 1760s, Voltaire, whom Smith visited many times in France, noted, we looked to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation. The Scottish Enlightenment asserted the importance of human reason, expresses ideas and a rejection of any stance that could not be justified by reason. Arguably, our current political world has much still to learn. Of course, he is best known as one of the founding fathers of economics, with his ideas permitting economic theories today. Some would say that, to understand his political economy, he must first have read and understood his theory of moral sentiments. That articulates that we are, above all else, social beings and that our morality or, in today's language, our empathy is guided by that fact. Where reason is important, it is trumped by the themes set out in this book, namely prudence, justice, beneficence and self-command, all of which are underpinned and developed by conscience or morality. Again, there is much in this book to guide us in this Parliament. I quote again, we are but one of the multitude in no respect better than any other in it, or perhaps more colloquially put by Robert Burns were all Jack Tamsons' bears. Smith goes on, the prudent man is always sincere and feels horror at the very thought of exposing himself to the disgrace which attends upon the detection of falsehood. His three natural laws of economics, the law of self-interest, the law of competition and the law of supply and demand were laid out in his lectures in Glasgow University. Many of those concepts are fundamentally misunderstood and have been misappropriated, not least of all by the Adam Smith Institute in London. By the time he wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Smith had seen corruption and unfettered imperialism mixed with power held in the hands of just a few. The requirement for balance between competition, capitalism and a free market, known as the invisible hand, points to what we would now regard as an acute need for sustainability in economic growth. He, too, had commentary to make about sensible trade, citing an example of winemaking in Scotland. Just because we could doesn't mean to say we should if the bottom line costs of said trade is not commercially viable. He was clear about the damage caused by tariffs. I suggest that some Brexit-supporting Conservatives are going to have to reread this particular section in The Wealth of Nations. Perhaps in my closing remarks, I can return to Professor Graham Roy and draw from an article that he wrote in December 2022. Crucially, Smith is a political economist and not just interested in understanding economic trends. He seeks to make the case for the institutions and structures in our society, such as the shape of markets, to be cohesive, fair and resilient. As we face complex intergenerational and global challenges, be it the climate emergency, rising inequality or the cost of living crisis, there is much that we can apply from Smith's writings to today. Roy finishes with, in today's often toxic political culture and binary policy debates, a recognition that the big global policy challenges that we face require careful thought and, above all, respectful discourse between different sides of an argument—the use of reason, you could argue, and it is perhaps the greatest lesson that we can learn from one of Scotland's most famous sons. I look forward to the next 300 years of global influence. Thank you very much. Ms Thompson, we now move to the open debate. I call first Liz Smith to be followed by Ivan McKee around four minutes, Ms Smith. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I very much welcome this motion put forward by Michelle Thomson, celebrating the tersentenary of the birth of Adam Smith, a man who was such a profound influence on the Scottish Enlightenment and, of course, on political economy across the world, points I highlighted in my own parliamentary motion. I entirely associate myself with the remarks that Michelle Thompson has stated, particularly her last point about the discourse in respectful terms. I think that that is a very important lesson. I vividly recall when I was taking up my first teaching post in economics, I was handed a copy of the wealth of nations and told to inspire my young charges, who at that age were just 14 and 15, or that is actually the age that Smith started university. I was told that if they did not immediately come to terms with the principles of taxation, I should tell them about Smith's subduction by travellers aged four, or that an asteroid is named after him, or about the making of a pin. That, I was told, would capture their imagination. Advice to ponder perhaps as you embark on a teaching career that is inevitably involved in inspiring young minds to recognise one of the true greats in Scottish history, who had written an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations and the theory of moral sentiments. Probably not bedside reading for most 14-15-year-olds, but that was precisely the challenge that made economics come alive for me. Instant Churchill famously said, of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks can surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind. Considering the immense wealth of talent and innovation generated by this nation over the past few centuries, it would certainly be difficult to pinpoint a single person to top the list. However, I think that there is a robust and valid case to argue that that individual is Adam Smith. His influence really is profound, felt across so many aspects of life in economics, in politics, in philosophy, in education and the list could go on. I am sure that other members will refer to some of the details. Of course. Fiona Hyslop. As a graduate of Glasgow University, having studied economic history in the Adam Smith building, I was very struck that it was a political economy as set out by Michelle Thomson, rather than what might be seen as modern economics than his strength was in, and reference to the political side of that political economy is really important. I entirely agree with that, Fiona Hyslop. That is exactly my own background in my university degree as well. It is the political economy that I think is so important. He was very far ahead of his time when he wrote about political economy, so yes, he is quite right regarding that. One of the reasons why he was a pioneer of the Scottish Enlightenment was because he transformed intellectual and scientific thinking as well. He is widely cited as the father of modern economics, but I think that there is far more to what Adam Smith was writing about than just that. He has always been a very relevant scholar in my own life. His writings were frequently referenced in my economics degree, my teaching career and, as an MSP, I find some of his thoughts particularly important in the responsibility for the finance and economy brief. Not only am I his namesake, but he also came from Cacodi, where my family originated. Who knows, perhaps I should do a bit more digging on the family tree. The economic argument made by Smith that the tax system should be based on equity, certainty, fairness and efficiency are still the central debating points around taxation in the modern day. He argued for free market intervention with low government intervention. He was a champion of the principles of economic growth and wealth creation, an advocate for the division of labour and the concept of the invisible hand, which he took from Shakespeare, which determines that an economic system that encourages individualism, enterprise and freedom of production and consumption are to the benefit of all citizens in society now. I suspect that the chamber might argue about some of that these days, but in light of what the Scottish Fiscal Commission is telling us, certainly at the finance committee just now, some of the comments about the taxation agenda we should be listening very carefully to what Adam Smith has said. I very much welcome the debate from Michelle Thomson. Smith is a colossus of our political economy and thinking, and I very much support the motion in her name. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I would like to begin by paying tribute to Michelle Thomson for bringing this debate to the Parliament today on the tersentenary of Adam Smith. I also thank the University of Glasgow and others who have organised events to mark this tersentenary over this time. I spent a couple of minutes this morning on the wonderful Scottish People website, and it took me no time at all to dig up Adam Smith's what they call on the website. He is both certificate, but I think that there is some debate about whether that was his birth or his baptism. Certificate, and the name of his parents, of course, is Margaret Douglas and Adam Smith Sr in Cercodi on 5 June 1723. The reason I mention that is not just to promote the Scotland's ancestry as an opportunity to generate more tourism revenue, but also to demonstrate how easy it is to reach back and touch those events of that time, which are still documented in that way. I think that that speaks to the enduring importance of Adam Smith to this very day. As has been mentioned, his primary recognition for many is his generation of economic theory and position in economics, probably for the first time, as an academic discipline in Little Smith has rhymed off many of the theories for which he was responsible, which underpinned so much of economic thinking to this day. The wealth of nations articulated the theory of absolute advantage later developed into the theory of comparative advantage by Ricardo and others, which challenged the mercantilism of the day and opened up free trade. The benefits of that trade continue to benefit Scottish exports to this day. Frankly, they are very much in line with the work that we took forward as Scottish Government and our export growth plan, a trading nation. Of course, Smith was also a very significant philosopher in part of the Scottish Enlightenment working with Hume and others. It is the theory of moral sentiments, which is critical. Of course, that was his first work and underpins his later economic theories, particularly the theory of sympathy, which seeks to explain the source of mankind's ability to form moral judgments, no big ask. Conscience arises from, as he stated, dynamic and interactive social relationships through which people seek mutual sympathy of sentiments. Putting that theoretical basis to understand why people behave as they do, not just in the economic sphere but in their wider interactions with their fellow citizens. It is that combination of understanding of market drivers and recognising the importance of trading that is theoretical underpinning of trade as a good thing, for the most part. There are wider considerations of the impact of individuals' actions on others and the importance of their recognition of that. The point to the work of Smith has been, frankly, the forerunner of the conversations that we have today about the concept of the well-being economy, reaching out, as it does, to encompass sustainability, the fair work agenda and much else, recognising that economics and well-creation are much wider than just economic theory. I hope that the series of events that have happened over these days have given opportunity for many people, including myself, frankly, to learn more about Smith's work and that that debate continues, not just for its own sake but to raise the profile of Smith internationally. He has a true international figure, widely recognised and revered right across the world. That not only serves to further Smith's memory but also raises Scotland's profile and increases prospects for Scottish trade and exports as a consequence. I think that that is something that Smith himself would approve of. I thank Michelle Thomson for bringing the debate to the chamber. Her speech expertly highlighted the breadth of Adam Smith's work and the significant impact that it has had in Scotland and around the globe when that continues to this present day. The project at the University of Glasgow, to commemorate the tersentenary of his birth, aims not just to celebrate the work of Adam Smith and its enduring legacy but to support a better understanding of the breadth and plurality of his work and how the interlocking questions of economics and morality still apply hundreds of years on. Adam Smith is recognised globally as a pioneer in exploring the relationship between politics, economics and social responsibility. His legacy can be found in almost every economic work. While we recognise the influence of his time at Glasgow University, his roots are in fife and, particularly, Cercode. He was baptised in Cercode 300 years ago this week, and yesterday a batismal celebration was held at the Old Kirk. His education began at home, and it was to Cercode that he returned to spend a lot of time after Glasgow University and his time touring Europe as a tutor to the Third Duke of Buclw. Later in his life, his post as commissioner of customs in Scotland saw him move to Edinburgh. He had his residence at Panmure House, which is not far from Parliament, but for many years Cercode was Adam Smith's home, and many of his ideas developed from his formative experience there. Cercode was a booming economic centre, and trade and commerce was evident everywhere. From the Old Kirk to the newly refurbished Adam Smith theatre, his legacy is stamped on the town, and through the Adam Smith heritage trail visitors are encouraged to follow in his footsteps and explore Cercode as well as the history of Adam Smith himself, from taking in the heritage centre and Adam Smith close to viewing the first edition of the wealth of nations on display at Cercode galleries. The heritage centre and the close switch that opened in 2016 has been important in raising the profile of Adam Smith within Cercode itself. Although many people were familiar with the name, his beyond academia perhaps not so many were aware of his huge global significance or the part that Cercode has played in his work. Alongside the Glasgow University events and others around the world, a number of events are taking place in Cercode to celebrate the Tercentenary. The annual Adam Smith Festival of Idears is bigger than ever this year, including an academic programme, a birthday party, which is going to be in the townhouse square, and the established food festival, which is on this weekend. There's a series of lectures. The first of these was delivered by Sir Michael Marmot, with subsequent speakers including Larry Summars and Robert Pestin, who is delivering the annual Adam Smith lecture on Friday. It is not all politics, though. Adam McCall Smith is in conversation tomorrow night, and Arabella Weir, along with Helene C Smith, will be presenting two doors down. The Adam Smith Global Foundation is also delivering the academic programme on Thursday and Friday, with lectures across themes such as culture, philosophy, education and economics. I cannot talk about the legacy of Adam Smith without reference to Cercode's other great son when it comes to politics and economics. Gordon Brown has done so much to promote the continuing relevance of Adam Smith to Langton. The impressive list of—if you let me—Gordon has really been a driver behind the recognition of Cercode of Adam Smith, and I'll explain how he has done so much to promote the continuing relevance of Adam Smith. The impressive list of speakers who have delivered the Adam Smith lecture in Cercode is worth highlighting. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is the internet founder, Sandy Tolfik, Professor Adam Sandel, UNICEF's executive director Henry Atherford and Kofi Anan, to name a few. That was quite a coup for Cercode to have Kofi Anan visit the town. The Adam Smith Global Foundation has built its reputation and status of its lectures, but it cannot be denied that Gordon Brown's commitment to the legacy for Adam Smith and its relevance to Cercode has made a huge contribution to the success of the event. I also recognise the act of support of the Fife free press and supporting and promoting the many events over the years, and particularly in this significant year, as there is much to enjoy and there will be something for everyone this week. I now call David Torrance to be followed by Donald Cameron around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As a Langtonian, it is an absolute pleasure to be speaking in today's debate to celebrate the tertiary anniversary of Adam Smith's birth, and I long to give my sincere gratitude to Michelle Thomson for securing this important debate. Today, we acknowledge the lasting words of Adam Smith and his on-going relevance in the modern world. His legacy serves as a beacon, reminding us Scotland's historic contributions to global thought and the importance of continuing to celebrate influential Scottish figures. Adam Smith was a multifaceted figure of an intellect that flourished in the fields of engineering, economics, chemistry, political economy, philosophy, literature and medicine. His ideas not only held global importance during this time, but they continue to rever me through centuries of influential society today. I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to Adam Smith's deep connection to Cercode. Like me, Adam Smith was born and raised in the Langton. In fact, my constituency office, just off the high street in Cercode, overlooks Cercode's old court where Adam Smith was baptized 300 years ago. He is a constant reminder of the legacy of the son of Cercode and indeed of Scotland, whose life and works have profoundly shaped a worldly living. Adam Smith lived in Cercode for a great proportion of his life, and his legacy has felt throughout the area and beyond. His legacy was brought enrichment to both locals and tourists of Cercode and Fife alike. The Langton is full of historic moments involving Smith's life, including the old court, Adam Smith Close and the Adam Smith Heritage Centre, which is a rare example of one's common rigged buildings in Cercode on Espinade, which was said to have fostered inspiration for Smith's work, The Wealth of Nations, and most recently, the Adam Smith Theatre, which is set to reopen. This year, to celebrate his 300th anniversary, Cercode will be putting Adam Smith firmly in the spotlight and honouring his legacy at various events across the town. I am so pleased that the organised events have attracted so many from across the country to experience Adam Smith's hometown and the contributions that he has made to it. The Fife College scholarship programme also launched the new Adam Smith 300 Enterprise scholarship on the day of Adam Smith's 300th anniversary. It aimed at supporting students taking steps into setting up their own business. It will include financial support, as well as mentoring support and guidance from Business Gateway 5. That is great news for students in a fantastic way to celebrate his milestone. It is impressive to recognise the pivotal role that Scottish universities have played in fostering Scottish figures, including spreading Adam Smith's transformative ideas. It was at our Scottish universities where Adam Smith's spiritual of curiosity for middle-intellect were cultivated. Along with several other Scottish economists and philosophers, our world-leading Scottish universities have provided space for ideas to flourish ideas that would forever change the course of Scottish and global human society. As we commemorate his mentor's occasion, let us remember that it is crucial to continue to celebrate the life and works of influential Scottish figures, but legacy serves as a reminder of invaluable contributions that Scotland has made to the world. Adam Smith, an intellectual giant, a man of unconscionable curiosity, a product of the Scottish Enlightenment, is a shining testament to this. Adam Smith was leading light in the Scottish Enlightenment, an extraordinary intelligence thinking of the 18th century, which forever altered our understanding of the world. The Scottish Enlightenment, with Adam Smith and his Vanguard, was an outpouring of intellectual and scientific creativity by Scottish theorists. That work gained global recognition for its assertion of the importance of human reasoning and the use of empirical methods of inquiry. That was a seismic shift away from the dogma and authority to a world where application of reason, observation and experiment became our guiding principles. The great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including Adam Smith, have influenced the culture of Scotland in several areas, including architecture, art, music and philosophy. The influence of its movement spread from beyond Scotland, moving ideas and dissemination of ideas. Of course, Scotland has changed in a way since Adam Smith's death. Although his ideas continue to be a global significance for 300 years after his birth, countries all over the world have faced unprecedented economic challenges that, time and time again, have tested the relevance of modern economic policy. However, despite the changes and challenges that we have faced, Adam Smith's light continues to shine brilliantly and disciplines as diverse as engineering, economics, chemistry, political, economy, philosophy, literature and medicine. We must continue to celebrate his inquisitive nature, his anarchological mind and his inclination to question the world. It is crucial to champion these values as policy makers and decision makers as we strive to build a society that is not only economically prosperous but also socially equitable and just. In conclusion, let us, in the spirit of Smith, continue to pursue knowledge and understanding to question, analyse and innovate. For, as Adam Smith himself says, science is a great antidote to a poison of enthusiasm and superstition. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing this debate about Adam Smith into the chamber, which is very timely for the many reasons that she mentioned. It has been an incredible amount of impressive contributions so far. I feel like I have been back to school already in the last set of half an hour. I have many things that have been said are what I am going to say, so I will try and be brief. The year 1776 is one of those years in human history that can quite properly be described as remarkable. The reason for that is that three seminal texts in the English language were published. The first of these was the Declaration of Independence in America. The second was the renowned historical work by Edward Gibbon, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The third was the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, the first work of political economy, as we know it now, the wealth of nations by Adam Smith. It is rightly known throughout the world as a seminal work, establishing as it did a doctrine of free trade and the concepts of modern liberal economics that we have, that we have practised today and that we have heard about already. I have also got my own personal connection to that text, because in Book 3, Chapter 4, an ancestor of mine gets a mention. Adam Smith is speaking here of the heritable jurisdictions that exist across the world, and he says this. It is not 30 years ago since Mr Cameron of Lockheill, a gentleman of Lochaber in Scotland, without any legal warrant or whatever, not being what was then called a Lord of Regality, nor even a tenant-in-chief, but a vassal of the Duke of Argyll without being so much as a justice of the peace, used notwithstanding to exercise the highest criminal jurisdiction over his own people. He is said to have done so with great equity, though without any of the formalities of justice, but it is not improbable that the state of that part of the country at that time made it necessary for him to assume his authority in order to maintain the public peace. That is a very direct and personal connection for me, but in this short speech it is not the world of nations that is my focus, because I would like to constrain—yes, of course. Ivan McKee. I cannot resist this, but the member mentioned three seminal texts of 1776, including the Declaration of Independence. I would like to invite the member to say some more about the positive benefits of independence. Donald Cameron. I am very tempted by that red rag to a bull, but I would instead like to concentrate on the theory of moral sentiments, which Ivan McKee himself mentioned. It was the work that Smith himself considered to be his masterpiece. It was his first major work, and he saw his role as a moral philosopher to be complementary to his views on economics. He wrote about sympathy with the feelings of others that, rather than being simply self-interested, we are in fact deeply concerned with the wellbeing of humankind. As one might expect from an Enlightenment figure, Smith was a humanist. He believed in the dignity of the human being. He believed in government intervention to help those in need. The theory of moral sentiments is the counterweight to the individualism of the proto-capitalist framework that was to come in the wealth of nations. As Vernon L. Smith famously said in a lecture about the theory of moral sentiments in the wealth of nations, he together explained why human nature appears to be simultaneously self-regarding and other regardings. I close by thanking again Michelle Thompson for a worthy debate in honour of a worthy, indeed, titanic figure in Scotland. I look forward to hearing more contributions from across the chamber. I'm afraid I don't have the connection that Mr Cameron has just outlined to Adam Smith. The fact that I stand here as the granddaughter of a steelworker in the same Parliament as Mr Cameron would be something that Hulme, Hurton and Burns and Adam Smith would possibly welcome. I recently attended for the first time an event in Panmure House, invited by the Chancellor of Herriot-Walt University to a reception to welcome Zambia's distinguished representative, President Haqqandi Heclema, to Scotland. The speeches there emphasise the connections of our countries, the political and global challenges of climate change, of equalities, of feminist equality, climate justice and economic challenges of the global south. It is very poignant to hear that in the Salon of Adam Smith, whose portrait adorned the walls, albeit painted many years after his death. We have to use our imagination to determine how accurate that portrait is. However, to be there in that Salon, you cannot help but pause, imagine the many discussions, argument and resolutions of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. Indeed, it seems that the wisdom, intellect and the vision have seeped into the very walls where Adam lived from 1778 until his death in 1790. It has been argued already in the chamber that the inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, his opus, is as relevant today as it was in first publication. Like Michelle Thomson, I was also delighted to attend the event of this Parliament to hear about University of Glasgow's business schools' plan to commemorate the tri-centenary of one of Scotland's leading thinkers, economist and perhaps the key figure of the Enlightenment. By enabling us all to engage more closely with Smith's work and explore his writing, not as an historical artifact, but as ideas that speak to us still today. Although there will hardly be an economic student in the last 300 years who will not have heard of, or indeed in most cases read at least parts of the wealth of nations, myself included, in today's heralds Dr Craig Smith, Adam Smith's senior lecturer in the Scottish Enlightenment at the University of Glasgow, reminds us that of the other great philosophical writing, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which has recently been reexamined by scholars having gone out of fashion. Dr Smith says that it is a book that is, in many respects, as accurate today as it was in the telling and telling us how we feel when we see somebody being injured, how we feel when we see someone stealing from someone else. So there's a focus and emotion on the psychology of sympathy and empathy and impartiality and, as Michelle Townsend says, not putting yourself in favour above anybody else. All these things are still part of how we think and feel about morality today. It should certainly inform the members of this chamber, as we pass law, impacting on people's lives, and as we seek to live up to the standards expected in public life. I congratulate Michelle Thomson on securing the debate, but I also congratulate the University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School on embracing the opportunity that the Tri-Centenary presents to celebrate and discuss Adam Smith's legacy through the Smith Around the World lecture series. That spans Sydney, Beijing, Tokyo, the West Indies, Barcelona, Canberra, Mexico City, Toulouse, Hong Kong, Oxford, Nairobi and London. The fact that the walls of Panmure-Salivand have extended so far apos the goal is the most fitting tribute to this luminary of the Enlightenment. Before I call the next speaker, due to the number of speakers who still want to participate in the debate, I am minded to move a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes, and I would invite Michelle Thomson to move such a motion. The question is that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes, are we all agreed? That is agreed. Thank you very much indeed, and I now call Pam Gosall, who will be followed by Ash Reagan around four minutes. I am extremely honoured to be contributing to today's debate, celebrating 300 years since the birth of the father of economics, University of Glasgow alumni and Professor Adam Smith. I thank the member Michelle Thomson for bringing forward this motion today. I will try and contribute a little bit different to Adam Smith, however I do not have no direct connection as my colleague Donald Cameron has, but I do have a connection of citing his work in my studies. The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of incredible intellectual and cultural growth in Scotland. It was the catalyst for establishing the importance of reason, scientific inquiry and individual rights. It laid the groundwork for the industrial revolution and the rise of modern capitalism, and it was then that Scotland became a centre of intellectual and cultural excellence, having a lasting impact on Scotland's identity and reputation. Much of Adam Smith's work, particularly the wealth of nations that has been mentioned many times today, is widely regarded as one of the most important works in the history of economics and helped to underpin modern capitalism. We often forget how much of our thinking as politicians is inspired by the ideas and the workings of Adam Smith. For me personally, I understand his work to have emphasised the benefits of the free market and of the limited government interventions. Here and around the world, I and many other students and researchers past and present cite his work. In my PhD, I have focused on his work around human capital. However, I respect the fact that we may all interpret his work differently, as has always been the case. Back then, debate and discussion were central to Scottish Enlightenment. As some of you may be aware, the Scottish Enlightenment was a movement that was centred around ideas and the debate of those ideas. I believe that it was my colleague Murdo Fraser, who highlighted, in the birthplace of the Enlightenment, that protesters were able to cancel the screening of adult human female for the second time. That has sparked discussions about whether censorship has captured Scotland's world-class institutions, which were once bastions of free speech. The United Kingdom Government clearly has similar concerns about universities in England, and has since introduced the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act. That will extend legal responsibilities to universities and student unions to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom, while promoting those important values. As the Prime Minister has rightly stressed, a tolerant society is one that allows us to understand those we disagree with. Nowhere is that more important than within our great universities. From today's discussion about the Scottish Enlightenment and influential figure, such as Adam Smith, it is my hope that we can all reflect on the values at the heart of that time and what they mean for today's Scotland. Today's debate, marking 300 years since the birth of Adam Smith, has provided a unique opportunity to reflect on the values that were the catalysts for modern economics, and indeed the underpinning of modern Scotland's identity and culture. The Scottish Enlightenment was a time characterised by the spirit of open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, almost contrary to the direction that we seem to be headed as a society now. I hope that debates such as this should act as a turning point for the return to a Scotland that stands for logic, reason and debate. I commend my colleague Michelle Thomson for securing the debate in the chamber and for her excellent remarks commemorating the Tercentenary. Adam Smith's ideas have shaped the world, the world as we know it, and the Scottish Enlightenment that he was a leading part of is characterised by Scottish thinkers and intellectual leadership of Europe. It was a movement of ideas and, importantly, disputation of ideas. Smith is most famous, as we have heard this evening for his book The Wealth of Nations, but I, like Mr Cameron, will focus my remarks on his other book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which was published in 1759. This book very much put Mr Smith on the map. It brought him fame and students from other universities, even in other countries, left their university courses to come and study under him in Scotland. Also, it was considered by Smith himself to be his superior work. I have a passage from the book here, which I will not read out in its entirety because it is quite long. He is talking specifically about systems, about plans for how we govern, and he is using the analogy of chess pieces. I will quote a little bit of it here. He says, In the great chess board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it. I will just paraphrase the rest here. We are talking about if the principles coincide, then the game of human society will go easily, and if they do not, then it will go miserably. I think that, in other words, we can understand what he is saying there, that governments are most successful when they work with people rather than against them. I agree with that. I sense that there is a bit of agreement in the chamber for that sentiment too, and I think that it is something important for us all to ponder as we go about the work of this legislature as well. Like Ms Gozel, I understand and have taken on board Smith's belief in free speech and how that relates to modern society at the moment. His idea of free speech was also tempered by respect for others and empathy for others. He might not understand our modern idea of empathy, but it is certainly based on sentiments that he wrote about in the book. I think that Scottish Enlightenment teaches us that we need to be free to think, we need to be free to debate, and we even need to be free to offend. We need to base our thinking, indeed our critical thinking, on facts and also on science, which was a sentiment that he expressed very much. I think that there is immense value in robust debate, that clash of competing opinions, which I think benefits both society and also governments. So, Smith and the Enlightenment, they continue to inspire us. They inspire us to that pursuit of knowledge, and they also inspire us to create an environment that encourages free exchange of ideas, because that is how we progress, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Ms Reagan. I call final speaker in open debate, Stephen Kerr, around four minutes, Mr Kerr. It's a pleasure to follow Ash Reagan, who gave an excellent speech. It's impossible to overstate the impact of Adam Smith's thinking on the modern world. He's probably the most influential, universally influential scot of all time. I want to take one aspect of the many strands of his philosophy to focus on in my speech. Smith believed that, with the right measure of regulation, society is empowered. He believed that the market is an engine for prosperity when it is legally framed. That is the definition of a free market that I strongly believe in, because it is a model based on what works best and what works for people. But, truthfully, I don't think that we have many regulators that we could hold up as being all that good at what they do. Most of them are paper tigers—pretty much toothless. We are a regulatory body—Scotland's Parliament—and we can and should draw inspiration from Smith's thinking in this place, especially when it comes to how we as parliamentarians scrutinise the executive and introduce new laws and regulations and amend existing laws and regulations. I don't think that we are even half as effective at this as we could be. Some of that is related to process, but much of it is derived from the culture of this place. Everything feels truncated and lacking in thoroughness. Too often, things are treated to the level of just surface deep. People are rightly critical of the quality of the laws that we pass here, and they are even more critical about the lack of enforcement and accountability. They are concerned that our scrutiny of the executive is not as robust as it ought to be. We do not set the bar high enough in this Parliament on what constitutes good government. It is often said that we have not developed a backbench Holyrood culture, that there are not enough free thinkers in this place, and that is a far cry from the great figures of the Enlightenment. All of that is highly relevant to Adam Smith and his legacy. I do not believe that we spend nearly enough time debating contesting ideas in this chamber. The structure of our debates mitigates against it, and there is seldom enough time to properly engage the more serious and the often complex issues that we face. It was the much-much Miss David McLeachie who said of this Parliament that we appear to have two options, just two options, to ban something or to make it compulsory. We rarely get to the root causes of the issues that we face. We often end up talking to ourselves about symptoms, not root causes. Facing up to our failures as a Parliament or objectively judging the outcomes or effectiveness of the regulations that we put in place is not easy. Of course it is not. It is much easier to stick to self-congratulation or to say safely within the debate brief that we have been handed. However, up pops Adam Smith to bring us back to root causes and unintended outcomes and the whole issue of human nature. Not human nature as we'd like it to be, but human nature as it is. This is Smith in the theory of moral sentiments, talking directly to us in this Parliament. Of course he didn't know he was speaking to us, but he was. He wrote, to judge ourselves as we judge of others is the great exertion of candor and impartiality. In order to do this, we must look at ourselves with the same eyes with which we look at others. We must imagine ourselves not the actors but the spectators of our own character and conduct. We really should let our inner Adam Smith out. We are quick to pass the buck to blame, but do we really imagine ourselves not the actors but the spectators of our own character and conduct? Two years into my service in this Parliament, my answer must be that we can and must do better, but reform of this Parliament is fundamentally essential. Last week, in a member's debate, Michelle Thompson said something about me in a potato, but I'm going to be as generous as I normally am and say that I pay tribute to Michelle Thompson for being in this debate. I understand that artificial intelligence was beyond answering the question. I got that, but I pay tribute to her. I don't often agree with her on substantive issues, or maybe frankly increasingly I do find myself agreeing with her, from her perspective, not from mine, because she's undoubtedly one of the free thinkers of this Parliament. We need more free thinking. Adam Smith speaks to us as clearly today as he did to those of his day. Let us use this anniversary to reflect, to look at ourselves with the same eyes, which we look at others, and be the free thinkers that Scotland needs as never before. I call on the minister to respond to the debate minister for around seven minutes. Let me begin by extending my gratitude to Michelle Thompson, not only for tabling the motion, but for so eloquently setting the scene for the debate, and also to members across the chamber for their considered insights. Colleagues have already highlighted some of the many achievements of Adam Smith, a great moral philosopher and political economist, as we've heard one of the key figures in the Scottish alignment. It has been an informative debate. I personally did not know, for example, that Smith had an asteroid named after him, or that he went to university aged 14 to 15. I certainly didn't know that it was Smith, maybe a descendant. We should be proud of the impact that Smith was having and continues to have on Scotland and indeed the rest of the world. It's entirely appropriate that we take time today to celebrate Adam Smith 300 years after his birth in Kirkcaldy. These celebrations are happening right across the country, not the least of which would be in Glasgow University where he was a student, the recipient of an honorary doctorate, later staff member and eventually director. Speaking of engagement there this morning, I was told also that he wrote his theory of moral sentiments at Glasgow University. However, in doing all this, I also want to celebrate the role of the Scottish universities I've had and to continue to have in the exchange of ideas in driving innovation on a global skill and in contributing to social justice. During the 18th century, the Scottish enlightenment, as we know, put our country at the heart of global intellectual discourse. It's fitting that we're speaking here today in Edinburgh, a city that was at the heart of that revolutionary time, a time when there was a constant exchange of ideas between medics and philosophers, engineers and economists, writers and researchers. This interdisciplinary approach provided a fertile breeding ground for the theories and the discoveries that would shape Scotland and the rest of the world for years to come. Smith, as many contributors have noted, was one of the key figures in the enlightenment. He lived at a time when Scotland was leading the world in thinking, innovation and invention traits, which continued to this day. One of the greatest contributions that he and the Enlightenment made to the world was the new emphasis on bringing together talent from across disciplines and crossing the divide between the theoretical and the practical for the public good. Debates on the influence of Smith's work often point to the many ways in which he's been misunderstood in 2017. The then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, acknowledged that Smith was one of the most misquoted and misinterpreted economists in human history. He's often held up as a believer in unrestrained free markets, but a detailed examination of his work arguably shows someone in favour of properly functioning markets that enable a just society to flourish. The wealthy nation-smith said that no society can be flourishing and happy of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. As an academic put it to me this morning, Smith was neither right-wing nor left-wing. He was Adam Smith. The idea of social justice is one that we continue to see reflected in Scotland today. What a fine legacy for a colossus to have left behind? Of course, Smith's contributions would not have been possible without the education system and the universities that enabled them to flourish. For centuries, our universities have played leading roles in nurturing the best minds in the country, providing opportunities for discussion, debate and reflection. As we have heard, Adam Smith was educated at the University of Glasgow, an institution whose business school now bears his name. We have our university system to thank for helping to shape him into the father of modern economics, as he has widely recognised. Our universities continue to bring together students and staff with different perspectives and life experience. The policy of free tuition and widening access have made this more open to more of our young people than ever before. In fact, I suspect that Smith would be proud of. Smith was also the time that saw the dawn of what he now recognises, scientific method, the gathering of evidence and the challenging of previously accepted theories, the idea that people should think for themselves rather than believe what they have been told. I am not sure what he would have made of the role of social media and modern society in the context of thinking for yourself, where it extends to espousing well-conspiracy theories as fact. Stephen Catt. I am grateful to the minister for giving way. He heard in passion pleas from Pam Gosel and Ash Ragan about the vital issue of freedom of speech, especially on the campuses of our esteemed universities. Would the minister take this opportunity to give categoric statement, unequivocable statement, in support of the right of freedom of speech on the campuses of Scotland's universities? Minister. Freedom of speech matters, as does respect for others. Very often, the tone in which we conduct debates is just as important as the debates themselves. The attributes that Smith advanced remains those of the Scottish research sector today. Scotland has three universities in the top 200 of the 2023 times higher education world university rankings, and each of our 19 higher education institutions conduct world-leading research across a breadth of disciplines, and almost half of it is undertaken with international collaborators. That interconnectedness of people, cultures, facilities, data, knowledge and ideas is the means by which we have the chance to solve some of the world's most difficult problems from the climate crisis to child poverty. Is this the motion for this debate rightly, though? We should be deeply proud of Adam Smith's legacy and of the continued role that Scotland's universities play in leading the exchange of ideas. I am confident that we will continue to nurture more great thinkers in Scotland's future, a future based upon the wisdom of Adam Smith and the Scottish enlightenment. Thank you very much, minister. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.


and the Hale Hale Silver, a lone ranger! Indian companion Toto, the daring and resourceful mask-rider of the planes, led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Come out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver! The lone ranger rides again! Now here's the lone ranger. You'll hear it said that someone was born to the saddle.  But remember, like anyone else, he had to learn to ride. He probably took many spills doing it. He's good because he practiced. Road every time he had a chance. Everything. Not just riding. The winners are the fellows who train. Champions are made, not born. I'll agree, lone ranger. But is there anything besides practice a person can do to help his training? Absolutely. Eat the right foods. I'd like to pass along something the old pioneers knew. Wheat is one of the best all-around foods you can find for staying power and energy. Today's champions agree with the pioneers about wheat, lone ranger. Champions choose wheaties. There's a whole kernel of wheat in every wheatie's flake. Champions are made, not born. Get on your way with wheaties. Breakfast of champions. P.T. Barnum's partner Bailey walked yonderly through the familiar door that led to the ornate office. From which thinniest Taylor Barnum directed the operations of the greatest show on earth. Pausing a moment outside the showman's office, he wrapped the panel door with a head of his cane, then turned the knob. As he entered, Barnum's broad face wrinkled with pleasure. Bailey!  How are you, P.T.? We're straight from a shake. It's good to be back. Good to have you back. Sit down. Thank you. Well, how was your trip, West? Rough. Did you get what you went after? Custer's guns and swords. Yep. Folks here sit down right interested in Custer's last stand. They'll pay anything for a look at his weapons. Here's the publicity I got ready to roll in the newspaper. This copy's for Greenie's tribute. You'd better hold that copy, P.T. For what? No one will ever see those weapons again. They're buried on the bottom of a river somewhere in the Montana Hills. I thought the Redskins had them. Chief sitting bull through the blade, the scabbard and the guns into the water. Why didn't you stop him? Why didn't you tell him we'd take gold, paper money or ponies for those weapons? I did my best, P.T. A masked man was with the chief when I reached the camp. He wanted the weapons, too. So he could sell them to the highest bidder, huh? He wanted to send the weapons to West Point. For how much? For free. No masked outlaw would pass up a chance to make a lot of money. I didn't say he was an outlaw. You don't have to. A man hides his face for only one reason. Well, what are you grinning about? You're not often wrong, P.T., but you're way off the track where the Lone Ranger's concerned. Who? The masked man's known as the Lone Ranger. That name sounds familiar. Mr. Greeley met him in the West and wrote a couple of articles about him. A lot of high officials in Washington know him. If you heard him talk, if you could see him handle his guns. With contagious enthusiasm, Bailey described the legendary Mask Rider. As he listened, Barnum tapped the desktop with broad fingertips. When Bailey paused for breath, the great showman snapped. The Lone Ranger's a million dollar property. You should have put him under contract. What? Think what we could do with that gentle under personal appearance to him. But, P.T., I want you to take the first trade West. West? Find the Lone Ranger. Sign him to a contract and bring him back here. Sit on your life. Why not? I've had all I want in the West. From now on, I stay east of Chicago.  If you want the Lone Ranger, get him yourself. Hey, Thunder Bailey, I'll do just that. P.T. Barnum packed his bags and left for the West at once. Meanwhile, a killer named Joe Pinto escaped from a southwestern prison, where he was scheduled to hang. He eluded the posses that pursued him and grew rain a week later in front of a shack in the hills north of Modoc City. As he dismounted, a gunslinger named Macon rushed from the Ramshackle building to greet him. A bearded man known as Hardtack followed him. Joe, what are you doing here? How'd you get loose? I thought they hung you two days ago. I broke out of prison last Thursday. How are you boys? Downright surprised to see you. Yeah. Come on inside. Right. There's a law on your trail. Just take a mighty good tracker to follow me. I'd sure hate to have a posse find this hideout. There's a good chance coming here. For all I know, you two might have pulled stakes. They figured we'd stay here till after they hung you. I mean... What do you mean, Hardtack? Well, the law would like to get us too, Joe, for some of the jobs we pulled with you. The law here doesn't know what either of you look like. Well, if any handbills turn up in town... It's been tough going, Joe. You don't have much cash left. You're breaking my heart. What? Wine and because you had to lay low for a couple of months. It hasn't been easy. It was a lot easier than looking forward to the gallows like I was. You can't blame us for that. I blame the Lone Ranger. You wouldn't have been captured if you hadn't tried to pull that stagecoach robbery single-handed. I never saw the Mask Man, but I saw his engine partner once. I've seen him both. And I'll never forget either one of them. Let's hope they don't cross your trail again. I hope they do, Macon. What? You want to go back to prison? I did a lot of thinking while I was behind bars. Most of it about that Mask Gent. I swore that if I ever got free, I'd square myself with that credit. Well, you'd better forget him. Forget him nothing.  After his startling announcement, Joe Pinto demanded food. His partners explained they hadn't enough supplies to make a meal. We were planning to ride to Modoc City to buy vitals when you came, Joe. Then go on to town. I'll wait here for you. Right. Come on, Macon. When they returned to the shack, Macon and Hardtack unloaded the supplies from their saddlebags. Then they showed Joe Pinto the newspaper they bought in Modoc City. Hardtack pointed to a story on the front page and said... There it is, Joe. The whole story of your jailbreak. Now, read what it says about Posse's coma in the country for you. It's dangerous for you to stay here, Joe.  Thanks for bringing me the paper, boys. Don't sound worried about the news. I'm looking at the box on the bottom of page 1. Huh? It's an ad. I didn't notice it. Well, we read with the story about you. This ad says that a gent named Pete T. Barnum wanted to see the Lone Ranger on urgent business. What? Anyone know him or were about to the Mass Man is to communicate with Mr. Barnum at the Henry House Hotel in Modoc City. Who's Barnum? I never heard of him. But if you two watch him, he might lead you to the Lone Ranger. Oh, now listen, Joe. You're riding in the town to keep an eye on Barnum. You're in trouble enough without trying to get the Lone Ranger. Hardtack's right. Posse's are out looking for you. They don't know where to find him. They might pick up your trail. If they haven't found it by this time, they'll never get it. Dad ran it, Joe. We'll go to jail with you if you're caught here. Oh, that's what's eating you. You're thinking of your own hide. Well, why not? We don't want to be captured. You boys said you need cash. We do. I have some hidden away. Help me get the Lone Ranger and I'll pay you $5,000 each. Where is your cash? Never mind where it is. I'll pay you when the job's done. That money had come in handy, Hardtack. Yeah, we could use it to clear out of the country. All right, Joe. We'll help you get the Mass Man. Good. We'll go into town and keep an eye on Barnum. As soon as he gets a lead on the Lone Ranger, let me know. We'll continue our Lone Ranger adventure in just a moment. You know, an exciting way to learn about foreign countries is to study their coins. And Wheaties, special foreign coin offer is really terrific. Right now, Wheaties is offering you two different sets of genuine foreign coins. There's the international set with 15 coins from countries like Germany, Iceland and South Africa. And the mystery set with 15 coins from far away lands like Angola, Turkey, New Zealand. Remember, these coins are real money you could spend right now in these countries. And each coin set comes in a special folder. A map inside shows you where the coins are used and gives information about the country. Each coin has been cleaned and polished. Sounds like these genuine coins would cost a lot, doesn't it? But you can get each set for only 25 cents and one Wheaties box top. Look for directions on the back of Wheaties special foreign coin packages at your grocers now. Hurry, start your foreign coin collection today. Now to continue. The two outlaws went to Modak City and made a number of inquiries about P.T. Barnum. As soon as they had a description of him, they went to the Henry House. They saw Barnum heading for the office of the Modak City News. Macon and Hardtack followed at a discreet distance. They stopped in front of the office window and stared inside. They saw the editor's 14-year-old adopted son, Inky, talking to P.T. Barnum and an Indian. Hardtack studied the Indian for a moment. Then exclaimed, Macon, is the Lone Ranger's pal, huh? Gretzkin's total, are you sure? Dead sure. He's in town. The Lone Ranger can't be far away. We'll wait and see where the engine goes when he comes out of there. Yeah. Maybe he'll lead us to the Lone Ranger. I hope so. Inside the office, Inky grinned at Tato and said, Tato, I'll bet anything, Mr. Barnum's ad brought the Lone Ranger to Modak City. I figured that ad would get resolved. You name Barnum? Phineas Taylor Barnum's name, Tato. Mr. Barnum came to town a week and a half ago. He's been running an ad in the paper saying he wanted to get in touch with the Lone Ranger. We not come here because of ad and paper, Inky. What else would bring you to town? We look for crook named Joe Pinto. Is the mask man in town? A human camp north of town, Inky. Why don't you take Mr. Barnum to him? Me nothing. Hey, hey, hey, partner Bailey, I met you in the Lone Ranger a few weeks ago in Chief Sitting Bull's camp. Me remember, Bailey. When he got back to New York, he told me all about you and the mask man. Barnum talked persuasively. As he listened, Tato noticed that the Easterner wore no gun belt. Observing the fit of his fashionable coat, the Indian knew Barnum carried no shoulder hoster. Deciding that the unarmed showman could be trusted, he agreed to take him to the Lone Ranger. At the livery stable, Barnum rented a horse, then rode out of town with Tato. Get him up to the house. He didn't come in hard-tag follow. Tato heard the approaching horseman and turned in the saddle. The two outlaws held guns, realizing the futility of argument Tato and Barnum obeyed. What's the idea? Keep your hands high, Barnum. If you're after money. You'll take on your God later. I'm the reskin makin' bright. You make big mistake. Try any tricks my pal will shoot Barnum first, and he'll let you have it. You mean you're killers? You'll die mighty sudden unless you follow orders. Well, I guess we'd better do as they say, Tato. I've got the engine's gun, Tartac. Good. Come on.  You plenty local. What do you want with a mass man? That's our business. May not take you to him. Well, you'll do it, or we'll blow Barnum's head off right now. Your life's in your hands. Well, wait a minute, Jen. Will you talk this over?  What about it, Tato? Tato chose the route through the hills carefully, knowing the Lone Ranger would be watching for him to return from town. In the concealed camp, the mass man heard the sound of approaching hoops. Looking down at the winding trail, he saw Tato and three other riders. The Indians' hands were tied, and so were Barnum's. The two men who followed them held guns. Two well-placed shots would have disarmed the gunman, but the Lone Ranger decided to hold his fire until he learned why Tato had been captured. He spoke softly to Silver. Quiet now, boy. Let's go. Come on. The intelligent stallion followed him to the concealment of dense timber. A few moments later, the four men drew rain in the camp. Tato studied the tracks on the ground briefly and realized that the Lone Ranger was nearby. Suppressing a grin, he said, Here, camp. Where's the mass man? Maybe him right at the town. The engine might be lying, Artec. Maybe this isn't the camp. I think it is, Macon. See the gear over there? Oh, yeah. Just because you want to find the Lone Ranger, there's no reason for bringing Tato and me here at gunpoint. We wouldn't care if we ever found him. Our pal's the one who wants him. What pal are you talking about? Joe Pinto. That killer? Yeah. He's waiting at the hideout for us. The Lone Ranger captured Joe Pinto once. Joe wants to get square with him for that. He's going to kill the mass man. What? Oh, so that's why you want fine camp? Yeah. You want to stay here and wait for the mass man, Artec? Not for long. You take Barnum and the engine to the shack and hurry back here with Joe. Get it, Artec? I'll stay and watch for the Lone Ranger. You can't capture him single-handed? I don't aim to try. If he shows up, I'll stay undercover till you and Joe come back. All right? Come on, get going engine. In the month of August. Get it. A few minutes after Macon left with his prisoners, Artec strode to the place where the Lone Ranger stood earlier watching the trail below. As he rolled a cigarette and considered plans for capturing the mass man, the Lone Ranger stepped from the trees behind him. Rich, what the? Artec world who faced the Lone Ranger. You? You're covered. There's no need to hold a gun on me, mister. I happen to find your camp. Save it. Huh? I heard you talking to your friend a few minutes ago. What? I was behind those trees when you came here with toddler Mr. Barnum. Oh. Keep your hands high and turn your back to me while I take your gun. All right. I know when I'm late. You're smarter than Joe Pino. I have your gun. What are you going to do now? You know, it would be a lot easier to handle if you're unconscious. Soap! Lone Rangers swung a hard fist to the side of hard tax head. Soon, thoroughly stunned, the outlaw slumped to the ground. Sorry to do that, but I haven't time to waste. Working quickly, the masked man gagged hard-tack and tied his wrists behind his back. As the outlaw's eyes opened, the Lone Ranger said, Walk over to that stump. Stand up to mount your horse. All right. You lead the way to the hideout. And if you try to get away, I'll shoot. I'll move. When Joe Pinto heard riders draw rain outside the shack, he hurried to the door. Here's the message, pal. The Lone Ranger wasn't in his camp, but he'd probably go back there. Hard tax waiting for him. He wants us to hurry back. He'll call him. Lou and I get there. The three of us ought to be able to get the masked man. We'll take these two inside, tie them to chairs, and head for that camp. All right. Dismount you two. He's got it, isn't he, boy? Yeah. Who's this gent? He's Barnum. It was with the red skim when we captured him. Take a look at the jewelry he's wearing, Joe. Yeah, it's worth plenty. How much cash does he have? I don't know. We'll find out when we get him inside. Walk to the shack, Barnum. You too, Tunnel. Uh-huh. If I'd known that running into this kind of trouble, I'd never have come looking for the Lone Ranger.  That's no news. Why are you looking for the Lone Ranger? What are to sign him up for a personal appearance tour in the East? You'll never see the East again. I've planned for a long time to kill the Masked Man and Tunnel.  Well, you were doing right. Come on, Joe. Hard tax waiting for it. We're going to get the Lone Ranger. We better head for his camp proto. You're not going anywhere. I've come to get you, too. Joe Pinto and Macon turn to the door. Masked Man.  As the two off-laws reached for their weapons, the Lone Ranger's colts roared. Macon staggered back under the impact of a bullet in the shoulder. A second bullet smashed Joe Pinto's weapon before it cleared the holster. Oh, my shoulder. Macon had had enough. As he clung to the table and sobbed with fright, Joe Pinto snatched a knife from his belt and lunged toward the Masked Man. Joe! A silver bullet shattered the blade of the knife. They can do something. Get this Masked Man. The Masked Man shot me. I've had enough. You're pal. That was a fight, Joe. You have no weapons.  The half-praise killer charged again. I can't. The Lone Ranger met the attack with a blow that landed on Joe's chin. The outlaw stopped in his tracks and slumped to the floor. Yeah, you got him. Other crook passed out. He must have been... Maybe he's dead. My bullet hit him in the shoulder. Me think I'm faint. I'll cut your ropes and we'll examine their wounds. Uh... When do you come from, Mr. Tommy? I followed you here. There, you're free, Tunnel. I'll cut the rope on your wrist, sir. Yes, please. Now, where's Silver? A short distance from the shack. I thought I'd make less noise if I came here on foot. What happened to Hardtack? He's tied to a tree, Tunnel. We'll pick him up on our way to town with these two. Mr. My name is Barnum. Glad to know you, Mr. Barnum. The real pleasure to meet the owner of the greatest show on Earth. The show you just put on beats anything I could do. You're all Billy said you were and more.  Yes, I know, Tunnel. What are you gonna do with him, Mr.? Turn him and his friends over to Marshal Jim Fraser in Modoc City. Marshal will see that Joe reaches territorial prison. See, he hasn't overdue appointments with the Hague. The lone ranger, Tuttle and P.T. Barnum took the prisoners to Modoc City, where Marshal Jim Fraser jailed them all. Before leaving the lawman's office, the New York showman spoke to the masked man for some time. Then he said goodbye and headed for the Henry House. As he passed the newspaper office, Inky hailed him. Hey there, Mr. Barnum. Oh, hello, Inky. I heard all about the capture of those crooks. The news travels fast in this town. Just as fast as a dozen New York. Where you going now, Mr. Barnum? Back to the Henry House to pack my bags, Inky. Did you talk to the masked man about the proposition you had in mind? I did. What did he say? He said he hoped to see me again, but he didn't have any plans for going east right now. You know, Inky, after today's experience, I've decided my partner Billy was right. About what, Mr. Barnum? Now on. The two of us will stay east of Chicago and leave the west to the lone ranger. You'll return in just a moment for a word about our next exciting lone ranger adventure, The Quiet Highwayman. Pilot Pete can fly a jet. He's 12 years old and the fastest yet. He can loop the loop because he knows. He's got go power from Cheerios. Yes, he's got go... Toasted oats. All ready to eat with milk. And the go power it gives you. You see, each spoonful of Cheerios and milk is packed with vitamins, proteins and minerals. The very things your body needs for healthy nerves, good red blood, strong bones and muscles. Yes, Cheerios is real muscle-building food. Have Cheerios every morning. Then you'll hear people say... He's been... ...searched for the gang led by The Quiet Highwayman. He little suspected the identity of the man who had decided to add Toto and Dan Reed to his list of victims. This is an exciting adventure packed with action and suspense. Be sure to listen. A copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated is created by George W. Trendle. Produced by Trendle Campbell Muir Incorporated. Directed by Charles D. Livingston and edited by Fran Stryker. The part of the Lone Ranger is played by Brace Beamer. Your announcer, Fred Floyd. The Lone Ranger is brought to you by General Mills, every single day. The Lone Ranger is brought to you by General Mills every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at this same time. Be sure to listen.


Legislators' tweets about vaccines increased after the arrival of COVID-19, with Republicans and federal legislators being more active than Democrats or state senators, potentially impacting vaccine sentiment and uptake among their followers. This article was authored by Eden Engelri-Bitzer, Daniel Kamago Stokes, Allison Buttenheim, and others.


You cannot pound stuff into people's brain. People actually do the opposite. When parents tell their kids, you gotta read, nobody reads. But if I show a Lamborghini and Ferrari, which is the reward that people want, and then people go, how do you get it? I said, see all these books, I read them and put it. It's very hard to be organized. Find somebody that you look at them and you go, this is a person of discipline, motivation, self motivation. They don't need external motivation. They're motivated from within and spend all the time you can around them.  It will help you because you never know who you're sitting next to.


just introduce, just make the link between the previous presentations and this one very briefly. So, Catherine has presented the six working groups that are in operation. One of them is dedicated to architecture, the AOSC architecture working group, which I share. And within that working group, we have organized two task forces, one on AI and one on persistent identifiers. So, during this session, you will hear Christos, and I take the opportunity to thank Christos Canelopoulos to make the presentation today. And as he said in the intro slide, this presentation is on behalf of the AI task force, which I just mentioned. Similarly, this afternoon, there will be a presentation of persistent identifiers with the same spirit, the same mechanism. So, with that as an intro, I will let the floor to Christos. Christos. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. So, as Daniel said, this is a presentation about the work I've been doing in the EOSC AI task force. The task force was created in October last year, and the mandate we were given was to deliver a consistent architecture for authentication and authorization and access control for the European Open Science Cloud. So, the task force has 24 members from various disciplines. So, we have members from research communities, research infrastructures from national initiatives, but also from the infrastructures. So, we have a very good and balanced group of people contributing to the work of this group. And the group is chaired by Klaas Weeringa from Muziant and Leif Jokansson from Sunet. So, when we put together the task force in the charter, we set out for four goals. The first one was to take one step back. A lot of things have happened in the context of AI with previous initiatives like the authentication authorization for resource collaboration, ARC initiatives within the context of EOS Hub. So, we said, okay, now we're at the point where we have a lot of input. Let's take one step back to revisit where we are, revisit what are the first principles, what is important, and what is less important, and also what are our requirements. So, the first goal is exactly first principles and requirements for the EOSKEI. And then to provide a baseline architecture, the starting point for the EOSKEI. We do expect that the EOSKEI will be something that will continuously evolve as the needs and requirements for accessing and sharing resources through EOSC will continue to grow. And within the goal of this task force was A, to provide an initial baseline that we call EOSKEI architecture 2019. And that would be our starting point and then towards the end of the year to have an iteration over that architecture, which we call EOSKEI architecture 2020. And I will say a few more things about this in a few moments. In addition to this, we set also two other goals for this task force. One was to provide a catalog of good examples, what is already out there, how can it be used, etc. And also very important, rules of participation. This is linked to the presentation that was made a few minutes ago from Juan. As the result of the Roots of Participation Working Group, this is basically where we want to provide our feedback as, from the point of view of the AI, what are the Roots of Participation, for resource providers, for users, for research communities, but also for identity providers, all these components in the EOSKEI ecosystem that we have to work together. So let's start with the first principles. So users, whether in the form of researchers, graduate students, teachers, or even administrators, are the reason why we build IT infrastructures of any kind. The authentication and authorization process is necessary part of the security requirements for infrastructure for any AI service. So AI is important, but it is important in order to drive the user experience. So the first measure that we set and the foremost principle is that user experience should be the first measure of success. The second point was, the second principle was that all trust flows from the communities and I will expand a bit more about this in a few moments. And the third principle, which is also very important, is that the EOSKEI itself and the EOSKEI is going to be a federation infrastructure, a federation of services. It is inherently a distributed system and there is no center in a distributed system. So this applies also for the EOSKEI. There is no center within the context or concept of the EOSKEI itself. There should be no center. So let's think a bit deeper about the user experience aspects. As I mentioned, authentication authorization process is really a necessary part of the security and risk management infrastructure for any AI service, in this case for EOSKEI. Security, while important, must always be deployed in conjunction with proper risk management to avoid over-engineering security controls at the expense of user build. Again, linking back to the problem of user-centric approach. We build technology for users, not for technologies. Since the process of indicating to and updating the rights to use an AI service has no intrinsic value itself, it must be made as unobtrusive and as humanly possible. In EOSKEI, what we want to adapt is a scientific approach to usability and quantify, measure and evaluate services from a user-ability perspective. As I said, access to EOSKEI should be as unobtrusive as humanly possible. Regarding the second principle, all trust flows from the communities. It is very important here to highlight that trust does not derive from technology itself. Technology can enable trust, but trust derives and emerges from the property of the communities and the research collaborations that we'll be using here. Communities may act as an interface between individual users and the resources. The EOSKEI should build on the trust that exists within the well-managed scientific collaborations and also provide the necessary structures to cater for all those cases that are not covered by a given specific scientific discipline. For example, the long tail of science of users, how they will be fit in. But from the context of trust, the trust anchor will be the communities themselves. So EOSKEI will be a trust mortar within which many such scientific communities, collaborations and infrastructures can coexist and interoperate. What is very important is taking into account the design decision is what works today for the users should and will work tomorrow. But our goal is only to make it better. The third principle is that there is no center in a distributed system. This has been a very common misconception that there is going to be a single EOSKEI, a singular instance of what would be the EOSKEI architecture. This is very far from the truth. The way that we see the EOSKEI is that it is a set of principles and governance structures for how the architecture is applied, is evolving and grows over time. The objective of the EOSKEI is not to create a central structure that will control users or that will build world gardens, but rather to provide an open and fair playing field for service delivery to the scientific community. So starting with these three principles, basically we will use them and we have started using them as our driving force for defining the EOSKEI. And I'm saying define the EOSKEI, but actually one of the very first things that we have discussed even before we started working in the task force was that by no means should we reinvent the wheel. I mentioned about ARC in my introduction. ARC, which stands for authentication and authorization for research collaboration, has been a set of projects, initiatives in our community that has been active since many years now, since 2015, and which had its roots in actual other activities that I think go back even in 2011, which has created an open dialogue between technologists, infrastructure providers, communities, research infrastructures in order to understand what are the requirements for an AI that will enable seamless access to resources. So within the context of EOSKEI, we want to adapt the ARC-grouping architecture with all of its extensions and then going governance that is provided by the EDIS group and use this as a starting point for the worker here. In particular, going to more detail a bit, the ARC-BPA builds on existing best practices in the scientific community and that is something that we want to adopt. It provides clear guidance for how campus identities integrate with science and comes with the beginnings of a governance structure in the EDIS group that we can talk a bit more about later. And also something very important, it has international buying. The ARC-grouping architecture is not something confined within the European borders, but it's something that already has adoption outside of Europe in the US, in Canada, in Latin America, in Asia Pacific region. So the starting point for the EOSKEI architecture is the ARC-grouping architecture version 2019 that was published last October. The ARC-grouping architecture basically defines an architecture of five layers where we have to split the identities on the top layer and this there you can find all the possible identity sources. Campuses, universities, research institutions being one type of such identities coming in from Medigame, but also we envision connection with other identity sources such as social IDs, other identity systems like ORCID, governmental IDs from EIDAS that are becoming more and more used nowadays in Europe, but also potentially I didn't provide this coming from the commercial sector, potentially. At the bottom layer we have the services. Services providing resources to the EOSKEI users and communities and they need to be able to consume identities in a homogeneous manner. At the left side you see what we call the community attribute services. This is basically what we define communities and the community structures. So individual users being able to authenticate other home organizations using social IDs, they will be able to join communities, be assigned access rights, be assigned roles within these communities, and then they should be able to consume resources provided to those communities. But of course access has to be able to be authorized. Not all services or resources are provided or can be provided to everyone. Perhaps some communities have specific rights or given data sets, so the authorization aspect is very important. At the center of this architecture we have what we call the access protocol translation layer. Basically this is the glue that brings everything together. If I was to describe the architecture in one term I would say this is a proxy architecture. Effectively we have a layer where acts as an integration point between all the other components, between the identity sources, resource providers, service providers, communities that are going to consume them, and then technologies and authorizations of frameworks that make it possible to have seamless access to these services. On top of this basic architecture we have already been working on deployment implementations, and you see in the second and third graphs in your screen basically how we see things actually working within the context of the use of AI. Basically we will have communities operating or having the community as operated by third parties that can allow them to consume identities from multiple sources. Through the community they will be able to consume their own services. They will be able to consume generic services available to multiple communities, but also they will be able to consume services provided by generic infrastructure providers through a structure that we call the infrastructure proxy. So this is the general model. It doesn't change basic many things of what we have been doing in the past, actually built upon those. And this is also the work that we are currently doing right now also in the context of use hub. And we will hear more about this during the use hub week. So working on the architecture and using the arc blueprint architecture at the starting point, perhaps the most important thing that we are doing at this level is identifying the gaps, what we're still missing, and what are the challenges that we need to address in the next months. And we have already identified three very broad areas of challenges. And these are, first of all, the community and attributes and how they are linked to theorization. How multi-infrastructure workflows can work and scalability. And let me expand a bit on this. Regarding the community, we have received a number of comments that communities are not the only source of attributes for access control. And it did, whether a user should be able to access the resource or data set might be a factor related to different authorization endpoints and have different entities having to say in these decisions. So this is something that we need to take into account, that it's not only the roles and the access rights that a user might have within a given community. It might be also other factors, like, for example, a given grant that a user might have received from a family body that will determine whether they would be able to access certain sources of the underwood status. Also, attributes may not only be user-specific, but they might also be specific to other contexts, and therefore, not necessarily managed by the community itself. And the last point is that who have been lacking a community attribute profile. So we were talking about attributes in an abstract manner that would enable authorization, services that would enable a homogeneous, consistent representation of the users towards the services. But what that community attribute profile would look like is something that we're still missing. Having said this, we have already started working in creating just such an attribute profile for EOSC. And this is something that actually we have taken up as a work in the international community in Arc to create an international profile that we can then take and adapt for the needs of EOSC itself. The second challenging topic is a use case that is rather complex, but also very common. So one use case that we have been facing again and again, and that we cannot address with the current architecture, is the case where we have services, compute services, for example, provided by one infrastructure, and then data services provided by another infrastructure. So a user would like to use something like a Jupyter notebook service provided by Infrastructure A, do their calculations, experiment, then do some big runs and when the experiment finishes, to be able to have the data stored at the data store service provided by another infrastructure. Today, the current trust model that we have cannot cater for this. It expects that basically all services used in the context of a given flow would be behind the same proxy. So we have already identified this problem quite some time now and we are already thinking of how this can be solved. And actually we expect that within the next months we'll be able to have the first implementation that we can use also in the context of the ESKI to be able to deliver this functionality. Lastly, the third challenge and group of challenges is scalability. When Arc Blueprint Architects 2019 was introduced and it brought the logical separation between the community AIs and the infrastructure proxies, the assumption was that there would be a number of communities, a big number of communities, and that the number of infrastructure proxies providing services could be rather low. This assumption is good at the starting point, but we're already seeing that the number of resource providers and infrastructure proxies connecting to providers will grow significantly. We will have national proxies, we're going to have thematic proxies, research infrastructure will be providing their own services to their own proxies. So this is something that we need to be able to deal with in the architecture and we need to deal with this in a scalable manner. Today the trust between the various components of the ESKI is more or less established on a manual basis. It does follow a set of interoperability principles that come with the Arc guidelines, but still the connection between the components is a manual process. This is something that we definitely have to get away from and we need to provide a scalable way of connecting resource providers, identity providers within the infrastructure, which brings us also to the following question. What also are the rules for participation for all of these entities, components? What are the rules for participation for community EIs, for infrastructure proxies, and other AI services? In this regard also we have already started working on a model where we see that the ESKI AI will grow from a set of rules and principles and manual connections to a more federated approach, where basically each entity will be able to connect once and be made available to all other entities without having to establish these bilateral connections with each entity within the ESKI AI. We do expect that we should have also something in this regard by the end of this year. So this brings me close to basically this very short introduction of 20 minutes just to also give you the timeline again. In April we finished the work on the ESKI AI first principles. We have already finished the work on the ESKI AI architecture 2019 and now it goes through the process of being published at the ESKI website and to be approved by the by the processes. So we should expect that this should be there sometime in June and we have already started gathering requirements and use cases and we do expect to have a document in the September period that will describe all the required use cases that we have gathered through this time. And all this information will be used to feedback, to feed it back to the development of the next version of the ARC BPA which wants to bring it more closer to the needs of ESKI. And then use this to profile the ESKI architecture of 2020 that should come by the end of the year and which will include also the use of participation but also the examples of technologies that can be used and are already out there to be able to build AI components for research infrastructures. And with this I think I'm already at a 20 minutes time limit. So I think we can open the floor for discussions now if you want to dive in some particular aspects to go more in depth or have generic questions please. Thanks a lot Christos. So please try to raise your hand just to so that we can manage the discussion but aside from that the floor is to the whole group question to Christos. Zenfros wants just a comment because I cannot see the chat if there is any question please if you can relate to me but perhaps I can take the opportunity because I heard in the previous session there was a question about non-academic identity providers and for sure this is something that we are working on how this could be integrated. Already in the architecture we support the connection of non-academic identity providers. How to bring in identity providers from the commercial world this is still being discussed how they can connect but it is for sure within our vision of what we want to believe as part of the USKI. Christos we have two questions one from Mateusz. Hi the question regarding the proxy and kind of from the point of view of a service provider what does that mean? So I mean until now the situation is that basically each service provider has to exchange metadata with which every identity provider more or less or through the federations if I understand correctly would that then who would that mean that we will only have end to one and one to end then afterwards when there is a proxy so that every IDP will only have a contract with the proxy and every service provider contract with the proxy with basically and then who runs the proxy or yeah. Very very good question thank you very much actually there's not going to be one proxy that's one of the first principles that I mentioned at the very beginning that there is no center in the decentralized architecture. But back for our community right? Yes we expect that there is going to be multiple proxies at the national level European level multiple ones so but we do expect services to have one connection point so from the point of view of the service and the identity provider they should connect once and they should be made available to all the communities and users in terms of the AI aspects so the principle is exactly what you said but it's not going to be one central service provided who to do this one center okay but so it could be for example national identity federation yes proxy they're going to be at the national level the work we're doing on the scalability actually will bring possibly also the concept of the EOS federation itself where such proxies can connect directly to automate the trust relationships between all these components but again a very important principle is that each service provider will have to connect once to one entry point and it would be possible for all users to be able to access it. Service providers don't have to go and connect to multiple entry points in order to share different communities okay thank you okay Mateusz if you can lower your hand maybe one for a brief follow-up question when so when will this start to happen 21 or is there I mean you showed the time plan but it's all this is all blueprint and papers when will this be kind of in implementation or in production actually it is not all all blueprint and papers we have already and production services running we have already a set of production proxies connected and serving communities right now we're not there at the level of scalability that we wanted it to be so and this is what we're proving so the basic structure is already there within the context of EOS hub we're doing the initial integration of those and this is where we show also all these limitations in terms of scalability and we have brought this in this discussion in the EOS KIA task force to see how we can improve this this aspect so it is not just paper work it is basically implementation happening that drives also the architecture at the paper side thank you we had a question from Dragana Radulovish but I don't see it anymore maybe she was disconnected I don't know okay other questions please raise your hand and in the chat maybe class your thanks a lot for following the chat you want to summarize for everybody you know the answers that well the questions and the answers that you were that you monitored in the chat yes yeah okay yeah I could not unmute myself yeah so there were a number of questions about the the role of the proxy and the proxy being a single point of failure a an anchor a trust anchor for a whole community and I wrote down that there will be multiple proxies one per community there was a bit of discussion about what a community is and there were remarks to the extent that security is going to be very important and incident response and the answer to that is obviously yes and I think the other important one is the relation with what happens after this year and how the output of the the working groups is going to be picked up in infrasco 3 and infrasco 7 and as one of the authors of the infrasco 3 proposal that a group of e-infras and research infras are putting together I can say that that is taken as input the output of the architecture working group is taken as the starting point for infrasco 3 and and and will have to be picked up by infrasco 7 as well I think that is most of it let me quickly scroll through yeah there are some some useful pointers that may put in a pointer for people that want to know more and in general I think it would be very useful to read up on the art blueprint architecture if you have not done so because that contains a lot of the thinking behind this presentation thanks class uh we have a question from uh Gergely Sipos so go ahead yeah so my question is hi I'm Gergely Sipos from EGI is that on the last slide your timeline showed that there will be first the release of the architecture and then a collection of requirements and use cases no actually the date that you see here is the publication of the document so we have already started gathering requirements and use cases and as I said previously we have not started from scratch we have taken up the initial set of requirements and use cases coming from arc and and eos hub and we are now in the process of reaching them eos kia architects 2019 is basically our starting point from what we have already gotten from from other activities and there we identify what we're still missing so we're still working on getting more requirements more use cases and we expect to conclude this by september and that will drive the arc bpa 2020 in the eos kai 2020 architecture so the areas we see here are not when it's not when the work starts but when we expect to have the results okay Gergely does that answer your question oh you're muted uh sorry sorry sorry how do we do that I can't find you in the list i'm unmuted already okay yeah yeah yeah yeah now i am i'm muted thank you for the answer so this point in requirements and use cases september does that mean that a survey will be opened or does it mean that you will publish a document and if you publish a document in september how do you collect input for that and when so we have already started collecting input from various communities and the extra classes that we are in touch with at the moment we're doing this for multiple channels but I do expect that in the beginning of summer possibly in June that we have also perhaps more formal communication for generic input for use cases this is something we're discussing in the AI task force at the moment but we're already receiving a lot of input from many of the class research infrastructures that we're working with okay any so thanks a lot any other question well as Christos explained in general the the document from the AI working group the four topics that were mentioned by Christos early in this presentation are starting to get out so the first principles section will get out and similarly so I assume the dialogue between the task force and the community will develop that way and I'm sure if you want to input use cases to the task force there'll be more than happy to listen to those to listen to those use cases