The death of Lamara Bell and ensuing crisis of confidence in Police Scotland serve to remind us of the fragile relationship between "the public" and our concept of "public service".
Last week, many people shuddered at the thought of Ms Bell, trapped and seriously hurt in a car next to her dead boyfriend for three days; yards from a major road, helpless and dehydrated in the summer heat.
Had the incident occurred elsewhere, we might have tut-tutted and moved on. But it happened in Scotland. As one politician remarked, we might expect to hear this from the Third World.
Scotland is not the Third World. Our public services are well funded and delivered, mainly, to a very high standard. Our police and other services are regarded highly. But these days the public mood has become more questioning of those in authority - all the more reason for public servants to speak plainly, act transparently and avoid spin.
Let us consider a few recent examples.Twenty months after the Clutha police helicopter crash, which claimed 10 lives, we still await the results of the Air Accident Investigation Bureau investigation. Rumours abound about what that report might say.
Meanwhile, questions have been raised about the appeal fund administered by Glasgow City Council, which collected £500,000, distributed it to an anonymous list of recipients and then closed, all within 10 months.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing, and no doubt the trust money will have been put to good use by recipients, who have included families of the dead and injured. But neither has there been any transparent explanation of how decisions were made, by whom, or whether - as has been claimed - deserving cases had been ignored.
There are also tales of insurers being difficult with some victims and relatives.
When the Glasgow bin lorry crash happened last December, killing six, one of the council's statements said that the truck's driver would "never be named". Needless to say, he has been, but the incident goes to the heart of the transparency issue.
A fatal accident inquiry looms, but the Crown Office has promised that it will not lead to anyone being prosecuted. This statement seems bizarre, and raises the question as to why they should proceed at all.
Before evidence is taken, who is to say whether there was fault by any individual or the truck's operator, Glasgow City Council?
The Clutha crash may well have been an unavoidable accident. The trust fund may have been well administered. The bin lorry crash, and Lamara Bell's horrible death, may have been appalling one-off incidents. But who is to decide these things. Police officers? Council officials? Insurance assessors? The Crown Office?
Mistrust in every corner of public life - from police chiefs to bankers, politicians and the media - is very high. As citizens and consumers, we consent to authority and the market-place when we feel we are being told the truth, a credible narrative.
Otherwise, as Scots will say, there will be a feeling that "things are not quite right".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article