The convoy of aid trucks was still labouring down the tight mountain passes towards Sarajevo when the shooting started.
asserted
shooting → labour → Sarajevo
Sudden bursts of lethal gunfire blitzed the column of battered old lorries as they hurried for the shelter of the besieged city walls.
asserted
they → blitz → walls
If David Hamilton had paused for a moment, he may have questioned the sanity of swapping a dull but cushy job in sales for the terrifying chaos of a warzone.
uncertain
he → pause → warzone
With bullets flying during the worst of the Bosnian conflict in the mid-1990s, there was little time to think – still less to change course: ‘No, we just kept driving,’ he recalled.
asserted
he → fly → course
‘As Sarajevo was under siege, we did a siege bust and we just got shot at with anti-aircraft guns as we went down the mountainside.’
asserted
we → do → mountainside
He added: ‘The guy in front of me got shot in the chest.
asserted
guy → add → chest
The truck behind me got blown off the road.
asserted
truck → blow → road
Somehow, Mr Hamilton, then a twenty-something volunteer, survived this extraordinarily dangerous mission unscathed, physically at least.
asserted
Hamilton → survive → mission
‘I probably used up a few of my nine lives there,’ he admits with a disarming chuckle.
asserted
he → use → chuckle
Running towards danger is often taken as a sign of madness but Bosnia seems only to have fired the starting gun on a life under fire.
asserted
Bosnia → run → fire
Now 54, his colourful career has since taken him from frontline policing, through stints as a union official, community councillor and – unlikely as it sounds – a film and TV extra, to his present post as Scotland’s powerful transparency watchdog, where he is engaged in several well-publicised battles against the SNP’s obsession with secrecy.
asserted
he → take → secrecy
David Hamilton policing T in the Park in 2013
As Scotland’s Information Commissioner (SIC), Mr Hamilton believes Scotland is living through a profound crisis of trust – and his office has become a barometer of public scepticism.
asserted
office → police → scepticism
Appeals to the SIC surged by 83 per cent last year, jumping from the usual 500 to 600 cases to more than 1,000 according to the body’s latest annual report.
That spiralling caseload has placed an ‘unsustainable strain’ on his staff of 15 and tiny budget of less than £3million.
uncertain
caseload → surge → 3million
In the relative calm of the SIC’s St Andrews headquarters, he considers what is driving it.
asserted
what → consider → it
Partly, he says, people no longer take anything at face value: ‘Every single video now people are thinking, “Is this AI-generated?”’
But the same suspicion extends far beyond manipulated images and online misinformation.
asserted
suspicion → say → images
‘People don’t trust politicians,’ he said.
asserted
he → trust → politicians
‘And it’s not even just politicians, it’s public authorities.’
asserted
it → ’ → ?
He added: ‘Distrust is on the increase and has probably been as bad as I’ve ever seen it and experienced it, and it’s happened so rapidly.’
asserted
it → add → it
Mr Hamilton has a particular beef with politicians right now and, as one of the few public figures prepared to stand up to power, he is not letting anyone off the hook.
asserted
he → have → hook
His lawyers have accused the Scottish Government of seeking to undermine transparency law and relegate him to a toothless supervisory role in a legal battle over evidence submitted to the investigation into Nicola Sturgeon’s dealings with Alex Salmond.
asserted
lawyers → accuse → Salmond
The case was heard by the Court of Session on Tuesday, with judges reserving their decision.
And while he cannot discuss the case at present, he is clearly exasperated by the length and cost of the legal wrangling, questioning whether success can even be defined when cases ‘keep going and going and going’.
asserted
cases → hear → wrangling
His concern is less about Ms Sturgeon herself than the broader principle of accountability, arguing that some decisions, particularly those involving the Crown Office, sit beyond meaningful independent scrutiny.
asserted
decisions → argue → scrutiny
‘I think that’s wrong,' he said, ‘entirely wrong.’
asserted
he → think → ?
The issue, he argues, is not about stoking political embarrassment but ensuring there is a credible way of testing whether secrecy is justified.
asserted
secrecy → argue → embarrassment
Now, almost exactly halfway through his six-year term in one of Scotland’s most scrutinised public roles, he remains firm in his belief that the answer to the nation’s collapsing confidence in authority is not less transparency, but more.
asserted
answer → remain → authority
Mr Hamilton has gone from being a police officer to information tsar
asserted
Hamilton → go → tsar
‘As a police officer, I learned that it’s always the cover-up [that annoys the public],’ he said.
asserted
he → learn → public
‘If people would just put their hands up and say, “Listen, yeah, I think we’ve got that wrong.
asserted
that → put → hands
We need to fix it”, that’s a bit of honesty.
asserted
that → need → honesty
And that’s the bit that seems to be missing.’
asserted
that → ’ → ?
What is clear is that the current Commissioner, who recently became a black belt in karate in his 50s, will not be intimidated by political power:
asserted
who → become → power
‘I’m not in any way in awe of politics and politicians.
asserted
I → ’m → politics
Not at all,’ he said, insisting he approaches such contentious transparency cases ‘without fear or favour’.
asserted
he → say → fear
Certainly, when Ruth Davidson, former Scottish Tory leader and Army Reservist, learned of his appointment, her response was telling.
asserted
response → learn → appointment
‘Crikey,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t like to be a public body that attempts to monkey around when it comes to their FOI responses.
asserted
it → say → responses
Even as a young man, this pitbull displayed a tendency to sink his teeth into a challenge.
asserted
pitbull → display → challenge
Born into a solidly middle-class family, he left Bearsden Academy at 16 for a place at Glasgow University.
asserted
he → bear → University
At university he was involved with the world debating championships but not as a competitor – as a judge.
asserted
he → involve → judge
His younger brother Duncan (who would go on to be the youngest ever MSP at the 1999 elections) won the event in 1994.
But David was always more comfortable in the role of arbiter.
asserted
David → go → arbiter
Can he see a pattern here?
asserted
he → see → pattern
…and 61 more, not listed.
The Aporia
