MILLIONS of us turned our thoughts at the weekend to those who fought and died fighting for our country, in particular the fight in the Second World War to preserve our democracy.
The Oxford Dictionary definition of democracy is a 'system of government by the whole population typically through elected representatives'.
Two events over the past few weeks, one local and one European, will cause great concern to those of us who believe that it is the people or those they elected who should be taking the decisions that affect our lives.
I used to go to Brussels with the Chancellor of the Exchequer for meetings of the European finance ministers on a regular basis and witnessed at first hand the huge bureaucracy that seems to run the show in Europe.
Since then and our very sensible decision to stay out of the Euro, things seem to have got worse. Now we have the spectacle of the money men and the bankers deciding who should run a country.
When the Greek Prime Minister quite legitimately called on a referendum of the Greek people to decide if they should accept the latest European imposed austerity measures he was derided and shamefully forced out of Government.
We couldn't possibly let the people decide could we?
Like many of my Italian friends I have absolutely no time for their former Prime Minister Berlusconi but can it really be right for him to be forced out and replaced by someone no one ever elected, because of the markets?
Has anyone ever met a finance market bond dealer let alone an elected one? Yet it is these people who now seem to be more important than Prime Ministers.
All these events may seem a long way from Scotland but these decisions will affect our economy and our living standards here in the Highlands.
That's of course if we can find somewhere to live!
Here too we have unelected bureaucrats taking decisions against the wishes of the people. I am of course talking about the Cairngorm National Park Board, supported by Scottish National Heritage, deciding to stop badly needed housing in Boat of Garten.
This is all because of a big fat bird that isn't even from the Highlands anyway and was imported here from Sweden in 1837.
How anyone can justify overturning the decision of the elected community council who want the affordable homes in their area, because it might upset the local capercaillie, I just don't know.
The caper is thriving in Scandinavia, but £5 million has been spent here trying to save it when everyone knows that it will almost certainly die out.
Its main predator is the pine marten and that animal is now thriving mainly at the caper's expense. I don't think that anyone is likely to call for this once-threatened animal to be culled.
The other reason for the bird's demise is the wet weather and even the RSPB can't do anything about that.
It is not as if any of us ever get the chance to see the caper, in fact despite the fact that I spend much of my time outdoors I saw my first one in 10 years living here last week and that was on the 10th hole of the Grantown golf course!
It's about time we had more than a few elected representatives on our park authority and organisations like the SNH, who are elected by no one, should not have a say in our housing needs.
Next under fire will be the proposed new housing development, An Camas Mor, over the Spey from Aviemore.
Despite the fact that this is part of the local plan and approved by the national park it won't stop the fanatical tree huggers from opposing this too.
Perhaps the solution to these disagreements on housing would be for the good folk of Boat of Garten to decide in a local referendum.
We couldn't possibly let the people decide could we?
