We are at the beginning of an uncertain new era, ruled by irascible demagogues and megalomaniacs, writes Herald columnist Rebecca McQuillan. So how do we help our children navigate a changing, less secure world?

So Ronald Reagan was already talking in earnest about arms reduction by the time I became fully conscious of the risk of nuclear war between America and Russia. It was about 1985 I suppose. The threat by then was receding, though for years a generation of parents had secretly lost sleep for worrying about it.

Like many other children, I learned in the primary school playground what “nuclear war” meant. I was scared – what other response is there? – but my parents were able to reassure me that the men in charge, the US and Russian presidents, were working together to make us all safer. From the late 1980s onwards, the threat of a conflict between nuclear-armed powers receded fast and disarmament treaties brought a new era of hope.

The Nineties and Noughties, looking back, were a time of goofy optimism in Britain, in spite of wars breaking out in Europe, first in Bosnia and then Kosovo. It wasn’t until the financial crash in 2008 that we were reminded how rare it is for history to deliver long uninterrupted spells of relative peace and prosperity.

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