But let me repeat that more grave fact, rammed home by Sturgeon’s short visit with Police Scotland. Our last two former First Ministers, one the mentor of the other, and a long-time double act at the heart of Scottish politics, have both been arrested. Know how many British Prime Ministers have been arrested since the adult franchise was established? Not one, in a very much longer list of names.

Now for the final truth that should be universally accepted: Scotland is a society in decline. Our population is getting poorer in real terms. Workers wages are decreasing in real terms. Our public services, from schools to hospitals to basic council functions, are visibly declining after so many years of cuts. Even Scotland’s population is projected to shrink from 2028.

Despite all this, there are no plans for reform. No one in high politics has a platform to revive our society. There are only pro-cuts, pro-corporate, pro-war parties in the parliament. Differences in theory on the constitution amount to little or nothing in reality. An entire political sphere united in a declinist programme, and by a myth of perpetual national improvement. The mythmakers of devolution era Scotland may be falling silent. Their myths, though troubled, live on for now.

Want to see Scotland under the SNP?