The defining characteristic of the SNP’s General Election campaign was its stupidity. Betting the house on a claim nobody believed – that electing a Labour government changes nothing - betrayed a continuing assumption that most Scottish people could be fooled, all of the time.

In startling numbers, voters hit back. They were firmly on the side of change which, in Scotland, means liberation from two deeply-disliked governments. Huge majorities were brushed aside. They kicked the Tories hard and the SNP harder, because there were more of them to aim at. Now our dear patriots must live with the reality of change and, even worse, the fear of it.

Change did not take long to manifest itself. Before the mandatory grievance press release could be issued, Keir Starmer turned up in Edinburgh, exuding co-operation and pro-active on Grangemouth. Then he did the same with other first ministers and metro mayors. All spot on and symbolic of change.

So it will go on. Much of what came out of Whitehall in these first few days challenges the inertia of Edinburgh. What will the Scottish Government do about housing, other than slash the budget for affordable homes? Is our snail’s pace planning system immune to reform, not least to deal with the energy transition? And so on, day after day.

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Soon, Scottish Labour must think about its own messages of change in advance of Holyrood elections. It will not be........

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