Phrase of the week? Has to be “common sense”. The leitmotif of our anxious age: a glib attempt by political leaders to advance their emotive appeal to populist sentiment. We witnessed this during the Brexit referendum when Michael Gove dismissed economic stats by saying that we had had enough of experts. But, now, this discourse is more familiar.

Responding to the calamitous tragedy in Washington, President Trump initially declared America in mourning – before suggesting, without offering evidence, that air traffic control staffing may have been undermined by diversity obligations.

Challenged to justify this personal analysis, he stared at the inquisitor and replied: “Because I have common sense”. On the other side of the Atlantic and the other wing of politics, environmentalists responded to the Court of Session verdict that permission for two new oil and gas fields was unlawful, because it neglected the climate consequences of using the generated hydrocarbons. Campaigners against the fields called the court verdict “common sense”.

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Now, it may be right. It may be wrong. It may or may not be overturned by the UK Government. But it is a judgement on balance – not a reflection of fixed commonality. Indeed, there are at least three competing perspectives: complete opposition to any new fields, enthusiastic support for maximum exploitation and tentative endorsement of limited drilling en route to net zero.

More broadly, it is intriguing to notice that both Reform UK and the Scottish Conservatives........

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