It is a truth universally acknowledged that a politician viewing the remains of their career in the rear view mirror must be in want of a windfall.

First stop is usually an obliging publisher willing to part with a handsome sum in return for what used to be called their “diaries”.

Politics is among the poorest rewarded professions for those in senior leadership positions and few waste much time in cashing in while the public still remembers their name.

Fewer have done it with quite the unalloyed sense of purpose as Nicola Sturgeon, who has dominated the news schedules and front pages over recent days in a way that Kim Jong Un would be proud.

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For a self-confessed “painfully shy” introvert, uncomfortable in the public spotlight, the former First Minister appears to have subdued her demons, at least temporarily, in the cause of promoting her new memoir, Frankly.

For anyone who has been in a coma this past week – well you haven’t missed much. Selected passages published before the launch are, we have to assume, the most interesting bits, which hardly bodes well for the rest of the book.

It’s not that Ms Sturgeon doesn’t have anything useful to say, it’s that she imparts it in such a lacklustre way, as though she has a nosebleed whenever she feels what she’s writing might be too engaging.

The revelations, such as they are, will be familiar to anyone who follows Scottish politics closely.

Alex Salmond’s claim that he was a victim of a criminal conspiracy that saw him charged – and cleared – of 13 counts of sexual assault, was preposterous. “He impugned the integrity of the institutions at the heart of Scottish democracy.”

Ms Sturgeon suffered a panic attack during the 2014 independence referendum campaign due to media bias and........

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