When a certain type of unionist bore has exhausted their repertoire of bigoted canards, they inevitably revert to the myth of Scottish exceptionalism.

There are fewer sounds more nauseating than a conservative on their high horse, insisting that Scots are just as intolerant of immigrants and workshy dole scroungers as the rest of the country.

Particularly irksome to them is the “misguided” notion that Scotland is, by its nature, more egalitarian and socially progressive than the more backward thinking rest of the UK.

Today they will be strutting with a little more purpose, their nostrils sucking in the Scottish air more vigorously, following the announcement by deputy first minister Kate Forbes that she will be standing down at next year’s election.

Back in the late 1990s, the founding mothers and fathers of the Scottish Parliament made a point of stressing that it would do things differently, by which they meant better.

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The institution, its processes and schedules, were all designed with this in mind and, top of the list, was the way in which it would treat women.

Westminster, with its late night sittings, lack of childcare facilities and in-built biases against the participation of female members, was cited as an example of how not to do things.

A quarter of a century on, if the way in which Holyrood appears to treat its women leaders is anything to go by, it has signally failed.

Ms Forbes is the latest in a long line of senior female figures – including Wendy Alexander, Kezia Dugdale, Annabelle Goldie, Ruth Davidson, and Nicola Sturgeon – who have prematurely quit frontline politics.

While all will have had their own personal reasons for doing so, there is an unavoidable pattern of women leaving, not just their........

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