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​Over the past ten years I have, on occasion, criticised the SNP’s handling of Scottish education.

Sometimes this has been about policy, like imposing pointless standardised tests, or failing to address the persistent disadvantage faced by pupils in remote small towns, or backing the use of the 2020 exam algorithm that suppressed the grades of pupils from the poorest areas to protect the advantages of wealthy families.

Other times it has been about presentation or, to be even more accurate, spin – think, for example, about the various ways in which the party desperately avoided being judged on their record for education, including – but not limited to – subtle shifts in language intended to move the goalposts in their favour.

I have, on more than one occasion, argued that the SNP was putting politics before pupils, and I don’t recall ever having the slightest reason to retract or apologise for that accusation.

I am also an unrepentant, card-carrying cynic when it comes to the behaviour of politicians and the people who work for them.

But despite all of that, somehow even I was surprised by the levels of shamelessness on display following the publication of the latest education statistics this week.

The........

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