The SNP have had better weeks. It’s strange to think that it was only this month that the party won a staggering fifth term in office, despite independence being no closer, and a record of failure on everything from education to drug deaths.

Perhaps the most remarkable result for the SNP leader John Swinney was the election of Hannah Mary Goodlad in the Shetland Islands. Since 1950, this was the first time these islands had voted for someone other than the Liberals or Lib Dems. Goodlad triumphed after a vigorous campaign featuring windswept social media videos and three visits from Swinney; before her election, she ran an outdoor sauna business.

But who cares about the Shetland Islands, that funny bit at the top of Scotland they put in weather reports, despite only one bloke and two sheep living there? In fact, the population is about 23,000, and some290,000 sheep. 

Well, the result piqued my interest enough that I endured the 13-hour ferry to Lerwick. My only reference points for Scottish islands were films. Either Shetland would be like Local Hero, and I would fall hopelessly in love, or it would be like The Wicker Man. Either way, a large part of me didn’t expect to come home.

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