One sector of society has thrived in the two decades since Scotland was granted devolution. For the tiny cadre of people earning substantial six-figure salaries life after the Scottish Parliament was restored life has been a bowl of cherries.

During this period levels of child poverty have remained stubbornly high at around 250,000 while the foodbank sector is doing a roaring trade in people requiring their services. Drugs deaths, especially amongst the poor have risen so much that Scotland now tops the European league table in that wretched category.

The educational attainment gap between affluent and disadvantaged pupils is as wide now as it was when Nicola Sturgeon twice asked us to judge her on it.

It’s not all bad news though. For, thankfully, Scotland’s CEO and public sector executive sector is thriving like never before. Who could have predicted that 15 years of continuous SNP government would prove to be so beneficial to the nation’s superannuated fat-cats?

Last week, it emerged that the chap hired by the Scottish Government to improve the fortunes of the troubled Ferguson Marine Shipyard was paid almost £3,000 a day for the two years or so of his tenure. According to Scottish Government advisers, the remuneration package for Tim Hair to swap leafy Hampshire for the slightly less salubrious environs of Port Glasgow had to be particularly attractive. Handy hint for Scottish Government recruitment specialists: maybe try hiring from among the thousands of people who don’t require hardship top-ups.

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