This is not the view, of course, taken by Mary Rose Caden, a former president and now convener of the General Teaching Council. Caden, readers will recall, failed to win the union’s backing to stand as an official candidate in the forthcoming GTC elections. She is standing anyway.

Among the luckier ones are two surprising endorsements. One is Bill Milligan, a South Ayrshire primary head and salaries convener of the Association of Head Teachers (Scotland). Can this be the same Milligan whose association has long lambasted the EIS for its failure to protect the interests of primary heads?

We also note the name of Forbes Mitchell, head of Bridgend primary in Alness. The same Mitchell, indeed, who used to be a member of the Professional Association of Teachers, scourge of all those prone to take industrial action - like the EIS.

Magnanimous gestures indeed.