The organisers who put a lot of thought into the title of their conference last week, Delivering World Class Education for All, saw their efforts dimissed by one of their speakers, the redoubtable Keir Bloomer, Clackman-nanshire’s chief executive. “The term ‘world-class’ should be treated with suspicion and distrust,” he began. “It’s up there with ‘robust’ and ‘rigorous’, which are liberally sprinkled throughout anything the Scottish Executive produces. You can be certain that anything which follows will be meaningless and content-free. It demonstrates the truth about weak men being propped up by strong adjectives.”

Ouch.