There are occasions when politicians leave you flabbergasted. Take Thursday, for example.
People across the country awoke to further news about the tragic death of a 12-year-old girl, who was crushed to by a wall at her school.
So how did Holyrood react? With some genuine words of condolence to the family and friends of Keane Wallis-Bennett, true, but that was it.
No wider debate, no examination of the safety implications for the thousands of other school pupils across the country, and no ministerial statement.
Party leaders didn’t even bother to raise it at First Minister’s Questions, barring the brief statements made first by Nicola Sturgeon (who was standing in for Alex Salmond) and then the opposition.
So what was so important that such a serious incident was not worthy of discussion? Was it reports in another newspaper that the deaths of two babies in a west coast hospital were allegedly contributed to by short staffing?
Was it the Scottish Government’s flagship childcare policy being torn apart from the Scottish Parliament’s information team? Was it the report of engineering giants, Weir Group, into independence?
No, it was a trip Alex Salmond took to the Ryder Cup two years ago. It was old ground, which served no purpose except to smear the First Minister, who wasn’t even in the chamber to answer.
After the Labour conference I expressed my exasperation with the party’s obsession with the SNP and its leader. Now that unhealthy tunnel vision has been further illustrated by a weak, personal attack at a time where there were serious issues over which to hold the government to account.
Indeed, Johann Lamont’s barney with Ms Sturgeon went on so long that Deputy Presiding Officer Elaine Smith decided there was not enough time to hear a constituency question about the tragedy from the SNP’s Jim Eadie.
He actually wanted to quiz his bosses on what they were doing to help and support the local community at what he described as a “very difficult and distressing time”. Imagine that!
In some ways I understand Labour’s concern at appearing callous and being seen to bring politics into the Liberton High School wall collapse but discussions in the chamber don’t always need the volume turned up to 10.
There could have been some sort of calm, rational requests for information about the investigation, where it goes from here and the condition of Scotland’s school estate in general.
Calm? Rational? Right enough, I am probably asking too much.