SIR Antony Nutting, a rising star of the Tory Party in the 1950s, was a junior Foreign Office minister when he sacrificed his career by resigning in protest at the Invasion of Suez. Some time later, he wrote a good book about it, which he called “No End Of A Lesson”, the title coming from a line in Rudyard Kipling’s 1901 poem about the need for the then British Empire to recognise its failures during the disastrous second Boer War.

In a much more modest way, the SNP need to remember that line and act on it. Lessons must be learned from the leadership contest which concludes on Monday, but the good news is that if they are learned then I for one am convinced, to complete the Kipling quote, that they “will do us no end of good”.

Those lessons will not just be about the difficulties of organising such contests in the social media age at a time when there are such deep divisions in our society. Nor will they deal solely with the management of the inevitable stresses of government and the avoidance of defensiveness – though it is a totally understandable response to years of vitriolic “SNP bad” attacks.

They will have to be about openness, transparency, challenge, rigour and the need – somehow – for dialogue between those divided not just by constitutional preference or by different visions for society you co but sometimes simply by grudge.

Most importantly of all, they must remind us about the real purpose of politics which is not just to win elections – vital as that is – nor even to achieve such essential changes for our nation as independence (so obviously needed now more than ever). The real purpose of politics is actually and always has been about how to constantly strive to change people’s lives for the better.

We have had two strong reminders of that in the last few days.

The first was, typically enough given her passion for and commitment to justice and human rights, one of Nicola’s last acts as First Minister. The apology she made to those who had suffered the trauma of forced adoption was heartfelt and moving. It needed to be said and of course needs to be acted on to provide practical help for those who require it.

But for many – perhaps most – of those affected, the apology was the thing that they wanted most and which they believed for years they would not get. It was a monumental failure of policy and politics that imposed such cruelty and it needed the highest level – and most widely supported – response. Not to set it right, for that can never be done – but to acknowledge the suffering and inhumanity imposed in the name of the state and to express profound regret and deep remorse.

It was good to see the entire parliamentary chamber supporting Nicola’s statement and proving that politics is about doing the right thing in the right way, no matter how it can sometimes look.

It may be too much to hope for, but that entire chamber should also be backing the correct decision by Lorna Slater, the Green Party Minister, to challenge a continuing official assumption that money and property rights always override the wishes of communities.

To be fair to NatureScot, still owners of Kinloch Castle and some other parts of the Island of Rum, the ongoing saga of a building that is slowly crumbling and which is a continuing drain on scarce public sector resources does need a solution. After a long period of difficulty, no wonder they were keen to offload it to a wealthy prospective buyer.

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I have no criticism of him either. He was quite entitled to see an opportunity and seek the best terms he could to allow his plan to succeed.

However, the missing element in all this was the community of Rum for whom I, as environment minister almost 15 years ago, started the process which led to their purchase of the main inhabited part of the island.

Faced with the proposed sale, they were, it is fair to say, very frustrated with being “steamrolled” into tacit acceptance of decisions made over their heads which would deprive them of some current access to land, the use of important buildings and the right to make key decisions about the future of their community. They feared becoming, on their own island, mere bystanders in a playground for wealthy people from elsewhere.

Making Kinloch Castle just another five-star rural retreat was the wrong answer to the wrong question. Rural Scotland shouldn’t be asking what billionaire it can find to ride to its rescue (yet again) but rather how we can move ourselves forward using the talents and resources all around us.

The property should not be seen as a liability for a state agency which needs to be shunted off, but rather as an asset for a community and a country which needs to be used for maximum local and national benefit.

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Historian Fraser MacDonald has suggested “curated decline” as an option, literally watching it come down in order to remind ourselves of what was, and in places still is, a massive wrong based on the abuse of wealth and power.

Perhaps that idea could go further, with an academic institution like the University of Highlands and Islands establishing a modest presence on the island devoted to the study of land ownership, past present and future.

That would increase footfall, create new income for the community, draw in international interest and allow the exchange of experience and expertise. It could also give a new impetus to community asset transfer.

The example of Rum is also about the core purpose of politics. It has seen those with power intervening to help those without by listening to the voice of the community and seeking to help the islanders achieve new things.

Prioritising the common good and empowering every citizen should be at the heart of our concerns, not least because that is also what independence is all about.