As Nicola Sturgeon takes a well deserved holiday with her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, we wish the couple all the best after a spell during which she has been one of the most successful politicians not just in Scotland but across the UK and even beyond.

But can we also suggest, with respect, that producing new oil projections on the last day of term smacks of the kind of old politics she is meant to have set herself against.

In so many ways it was a good day for our First Minister. Under unrelenting and one-sided criticism of so-called cybernats she made clear that party members who breach norms on social media will face discipline, something no other party leader has as yet done.

She made further strides on gender equality, gaining the support of 16 private companies and and host of third sector and public bodies for the principle of moving towards fairness in boardrooms.

And her Government brought in controls on airguns and errant scrap metal dealers. Her MSPs did not accept a Green amendment making the point about the social value of clubs such as The Arches, which we regret, but overall it was not a bad final day of business at Holyrood.

But then they snuck out those pesky oil and gas projections just as everyone was packing their sun block and swimming costumes. It was crass and ill-advised. Annual statistics published after a three-month delay on the day our tribunes head off on their holidays does not look good.

As this permitted David Mundell to make a lofty declaration, with righteous indignation his democratic legitimacy rarely justifies, it was very poorly judged.

"To have the latest Scottish Government oil figures published 15 months after their last update, and on the last day before the summer recess leads to suspicion that these figures aren't meant to be fully scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament. For such an important industry to Scotland in terms of jobs, skills and our wider economy this is disappointing."

We can only agree with that, as with Labour's Jackie Baillie when she said: "It is ridiculous that the SNP tried to sneak this report out on the last day of Parliament. It's clear that they have put their own political interests ahead of industry concerns."

The First Minister has been a credit to Scotland since here elevation, whether on the couches of London broadcasters or on the international stage with television appearances in the United States.

Her stock will never be higher, which is why she should deal with some problems now. In no particular order, we would suggest a better approach to freedom of information and to centralisation in general, particularly involving the police. Her party needs to move on from an instinctive desire to legislate. In short it needs to redefine its own lines between social democracy and liberty.

But above all her government needs to lay out a clear vision for a new future if cheap oil prevails. Saudi intransigence and US fracking may hold sway for some years to come, so we need to know how Scotland's economy would hold up. Pointing to the might-have-been of Norway won't cut it.