You can feel there’s an election on as politicians seem to be popping up in the most unlikeliest places which can only mean they are looking for votes.

Humza Yousaf braved the A9 this week as he appeared, as if by magic, in Dingwall to offer support to the local candidate in the upcoming General Election.

No-one knows when this will actually be of course, but you have to give him credit for his forward planning.

But more importantly, it offered the First Minister a glorious opportunity to see and hear first hand the acute problems faced by people across the Highlands and Islands.

Will he have listened before jumping into his ministerial limo back to the central belt?

Well, judging by recent history he may have listened, but like so many of his predecessors he will have forgotten all about it after passing Perth on the way back to Edinburgh.

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This, to them, is the real Scotland, with massive building sites, motorways, shiny bridges, proper towns with people and decent employment to sustain the population.

The Highlands will again just become a thing only viewed in the rear view mirror by a chauffeur heading south onto the M90.

During his brief sojourn, Mr Yousaf, of course said all the right things, insisting that he wants all agencies involved to have a “laser-like focus” on delivering for island communities.

He added: “Focused on delivery, and that’s really crucial not just for the Government and for the organisations involved, but importantly for the island communities we seek to serve.”

But for residents of these areas, particularly the Highlands and islands, there has been no focus at all – let alone a laser-like one.

This has to change – and now, or else the area will just wither on the vine and become nothing more than a giant theme park for tourists in big cars and motorhomes.

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As if to emphasise the point, the government’s long awaited ‘action plan’ to try and stem depopulation could be best described as a waste of good trees.

Part of the 83 priorities listed in the plan will see areas affected by depopulation share a fund of £180,000 to trial ways of retaining and attracting people to their communities.

This is simply laughable as the price of a home in these areas is far more than £180,000 which is why young families cannot afford to live there and are forced to move.

Even more laughable was that rural areas will no longer be designated “remote” by the Scottish Government, which said this entrenched the belief that people need to “get out to get on.”

If ever there was a passage in a government document that sums up the total disconnect between ministers and locals then this is it.

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You can call an area anything you like, but for those of us who live in the Highlands and regularly visit family there, we understand what remote is – and there are significant parts which are.

It’s a simple geographic fact and nothing will change that.

Of course, many retirees love the remoteness and rugged beauty and quit life in cities for a gentler pace of life.

They make a valuable contribution but won’t help long-term depopulation But even more youngsters make the opposite move and who can really blame them.

It will take far more than loose change and glib soundbites to solve that one but solve it they must.