I looked back to the Covid days and thought of a killer question I could have asked at one of those torturous daily press conferences, which Nicola Sturgeon used to give as first minister.

You must remember them: daily political tap-dancing in an attempt to prove how she was much less worse than Boris in London, and had a better grip on things.

It didn’t quite pan out that way in the end.

I always suspected that what she was trying to say every day – in a somewhat unsubtle way – was how much better it would be amid the carnage of Covid if Scotland was independent.

Despite the oppressive solemnity of such occasions, I imagined standing up and asking her a question guaranteed to bring the house down.

Such as, “What’s wrong with your hair?”

“You look like Mrs Doubtfire – have you thought about changing it?”

Can you picture a dread-filled silence before the first minister exploded?

She was always on a short fuse anyway when journalists questioned her too closely.

As follow-up questions, I might have chosen from a few other grenades up my sleeve.

“How many dates have you had since your marriage broke up?”

“Did you get special treatment when you were arrested?”

My outburst might have........

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