DURING pre-Covid times, when a party leader was unable to attend the chamber for FMQs, they asked a colleague to stand in for them.

When we learned Douglas Ross was self-isolating after coming into contact with someone with coronavirus symptoms, I found myself oddly hopeful that Jackson Carlaw would be standing in for him yesterday.

I wasn’t exactly his biggest fan when he was Scottish Tory leader. And I often wasn’t particularly kind about him when I wrote about his performance each week at FMQs. But still, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

You find yourself wondering what could have been, if you’d only tried a little harder and listened a little closer. Basically, Jackson Carlaw is my Brad Pitt. I’m Jennifer Aniston. On a bad hair day.

The National: Jackson Carlaw MSP said: “At the end of the day, we need to respect the result of the referendums. What has happened has happened. We now need to move forward to ensure that Scotland, within the UK, gets the best possible outcome within the agreed exit

But alas, there was no grand return for Mr Carlaw (above), as Douglas Ross was beamed in live from a hotel room to question the First Minister. Ross asked about the ongoing rammy over pupil exam grades and thankfully, he decided to ditch the performative breathy, Thatcher’s ghost voice when doing so.

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Anas Sarwar went for a more broad-brush approach. He asked the FM about decisions taken by the Scottish and UK governments when coronavirus first reached our shores.

Sarwar said: “Last week, the First Minister was rightly critical of the chaos Dominic Cummings described. But does she accept that many of the same decisions were made in Scotland, by this First Minister, and by the Scottish Government?”

“I have always accepted that we made mistakes in the handling of this pandemic,” Nicola Sturgeon replied. “I haven’t – and I won’t – shy away from the responsibility I bear for the handling of every aspect of this.”

Sarwar returned to the point, namely that the UK and Scottish governments had both made mistakes and both had taken too long to act at the beginning of the pandemic.

“Today we are publishing a timeline comparison which shows that, at key moments, and on the big decisions, the UK and Scottish governments were in lockstep,” he said. He ran through a list from his timeline comparison: herd immunity; mass gatherings; Covid-positive patients being sent into care homes; routine testing.

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The First Minister responded: “I’m glad for him that Anas Sarwar has got the time to do timelines. There’s nothing that he’s just told me there that I don’t know and there’s nothing that I’ve sought to shy away from. I lived through that period as the lead decision-maker.

The National: Anas Sarwar yesterday unveiled a ‘radical’ new plan for income tax

“I don’t know what point Anas Sarwar (above) is seeking to prove here. The irony now, from many of the same people who criticise me for not acting quickly enough or not being cautious enough at an earlier stage, are the same people who often criticise me for being too cautious and going too slowly in lifting lockdown.”

If you thought Sarwar would let a dig about his very important Word document go unremarked upon, you would be wrong: “I’m not sure why the First Minister is critical of the development of a timeline. I would hope, given the scale of the civil service, there would be a Scottish Government timeline about decision making!’’

He then gave a lengthy run-through of the aforementioned timeline comparison before the Presiding Officer interjected to ask for a ‘“QUESTION, PLEASE.”

“WEEKEND, PLEASE,” shouted everybody else.