ASTONISHING scenes at First Minister's Questions on Thursday as the female party leaders turned up in tennis whites with a jug of Pimms and three cut crystal glasses.
Kezia Dugdale, deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party, was first off the bat, throwing a few numerical curve balls at First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, while Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, rolled up his jumper for a goalpost.
There was no love lost as Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson opted for a bowl of strawberries and cream rather than risk an own goal.
Sturgeon and Dugdale batted back and forth over Scotland's education standards before Dugdale knocked it out the park: game, set and match.
Ok, look, I know nothing about sport but that other people like it. Other people, it turns out, including our three female Scottish political leaders.
On Thursday morning, ahead of FMQs, Dugdale, Sturgeon and Davidson created a smash on Twitter with a little light tennis banter as Andy Murray took to the court for the semi-final of the Australian Open.
Davidson kicked things off with: "Hmmm... FMQ prep Vs tennis... #comeonandy"
Sturgeon was quick to pick up the action. "@RuthDavidsonMSP I'm sure we could come to some arrangement - @kdugdalemsp?" she replied.
Amiably, Davidson fired straight back, ".@NicolaSturgeon ok, I'll bring the snacks - let's use your office. @kdugdalemsp Kez, you in?"
Dugdale, fatefully typing what would become the most-used picture caption of the day, joined in with: "@RuthDavidsonMSP @NicolaSturgeon yes, there in a minute, looking for the Pimms."
"Look," yelped Twitter, "Politics with women in charge." Those of a po-faced persuasian cried sexism. "Politics with people in charge."
Certainly, there was something touchingly human about the exchange. Rennie had tried to join in but was roundly ignored given that he muddied the women-only water. Was this sexism?
Rennie's tweet read: "@RuthDavidsonMSP @NicolaSturgeon @kdugdalemsp way ahead of the game #ComeOnAndy" and a picture of his shoes up on his desk, Murray glowing from a small TV resting inches above his toes.
Maybe he needed a fancier, colourful pair of shoes to gain attention. Now, that's sexism.
Sadly for Sturgeon, the resulting FMQs looked like she may not have been joking about giving up her prep to watch the game.
Out of the chamber and on the internet, Ruth Davidson won the battle of the retweets, at 91, with Sturgeon second on the leader board at 83 and Dugdale trailing with 80.
In England, Nick Clegg spoke about the futile nature of Prime Minister's Questions. The Deputy PM said: "Just imagine having to sit there, as I do week in, week out, not able to say my piece and listen to these folk." #crymeariver
Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem treasury chief secretary, has told him to use the dead time to play Candy Crush on his iPad. Alexander is at level 230 of the game. Some of Thursday's SNP backbenchers looked like they might be better served playing games on an iPad.
Clegg, during the same interview, criticised PMQs. "It has descended into the most facile yah-boo kind of politics.
"The only people who get excited about it are the people in the Westminster village - their whole world revolves around who said what, who made what joke.
"The vast majority of people don't listen at all. Perhaps that is a blessing in disguise."
There were those on Thursday who took our female leaders' Twitter chatter as a point of pride, agreeing the Scots cross-party consensus showed we do politics better here.
So, some politicians engage in a bit of Twitter banter and it becomes a talking point on sexism and the state of Scottish politics.
Both these conclusions are wrong. The exchange tells us only that society has special rules for sport.
No one would have smiled had the ladies been downing tools to catch the lunchtime Home and Away. "Is the honourable member aware of the tea time repeat?"
Anything but tennis and they'd have been tweeting nothing but their CVs.
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