The Better Together campaign is in the process of asking 500 important questions in the days that remain before the independence vote.

I must have missed the debate about the weather.

One day last week I awoke and found BBC Breakfast reporting live from a lido somewhere in southernmost England about preparations for the phew-what-a-scorcher day that lay ahead. Deckchairs, ice cream, jugs of Pimm's. The hot weather would not only raise the spirits but also boost the economy.

Over on Sky News there was a special report on how to sunbathe but keep safe from skin cancer. I glanced out at grey Glasgow skies and freezing drizzle and decided not to get out the Pimm's or worry about melanomas.

We may not be able to change our climate but we can have independent weather reports. Come the referendum we do not have to be lumped in with the bottom bits of fUK (former United Kingdom). We do not need to know that retirees in Eastbourne are toasting their tootsies in 25-degrees sunshine while old folk in East Kilbride risk hypothermia and could fair do with a slug of brandy from a passing St Bernard rescue dog.

It is time Scottish weather is taken out of a British context and seen as part of a worldwide bigger picture. It will be scorching in the Sahara but folk in Finland will be up to their oxters in snow. And we will be happily somewhere in the middle.

To avoid London-centric weather reports, we may have to tune in to Al Jazeera, Russia Today, or BBC Alba.

The Better Together people will no doubt say that Scotland does not have good enough weather to be independent. The Yes campaign should respond by saying that with advances in technology climate improvement is possible. A large chunk of oil revenue will be invested in research to ensure that in a green and pleasant independent Scotland, it only rains at night.

In the absence of some miracle to raise the average Scottish temperature by 10 degrees, there will need to be substantial spending on infrastructure for folk to sit out with a cappuccino without having to dress like an Inuit. Loads of warm and dry conservatory-style public spaces.

We can take a lead from the Kilwinning chap who came to the big city for the day, didn't actually get much further than Central Station, and reported back that Glasgow was amazing but "maistly under gless".

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