Those are the ones that leave you wondering if she has asked a question at all.
"Is there anything about independence that the people of Scotland shouldn't know?" she asked of the air somewhere above Alex Salmond's head.
God, you thought, don't ask him that. Don't ask him that even if you're trying to be subtle. Salmond on the subject of what the people should know is a ten-part mini-series. Portobello will have a new high school before he's done.
We'll certainly be here, you thought, until he's explained that independence is a cure for recession, indigestion, Craig Levein's selection problems, blocked drains, failed industrial policies, and every injustice.
Would it involve the EU, however? We had thought of that. We were simply living in the desperate hope that Lamont had not. But her brush with subtlety had been fleeting.
Here we went again. Regaining independence, Scotland would have to queue cap in hand at the EU's back door begging for admission and a mandatory euro suppository. What's more, claimed Labour's leader, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the commission, had just said as much.
He had certainly said something. Whether the esteemed president understood quite what he was saying might be another matter. Lamont, as is the Unionist way, had heard what she wanted to hear.
Labour's leader was a student of history, once upon a time. Presumably she missed the class when they explained that Scotland didn't apply for membership to something called Britain. Perhaps they also forgot to explain that restored independence is not the same as the creation of a new state.
What Lamont really wanted, in any case, was a chance to goad Salmond about the legal advice he has had concerning independence and Europe.
He invokes the ministerial code; the opposition say he's trying to kick a can of worms under the desk.
For Labour, this is the usual SNP hubris. "Only Alex Salmond is right all the time," as Lamont said, sarcasm set to maximum. He answered with a "guarantee" – redeemable in euros, no doubt – that all things legal will be revealed with the independence white paper.
It could have been worse. Barroso could've said he'd be delighted to see us signing up for Europe's economic nightmare. Neither party has a policy for that possibility.
Contextual targeting label:
