The Midge: fresh IT chaos for Scottish government, David Cameron at migrant summit in Malta, Scottish Budget date announced, Donald Trump debates with presidential hopefuls

• New IT glitch hits Scottish Government workers
• Tory-led Commons committee tells Chancellor (above) to postpone tax credit plans
• Cameron at Malta summit on migration
• Unemployment figures out
• Police Scotland call handling system slated
• Audit Scotland to probe Scottish Government’s £150k grant to T in the Park

06.00 BBC Radio Four Today headlines 

Russian athletics chief admits doping problem but says ban not the answer … 60 world leaders to gather at Malta summit on migrant crisis … Three charged in US with cyber attack … Republican presidential candidates clash over immigration … White British pupils least likely of any ethnic group to go to university, says study … Armistice Day today … Rare pink diamond sells in Geneva for £18 million to Chinese buyer.  

07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines 

Prime Minister to attend migrant summit in Malta … Russian athletics chief admits sport has doping problem… Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi writes to military seeking talks on reconciliation … Scottish Secretary David Mundell brushes aside Scottish Government fears welfare benefit top ups will be clawed back by Westminster … US prosecutes three for cyber attack … Edinburgh Airport to simulate explosion at fuel farm for training exercise … North East Scotland has some of the highest rates of pedestrian casualties in Britain. 

The front pages

The Herald's Health Correspondent Helen Puttick follows up her exclusive on the NHS 24’s failure to launch a new telecommunications system with news of more IT chaos. An insider said of the new computer system to log Scottish Government workers’ hours being withdrawn weeks after installation: “Every Scottish Government project to do with IT seems to run into difficulties.”

The Evening Times highlights the case of father-of-five John Murphy from Dennistoun, Glasgow, who has been missing since leaving for work one day in May. Mr Murphy’s son, also John, said: “We believe he is out there somewhere.”

The National has day two of the “Frenchgate” election court hearing. Alistair Carmichael MP denied attempting to smear First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with the leak of a memo falsely claiming she wanted David Cameron to win the General Election. The memo, he said, was “saying something about Scottish Nationalists that I believed to be true”. The Herald's report is here. 

Glasgow was among the cities on former Prime Minister John Major’s mind last night as he spoke of the “shocking” level of inequality in Britain, the Daily Telegraph reports. “Poverty isn’t only about empty pockets,” said Mr Major in a speech in London. “The poorest among us not only live meaner lives but shorter lives. In some of our great cities, Glasgow and Westminster among them, the lifespan of the poorest is 20 years shorter than that of the most wealthy.” The answer, he said, was more jobs that paid a living wage. 

The Times, The Scottish Daily Mail, The Scotsman, The Sun and the Daily Record splash on the report on the M9 crash which said Police Scotland’s plan to save cash by closing call-handling centres should be halted. The Sun and The Record quote the family of Lamara Bell, who lay injured for three days beside her partner, with her brother Martin telling The Sun: “The government are the ones that forced through the changes and the cuts which has led to this.”

The Financial Times leads on David Cameron’s EU renegotiation plans, saying he was open to scrapping his proposal to curb benefits for migrants if it was a deal breaker. The Independent reports on the “fury” of Eurosceptics at what they see as a climbdown. 

The Guardian splashes on the Tory-led Work and Pensions Committee report urging the Chancellor to hit the pause button on tax credit cut plans. 

The Daily Express highlights a report by the GMB which claims 8000 jobs will go at Scottish councils next year due. The cuts are due, says the union, to Holyrood-imposed budget cuts. 

Camley's cartoon

David Cameron's EU reform tactics come under Camley's gaze 

Need to know

The Scottish Government will publish its public spending plans for next year on December 16. The draft budget is normally out in September, but the 2016/17 proposals have been delayed until after the UK Government's spending review on November 25.

Talk of the steamie: from the comment pages

The Herald’s Ian Bell looks on David Cameron’s “woeful” tactics on the EU and despairs, while Susan Swarbrick, worth every penny and more, wants an end to the gender pay gap now. 

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has an insider’s account of the Scotland Bill’s passing, calling the six hours set aside for a matter of such importance a “scandal”. 

Former prime minister Gordon Brown attacks the Chancellor in The Guardian for cutting tax credits.

In The Independent, James Cusick examines the parallels between the Lockerbie bombing and the Sinai crash. 

Martin Wolf in the FT asks if better policies could have prevented the great crash of 2007-9. 

In The Times, Magnus Linklater buys a ticket for the tenth anniversary of the National Theatre of Scotland and wonders what is coming up next. 

Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail says the Prime Minister has set the bar low on EU reforms but is still going to trip over it. 

Finally, William Hague in the Telegraph urges leaders meeting in Malta today to keep an eye on population growth projections.  

The Diary

Holyrood: questions on rural affairs, food and environment, and justice and law officers; stage one debate on Succession Bill; Scottish Government debate on Scotland and Malawi.

Westminster:  Commons in recess; Jeremy Corbyn to be sworn in as member of the Privy Council; Mark Carney speaks at Bank of England’s open forum in London.

Afore ye go

"I have breastfed at Hampden Park in the middle of a football crowd, at bus stops and anywhere else my baby has been hungry. As a Glasgow city councillor, I breastfed my child in meetings, including committee meetings, and nobody had a problem with that.”

Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central (above), tries to persuade the Commons to change its policy on breastfeeding. She failed. 

“Great to see @georgealagiah back on the BBC Six - welcome back George.”

Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel Four news shows news anchors don’t need to lock antlers as he takes to Twitter to welcome Alagiah (above) back following cancer treatment.

"At least this bill has allowed me to decode her permanently appalled expression: she looks as if she’s just seen my internet history."

Frankie Boyle on Theresa May and new surveillance powers, The Guardian

"Anodyne, cringeworthy, predictable, rarely funny, toothless, lifeless…"

The reviews are in for Donald Trump’s appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live (The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter)

Thank you for reading The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics from Scotland and elsewhere. See you tomorrow.