Hello and welcome to The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Sturgeon accused of climbdown on national tests
- Chinese share trading suspended for second time in week
- Chancellor (above) dims mood on economy
- Brown comes out fighting for EU
- Salmond “earns most but gives more”
06.00 BBC Radio Four Today headlines
Osborne warning on economy … Chinese share trading suspended … Obama renews commitment to South Korea in wake of H-bomb claim … Red Cross warning of starvation in besieged Syrian cities … Cameron meets Merkel … £50m Lottery jackpot rolls over till Saturday … New car sales up.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Osborne gloom … Fears of further flooding in North East … Holyrood to tighten lobbying law and extend Scottish parliament term … Foster families needed for 800 children … California declares emergency after methane leak.
The front pages
The Herald splashes on the Scottish Government’s plans for national testing. Opposition parties have attacked Nicola Sturgeon because the tests will not be compulsory nor the results published. Elsewhere, the paper has an early look at Gordon Brown’s speech in Edinburgh today in which the former PM will predict Scotland could vote 70-30 in favour of staying in the EU. And ex-FM Alex Salmond’s pay packet is bigger than the Prime Minister’s (£149k) or First Minister’s (£145k), it emerges. “I may be the highest paid politician in Scotland,” he says, “but I am the one who has given far more to charities and good causes”.
The National’s front page has “went aw Scots” to mark a new column from poet Matthew Fitt. “Stairheid rammy: Labour faw apairt efter Blairites get their jotters” is the paper’s take on the Corbyn reshuffle.
The Evening Times pictures “father of the Clyde” George Parsonage, who is concerned about flood risk to the city from a build up of debris.
The FT leads on Chancellor George Osborne’s warning today that the UK faces a “dangerous cocktail of new threats” from an oil price slump, trouble in the Middle East, and the Chinese slowdown.
The Daily Record reports on the four year sentence given to a drunk driver. The widow of a 59-year-old man killed in the crash called the term “absolutely pathetic”.
The Times, Daily Telegraph, and Scotsman highlight Donald Trump’s threat to pull £700 million of investment out of Scotland if MPs ban him from the UK.
The Express says Scotland’s new chief constable Phil Gormley is not ruling out putting more armed officers on patrol.
The Guardian reports on increasing tension in Germany following a spate of sex attacks and muggings in Cologne and other cities at New Year. The alleged attackers have been reported as being of North African or Arabic appearance.
Camley's cartoon
Camley tunes into Alex Salmond’s new radio show
Need to know
It is barely a couple of months since George Osborne managed to find billions down the back of the sofa to ease tax credit cuts and be upbeat about Britain’s growth forecasts. So what accounts for him hitting the dimmer switch in a speech in Cardiff today? Outlining a “cocktail of risks” including the falling oil price (see Afore Ye Go), Mr Osborne will say: “Anyone who thinks it is mission accomplished with the British economy is making a grave mistake.” Speculation will centre on whether a gloomier Mr Osborne is paving the way for a renewed attack on spending early in the parliament, or an interest rate rise later in the year on the heels of the Fed’s increase. Though a move on interest rates would be the Bank of England’s decision, the Chancellor would not escape criticism once voters see their mortgage bills rising while wages putter or stall.
The diary
- Holyrood: FMQs. Debate on Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill. Debate on Lobbying (Scotland) Bill.
- Bavaria: PM speech at CSU conference in Wildbad Kreuth, before travelling to Budapest for meeting with Hungarian counterpart on EU reform.
- Commons: Energy questions. Debates on pensions and care.
- Edinburgh: Gordon Brown launches campaign for an In vote in the EU referendum.
Talk of the steamie: the comment sections
In The Herald, Iain Macwhirter finds plenty of questions to be answered on an EU in-out vote but precious few answers. John McLellan writes of the Ruth Davidson he knew when he was director of communications for the Scottish Conservatives.
In The Guardian, Yvette Cooper MP reports on the shocking conditions at migrant camps in France.
David Blair in the Telegraph says no country has the power to restrain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
ChildLine’s Esther Rantzen, writing in the Times, says unhappiness and low-self esteem among children has reached a shocking scale.
John MacLeod in the Mail asks if he is alone in tiring of soggy, mild winter and longing for snow.
Afore ye go
"He claims the show will be 'honest and straight-talking' - maybe his first guest line-up could include Michelle Thompson, Natalie McGarry and Phil Boswell.”
Labour MSP Neil Findlay welcomes Alex Salmond (above) to his new post as phone-in host at LBC.
$34.83 USD
The price of a barrel of Brent Crude fell to an 11-year low yesterday.
“Frankly, we don't need a lecture from Malta from you.”
David Cameron hits back at Jeremy Corbyn, who holidayed in picture postcard Malta over Christmas, for criticising the Government’s flood response.
“Even the Chancellor himself - a man I believe has got a bob or two - admitted that for his children he claimed child benefit. What a scrounger."
Labour MP Jess Phillips (above) during a Commons debate on benefits.
"In hindsight it would have been better if I'd come back as soon as I could.”
Sir Philip Dilley, chairman of the Environment Agency, on his failure to return earlier from a holiday in Barbados as parts of England flooded.
“It’s not smart, business-wise, to be opinionated. But then what’s the point in having a voice at all if I’m not going to use it for what I truly believe in?”
Actor Jennifer Lawrence (above) on speaking out about unequal pay in Hollywood. Glamour magazine
"Corbyn has no vision for the future of Britain. He offers no beacon to light the way. Politically, he has the candlepower of a glow-worm.”
Joe Haines, former press chief to Harold Wilson (above). The New Statesman
"Simon Danczuk whinges that left-wingers in the Labour Party are trying to destroy his career. He seems oblivious to the fact that they don't need to because he is doing that quite comprehensively himself.”
Ex-Tory minister Ann Widdecombe (above) on the sex-texting MP
"I am for sure. I don't cheat.”
Actor Samuel L Jackson is asked by United Airlines' Rhapsody magazine who was the better golfer between him and his occasional partner Donald Trump. CNN
“I don’t know @SamuelLJackson, to best of my knowledge haven't played golf w/him & think he does too many TV commercials - boring. Not a fan.”
But curiously The Donald denies they’ve ever been on the green together ...
Thank you for reading The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics in Scotland and elsewhere. See you tomorrow.
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