Hello and welcome to The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Chief nurse condemns rudeness among staff
- MPs debate call to ban Trump
- Corbyn ridiculed over Trident “no warheads” policy
- Row over 1:99 wealth split
- Idris Elba (above) calls for more diversity on British TV
- Who is the mysterious El Gato?
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Tennis chiefs deny match fixing allegations suppressed … Cameron backs English lessons for migrants … 1050 jobs to go at steel plants in Wales … Americans abducted in Baghdad …Dementia care criticised … NHS England to impose 20% sugar tax …Richest one per cent owns more than everyone else.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
MPs to debate Trump ban but no vote … Tennis match fix allegations … New treatment for MS … MSPs want Scotland removed from Trade Union Bill scope … Baghdad abductions … MSPs call for co-operation over North Sea oil industry … Oxfam wealth report …
The front pages
Exclusive: Herald health correspondent Helen Puttick reports on a plea from Scotland’s most senior nurse, Professor Fiona McQueen, for an end to unfriendly or unwilling behaviour among staff. Inside, UK political correspondent Kate Devlin details criticism of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for suggesting Trident subs could be sent to sea without nuclear warheads.
The Sun has the “no warheads” story, saying Mr Corbyn has blown up Labour’s final chances of credibility.
The FT, meanwhile, says the bill for Trident renewal has jumped from £25 billion to £31 billion.
The National highlights SNP calls for the MoD to stop nuclear convoys travelling through Scottish towns.
The Evening Times reports on Glasgow’s battle against litter.
The Telegraph leads on the Sunday Herald story about cadet units in schools. An SNP source said of the UK plan: “There’s no way we’re having this cannon fodder scheme in schools.” The search is now on, says the Telegraph, for the source.
The Scottish Daily Mail says patients are waiting for nearly 24 hours in A&E at some hospitals.
The Guardian reports on NHS England’s plan for a sugar tax on drinks and snacks in cafes and vending machines. Money raised would be spent to improve staff health.
The Times says the Scottish Government is considering cracking down on “multi-buy” sweet promotions.
The Scotsman says confidence among small businesses has fallen to its lowest level in three years.
The Daily Record and the Sun lead on the murder of 21-year-old Jamie Johnstone in Glasgow at the weekend.
Camley's cartoon
Camley targets Jeremy Corbyn’s Trident policy
Need to know
Oh for the good old days of 7:84, when 7% of the UK owned 84% of the wealth and outrage was such that Scotland used the stat as the name of theatre company (above). Today, following a survey by Oxfam, that wealth divide can now be summed up as 1:99 (one per cent of the world owns as much as the other 99%) or 62:3.5 billion (62 people own as much as half the world’s poorest). That latter figure is down from 388:3.5 billion five years ago. Can we now declare the trickle down theory of economics to have gone the way of the dodo?
Diary
- Commons: Channel 4 Diversity event with Idris Elba.
- Commons: Work and Pensions Committee questions Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann on the new state pension.
- Commons: MPs debate petitions on excluding Donald Trump from the UK. No vote.
- London: Education Secretary Angela Constance to address the 2016 Education World Forum.
- Edinburgh: Ruth Davidson school visit to promote party plans for better state school education in Scotland.
- Dundee: Launch of the Creative Industries In Scotland report by the Scottish Affairs Select Committee.
- Yorkshire: David Cameron speech on social integration and countering extremism.
- Commons: Labour MP Frank Field launches report on welfare reform.
Talk of the steamie: the comment sections
David Torrance in The Herald looks at how a reformed federal UK would strengthen the Union, while Rosemary Goring is dismayed over anti-abortion protests in Glasgow.
In the Telegraph, Gerard De Groot, professor of history at St Andrews, writes in praise of understated patriotism.
Under the headline “We won’t let women be second class citizens”, PM David Cameron writes in the Times about insisting migrants learn English.
Edward Luce in the FT says the next few weeks, including the Iowa primaries, should show if the rise of Donald Trump is silly season froth - or not.
Chris Deerin in the Scottish Daily Mail outlines how the Brexit vote could become an accidental English referendum on Scottish independence.
Afore ye go
"They don't have to have nuclear warheads on them.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on how Trident nuclear submarines could be retained. BBC Andrew Marr show.
“Having a deterrent that has no ability to deter because it has no missiles is like having an army with broken rifles and no ammunition.”
John Woodcock, MP for Barrow and Furness
“Irrespective of the gender of anybody who goes out and smashes up any restaurant, I would think it’s completely unacceptable.”
Professor Louise Richardson (above), former St Andrews vice-chancellor, now vice-chancellor of Oxford University, on the Bullingdon Club. Ex members include David Cameron and Boris Johnson. FT
“No one would dare call me the thinking man’s crumpet today without getting a severe response from my friend Mary Beard.”
Joan Bakewell (above), Stop the Clocks: Thoughts on What I Leave Behind.
£1800
What ex-FM Alex Salmond was reportedly paid to appear on BBC1’s Have I Got News for You with Paul Merton.
£1500
What Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson was paid for the same gig on the Ian Hislop-led show.
“I was supposed to practise [the layers] last night but I was too tired and went to bed.”
Samantha Cameron gets her excuses in early for her Surf’s Up cake, made as part of the Sport Relief Great British Bake Off. Mail on Sunday
“I apologise unreservedly, it was a mistake in the heat of a sad moment”
Channel Four news anchor Jon Snow (second left) on shoehorning the phrase “I don’t believe it” into an interview with Richard Wilson (of One Foot in the Grave fame), on the death of his friend, Alan Rickman.
“It's a black and white cat. I always call it 'El Gato', which is just Spanish for cat. When I see the cat I say, 'Buenos dias, El Gato'. Actually, cats don't know their name, cats know voices. What he does respond to, when I ask him to come in, is the tune of 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree'. I whistle to it. I can't sing.”
Jeremy Corbyn interviewed by the Independent on Sunday.
“Yes, I would probably ban ‘The Donald’ because it would do him some good. He wants to ban all Muslims from the US. I want to ban all Donald Trumps from Scotland.”
Ex-FM Alex Salmond on the proposition before MPs today
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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