Hello and welcome to The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics in Scotland and elsewhere.

The Herald:

Today 

  • Council chief: Middle class sheltered from cuts
  • SNP MP backs halfway house to indy
  • Revealed: how the Sturgeon factor hit Labour
  • MPs tell charities to clean up act or else
  • BBC considers passing round hat on licence fee
  • Outrage over wristbands for asylum seekers

06.00 BBC Today headlines

Adidas 'to axe IAAF sponsorship early' … Asylum seekers in Cardiff in wristband complaint … MPs warn charities new regulator is last chance for voluntary regulation … Afghan president urges start of peace talks with Taliban… Clear-up begins in US after blizzard … BBC could ask over-75s to give up free licence or make contribution.  

07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland 

"Adidas pulls out' ... Swinney to update Scottish Affairs Committee on powers progress ... Isis video released ... Charities warned ... Clamp down on disabled parking abuse ... £10 million for food and drinks firms expansion. 

Front pages

The Herald:

Cosla’s outgoing chief executive tells The Herald’s Gerry Braiden about the uneven impact of cuts on services. Michael Settle reports on SNP MP Angus Brendan MacNeil’s backing for a new, federalism-inspired Act of Union as a halfway house to independence. 

The National highlights SNP concerns about the multi-billion cost of refurbishing the Westminster parliament. 

The Herald: A Glasgow man bought a laptop and two mobiles - only to find bottles of juice inside the boxes, reports Rebecca Gray in the Evening Times

The Scottish Daily Mail says SNP MP Ian Blackford, who has criticised cold-calling, is linked to a firm being investigated for the practice.  An SNP spokesman told the paper: “The company received a small number of complaints and changed the way they operate to resolve the issue.”

The Guardian pictures one of the red wristbands being used in Cardiff to show asylum seekers’ entitlement to three meals a day. The row follows outrage over an alleged “red door” policy in Middlesborough. 

The Times reports that Chancellor George Osborne is to join forces with Bill Gates in a £3 billion plan to eradicate malaria. 

The Sun splashes on a robbery at a convenience store in Yoker, Glasgow, in which a shopkeeper was shot in the leg. 

The Daily Record reports that Scots RAF veterans are taking the Ministry of Defence to court alleging that the chemicals they had to work with caused cancer. 

The FT says the Labour chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, is to call on Google and HMRC to explain the £130m tax deal announced at the weekend. 

Camley’s cartoon

The Herald:

Camley spies a backseat driver to the Scotland Bill. 

Need to know

The Herald:

Prepare to contain your excitement, for today marks a milestone in the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections in May. Yes, there are just 100 days of campaigning left till the polls open. From now there will barely be a school, workplace, or pensioner lunch club that escapes the attention of MSPs. The strategies of the three main parties might be summed up as follows. Labour: talk down expectations in advance of drubbing to come. Tories under Ruth Davidson (above): talk up expectations in hope of not looking silly over second place claims. And the Scottish Government? Avoid all talk that suggests complacency.

Diary: 

  • Independent Commission for Competitive and Fair Taxation, set up by the Tories, publishes findings.
  • Commons: Adjournment debate: Financial Ombudsman Service and Strathclyde mining group pensions, SNP MP Marion Fellows.
  • Perth: Scottish Affairs Committee, with John Swinney MSP.
  • London: Freedom of Information Commission takes evidence. Witnesses include Dominic Grieve, Liberty, the Campaign for Freedom of Information, Society of Editors, Press Association and Taxpayers Alliance. 
  • London: Press conference with former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed and lawyers Amal Clooney and Ben Emmerson.

Talk of the steamie: the comment sections

The Herald: More monkey business: Zach Galifanakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in The Hangover Part II.

David Torrance in The Herald spies a new political animal - the Champagne nationalist, while Linda Kennedy reports on North Korea’s claim that it has invented hangover free alcohol. Too late for The Hangover boys (above). 

Lucy Kellaway in the FT says never mind dry January - cut down on those excessive hours at work instead.

Boris Johnson in the Telegraph says Google’s £130million bill is a start but the UK government must go further. 

Deputy FM John Swinney takes to the Times to tell councils “there is no justification for increasing income tax or council tax”. 

Afore ye go

The Herald:

"I'm just here 'cause he's promised me a spot in his cabinet. And I belong in a cabinet 'cause I'm full of spice and I've got a great rack.”

Tina Fey’s spoof of Sarah Palin endorsing Trump, Saturday Night Live. Above: the real Palin/Trump deal.

The Herald:

“She’s fun. She just says what she wants. It’s like her mouth starts driving before her brain gets in the car.”

The spoof Trump (as played by Darrell Hammond, out of character above) on the spoof Tina. Saturday Night Live

The Herald:

"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.”

The man himself at an Iowa rally at the weekend

The Herald:

£25,000 plus

What it would cost to hire ex-Tory leader William Hague as a speaker. David Blunkett is available for £2500. The Sun

The Herald:

“They are still using Britain as a branch office. They have kept their artificial financial structures in place and those are there for no other purpose than to avoid tax.”

Labour’s Margaret Hodge, former Public Accounts Committee chair, is not impressed by Google’s £130 million backdated tax bill. The firm has £7 billion profits. 

The Herald:

“Of course I would be tempted. I love running things and I love Jeremy.”

Ken Livingstone (above) on the chances of him returning to the Commons via a by-election. Sunday Times 

The Herald:

“I hope it is not just a marketing ploy.”

Filmmaker and proud punk Don Letts on a programme, sponsored by the National Lottery and the London mayor, to mark the 40th birthday of punk. FT

The Herald:

“Tory claims that he would be bossed around by Nicola Sturgeon resonated.”

From What Happened?, an internal party post-mortem on the 2016 General Election defeat, as seen by the Mail on Sunday

The Herald: Blizzard

Snowzilla

What the Washington Post dubbed the mega blizzard which hit the US east coast over the weekend, killing 19. Some 26.8 inches of snow fell in Central Park. 

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