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

The Herald:

Today

  • Scotland “facing £3.5 billion black hole” from Scotland Bill
  • Clock ticking on fiscal framework talks, warns Sturgeon
  • Edinburgh University second in animal testing table 
  • Cameron’s EU negotiations enter crunch phase
  • MPs slate running of Kids Company charity
  • Selina Scott’s verdict on Trump

06.00 BBC Radio Four Today headlines

Tusk-Cameron talks … Public Administration Committee publishes Kids Company report … World Health Organisation to decide if Zika virus an international public health emergency … Syria peace talks start in Geneva … Iowa caucuses begin. 

07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines

Treasury to offer Swinney “Barnett formula” for tax and welfare … Tusk/Cameron talks … £12 million jobs fund for Aberdeen … Taskforce meets in Greenock over Texas Instrument job losses … Iowa … Henry blows in as eighth storm of winter.  

07.35 FM Nicola Sturgeon on GMS

Fiscal framework talks: "I want to get a deal .... I'm not asking for special favours".  

Front pages

The Herald:

Exclusive: Scotland stands to lose £3.5 billion from its budget within a decade if Finance Secretary John Swinney loses his battle with the Treasury over the fiscal framework underpinning the Scotland Bill, reports Magnus Gardham in The Herald. The warning comes from leading economist Professor Anton Muscatelli, who writes for the paper today. 

Exclusive: Psephologist Professor John Curtice takes to the pages of The National to crunch the numbers on tactical voting at the Holyrood poll. 

The Herald: Rachel Loxton reports in the Evening Times on the father and son struck by a private hire taxi in Glasgow. 

The Scottish Daily Mail says almost one in four SNP MPs have second incomes. 

The will-they-won’t-they talks between European Council president Donald Tusk and PM David Cameron make the leads in the Times, Telegraph and FT

The Sun and Daily Record, in common with all the papers, picture Sir Terry Wogan, who has died, aged 77. “Thank you for being our friend,” says the Sun.

Camley’s cartoon

The Herald:

Camley tries to bridge the gulf on the Scotland Bill talks. 

Need to know

The Herald:

Though you might be forgiven for thinking the 2016 race for the White House began when George Washington was a lad, the official starting gun is fired tonight with the Iowa caucuses. Promise. This is it. Honestly. Registered Republican and Democrat voters will start the process of selecting nominees at 7pm local time (1pm UK). The relationship of Iowa to the eventual presidential result is a bit like that of the Golden Globes to the Oscars - legend has it that one has a strong bearing on the other, reality suggests otherwise. Obama, for example, won in Iowa, but Bill Clinton lost. As did Reagan. What victory in Iowa, and New Hampshire next week, definitely do is attract publicity, spur donations, and give candidates momentum as they move towards the far more numerically important (in terms of delegates) March caucuses. As of last night, it was still too close to call between Clinton and Sanders, but Trump was edging it over Cruz. 

Diary

  • London: Finance Secretary John Swinney at Treasury for Scotland Bill talks. 
  • California: Google earnings released.
  • Aberdeen: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP visits Aberdeen International Airport to reveal investment programme. 
  • Commons: report on Kids Company charity published; Chief Coroner Peter Thornton giving evidence to Defence Committee on military exercises and the duty of care;
  • Glasgow: Launch of city campaign to win European Tree of the Year with the Suffragette Oak, Kelvin Way.

Talk of the steamie: comment sections

The Herald: Andy Muray

In The Herald, David Torrance says the Brexit debate is a no brainer: we should stay, while Marianne Taylor says the best way to support Andy Murray’s achievements is to build more indoor tennis courts. 

In the Mail, Chris Deerin remembers not breakfast with Wogan but many long, happy lunches. 

In The Times, former International Development Secretaries Andrew Mitchell and Clare Short highlight what is at stake for Syria as London hosts a fundraising conference this week. 

Andrew Nicholl in the Sun wonders whether the Scottish Government will go for the nuclear option if it does not get its way on the fiscal framework. 

Afore ye go

The Herald:

“Trump is a shark. A shark has no yesterday and no tomorrow. Just the next meal, the next victim to be destroyed and consumed. And a shark must keep moving or die.”

Selina Scott (above), who made a 1995 documentary about tycoon for ITV. He hated it. NBC now wants to buy the film. Mail on Sunday

The Herald:

“I am a progressive that actually likes to make progress.”

Hillary Clinton, campaigning in Iowa with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, tries to draw a distinction between her experienced self and rival Bernie Sanders. 

The Herald:

“The pundits say young people don’t vote. How would you like to make the pundits look dumb on election night?”

Sanders gees up the youth vote 

The Herald:

“If you're a young black man, you're more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university. There are no black generals in our armed forces and just 4 per cent of chief executives in the FTSE100 are from ethnic minorities. These examples should shame our nation and jolt us into action.”

David Cameron (above) launches what the Tories are dubbing “equality week”. Sunday Times

The Herald:

"Get on your toes, keep your wits about you, say goodnight politely when it's over, go home and enjoy your dinner”.

All there is to broadcasting, according to the late, great Sir Terry Wogan (at Wimbledon, above), whose death was announced yesterday. He was 77.

The Herald:

£18,100 a year

The fees for private Colet Court Preparatory School in London, which David and Samantha Cameron are considering for their son, according to the Mail on Sunday. Many pupils from Colet go on to Eton (above).

The Herald:

"It wasn't a glorious moment.”

Sajid Javid (above), Business Secretary, on the Google tax deal. BBC Andrew Marr

The Herald: Google Map Maker finally arrives in the UK

"It's very, very important to make it clear that the Bermuda arrangement has absolutely no bearing on the amount of tax that we pay in the UK.”

Google's vice president of communications and public affairs, Peter Barron, responding to an Observer report that Google’s earnings, published today, will show £30 billion of profits held in the tax haven of Bermuda. BBC Andrew Marr

The Herald:

“A lot of people are upset because in a new movie, Michael Jackson will be played by British white actor Joseph Fiennes. They’re also not thrilled about the new James Brown biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch.”

A tongue-in-cheek Conan O’Brien raises an eyebrow about recent casting decisions

The Herald:

"Well I suppose asking for an internet connection is probably outside the rules.”

Microsoft founder Bill Gates (above), Desert Island Discs. He went instead for DVDs of “all the world’s great lectures”. 

Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.