Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Exclusive: UKIP plunged into race row
- Labour accuses PM (above) of ‘hypocrisy’ after tax revelations
- SNP says Cameron has lost trust of voters
- Lib Dems call on Sturgeon to shred China deal
- Scots graduate spin-out firms on the rise
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Labour and SNP on attack over tax revelations … Missing police officer, originally from Inverness: remains found in London … Second group of migrants expelled from Greece … Government rules out talks with striking junior doctors in England … Uber settles £7m California lawsuit over vetting procedure claims … Pope publishes document on the family.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Labour calls for PM to make statement to Commons on tax ... Remains found ... China deal defended ... Scottish Labour campaigns on spending, SNP on business, Tories on health visitors, LibDems on training ... Hand over for Scots steel firms ... Recruitment and starting salaries pick up ... Protestors disrupt Brexit rally in Glasgow.
Front pages
The Herald’s political editor Magnus Gardham has an exclusive on a prominent UKIP activist who has plunged the party into a racism row. Jack Neill, who stood for UKIP in Fife in the 2015 general election, said posing for the pictures was a “joke” and “something that one does in their spare time”.
The National splashes on David Cameron’s admission to ITV News that he had profited in the past from a stake in his father’s offshore tax fund. The story also leads in the Mail, Telegraph, Scotsman, Times, i, FT, Guardian and Express.
The Evening Times reports that preachers at Glasgow’s biggest mosque are calling for tolerance of Ahmadis after the killing of the shopkeeper Asad Shah, while the Record says “hate-filled Islamic extremists” have been praising the killing online.
The Sun pixilates a picture of a man said to be at the centre of a celebrity sex scandal.
Camley’s cartoon
Camley sups deep of the UKIP race row. Read the story here.
Need to know
“Hello. My name is John Doe. Are you interested in data?” This was the first contact made between an anonymous source and the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The rest is proving to be media and other kinds of history as what could be the biggest data leak ever continues to send ripples around the world, not least in Britain. With one government leader gone (in Iceland), several others under pressure, embarrassment among the rich and famous and further investigations launched, the Panama Papers are shaping up to be this generation's Pentagon Papers, the famous leak of US Defence Department files on Vietnam. Published in the New York Times in 1971, the Pentagon Papers showed what had really been happening in South East Asia, and how it had been covered up.
Given the investigation, conducted by Sueddeutsche Zeitung alongside the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, took a year, with some 100 outlets involved across 75 countries, there could be much more to come. What is not in doubt is that the Panama Papers has been a shot in the arm for investigative, paid for journalism, according to reporter Frederik Obermaier of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, one of the team of five who was first approached. Interviewed by Alex Spence of politco.eu, he said: “If you look at media houses in Europe, I think nearly everyone is facing financial problems. But at the same time I’m really confident that investigative journalism, huge investigative stories like this, are a way of showing why people should pay for a newspaper, pay to use a website, to listen to a program.” Above: protests outside parliament in Iceland. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Afore ye go
“I advise you to apply for a postal vote and to enjoy the Glastonbury festival. I always like watching it from the safety of my television at home in front of a warm fire.”
David Cameron responds to an Exeter University student who asked him why he had called the EU vote when Glastonbury is on. Ian Gavan/Getty Images
“We don’t want the whole place infested with rats. We don’t want to see Scotland turned into Cairo or something like that.”
UKIP’s David Coburn, launching his party’s Holryood manifesto, on the need to restore weekly rubbish collections. A PR contract for Cairo (above) is not coming his way any time soon. Ed Giles/Getty Images
“I was quite pleased to see that there wasn’t the usual welcome committee waiting outside. Maybe this means that the political debate in Scotland has moved on to a new, somewhat more mature level.”
UKIP leader Nigel Farage shows he hasn’t quite got over that 2013 pub lock-in at the hands of Edinburgh protestors. Just to make him feel at home, there were protests at the Glasgow Grassroots Out rally later. BuzzFeed. Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
“A huge document leak has exposed shady financial dealings involving famous people like Vladimir Putin and Jackie Chan (above). I don’t know about you but I smell a buddy movie.”
Conan O’Brien on the Panama Papers. Kevin Lee/Getty Images
"They've found a few of my acquaintances and friends... and scraped up something from there and stuck it together.”
President Putin, pictured with David Cameron, dismisses the Panama Papers. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
"Let's leave the offshore trusts alone. Because if we start clamping down on billionaires who avoid paying tax to Britain, they might leave the country and avoid paying tax to somewhere else. And then where would we be?"
Mark Steel, Independent, above
“Next Thursday’s debate [between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton] will be at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Bernie says he chose the location because of its history, while Hillary liked it because it's remote, poorly lit, and close to the East River.”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as tensions grow between the two hopefuls. Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images
"Donald Trump said that acting more presidential would make his campaign 'boring as hell'. Though if he gets elected, I suppose 'boring' is the best version of hell we can hope for."
Late Night with Seth Myers. Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images
“You can go into the trolls’ timelines and see all the things they are into, and there's usually a lifetime of pain and inadequacy there.”
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh on Twitter. Above, with James McAvoy at the Filth premiere in London. Ian Gavan/Getty Images
"The family is grateful that this saga has now come to a close.”
Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, after a South African court ruled that the president’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, above, has no rights to his rural home in Qunu. Jemal Countess/Getty Images
"It is extremely fortunate that there was not a more serious outcome to his trip.”
Pc Tom Richardson of Surrey Police on the cyclist fined £50 for riding his bike on the M25 (caught above on CCTV). He was trying to get to Heathrow Airport.
"How about a conscience instead?"
heraldscotland.com reader Richard Holmes comments on news that Tory leader Ruth Davidson’s partner will be giving her a puppy when the campaign is over. Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
Diary
- Glasgow: Hustings at Unison conference. Speakers include SNP member Shona Robison and Labour member Jenny Marra.
- Glasgow: Nine D-Day veterans to be awarded Legion D'Honneur medals by the Consul General of France.
- City: ONS publishes manufacturing figures and UK trade data for February.
Thank you for reading. See you on Monday.
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