Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Labour in turmoil as Livingstone suspended
- Tommy Sheridan: I'm on way back to Holyrood
- Poll: Labour on course to beat Tories
- Who will be Holyrood's new Presiding Officer?
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Retired South Yorkshire officers told by colleagues to be ‘proud’ of their work in 1980s … Two Jewish peers accuse Labour over anti-Semitism … Economists back Brexit … Cameron and ex-union chief back In … Trust says graduates from England leave owing twice as much as students in US … Facebook reports near tripling of profits … E-cigs should be promoted as substitute for tobacco smoking says Royal College of Surgeons.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
South Yorkshire ... Call for action on homelessness ... Labour anti-Semitism row ... Economists for Brexit ... Solidarity unveils manifesto ... Blaze at Aberdeenshire mill ... UK Foreign Secretary in Cuba ... Cruz picks Fiorina as running mate.
Front pages
Exclusive: In The Herald, Health Correspondent Helen Puttick reveals the latest twists in the tale of a new IT system which is already three years late and £50m over budget.
The National pictures Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and says her manifesto launch was overshadowed by a poll predicting the party will finish third.
The Daily Mail leads on the same “bombshell” Ipsos MORI poll and says satisfaction with the Dugdale leadership is in “freefall”.
The Evening Times reports on the woman found dead in her home in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire.
GP services are in meltdown, reports the Times, citing research by the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland.
In the Telegraph, it is UK border security that is in meltdown, with the paper reporting that a Home Office computer system screening passengers crashed twice in two days.
The FT spotlights Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech in which he said US allies should be paying more towards a common defence.
The Guardian notes that David Cameron and former TUC general secretary Brendan Barber will today join forces to back the UK’s continued membership of the EU.
The Sun splashes on singer Susan Boyle, reporting that she will say sorry to BA staff after a row at Heathrow this week.
Camley’s Cartoon
Camley deploys zoology and psephology to sum up Scottish Labour’s fortunes.
Need to know
Viewers of the BBC's Reporting Scotland might have noticed some changes this week, starting with an hour-long programme starting at 6.30 each evening. It’s election time, of course, and the programme has been extended before to allow time for in-depth interviews between Jackie Bird and the leaders of the main political parties. But the music appears to have been given a tweak, too, to make it chime more with the network set up. This has also happened before, in 2014, but now the match has been made more obvious. Is there something we viewers should know? When BBC director-general Tony Hall appeared before MSPs on January 12 this year, he acknowledged that it was “time to make changes” to the coverage of news in Scotland, including considering a Scottish Six, and he promised his review would report in the Spring. We know pilot formats for a Scottish Six have been put together at Pacific Quay and rehearsals have taken place. Are we now seeing the beginning of the end for the old Reporting Scotland and the start of a new Scottish Six? Stay tuned.
Afore ye go
-11, +15, +36
Not a maths puzzle but the satisfaction scores for, respectively, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, the Tories’ Ruth Davidson, and the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon in an Ipsos Mori Scotland poll for STV. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
“We’re not suggesting she’s anti-Semitic. We’re saying she’s made remarks that she doesn’t agree with.”
Say what? A Labour spokesman on MP Naz Shah, above, being “administratively suspended” over her social media posts.
Another day inside the Labour party’s ‘rapid reaction force’. pic.twitter.com/nURBgoaHF9
— SimonNRicketts (@SimonNRicketts) April 27, 2016
"She would have voted to stay in. That's what she always did. There were two Mrs Thatchers: what she did and what she said … She knew that Britain's self-interest was inextricably interwoven with Europe and that's why she was personally responsible for the biggest sharing of sovereignty in British history - the Single European Act."
Former minister Michael Heseltine says the lady would not have been for Brexit. The New Statesman. The two pictured above in 1983. PA/PA Wire
"We made a mistake with the front page of our first edition, and we fixed it for the second edition.”
The Times on its failure to run a story about the Hillsborough inquest verdicts. Its sister paper, the Sun, boycotted on Merseyside since running false claims about fans, did not put the story on the front in any edition. Twitter
"I was completely duped - it came from an agency.”
Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, who ran the offending article in 1989, speaking yesterday. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.
"The duchess was interested to hear about the fact that I started spinning as I had two Samoyed dogs and when you comb them you get hair off them and it seems such a waste to throw it away.”
Elizabeth Lee explains dog hair spinning to the Duchess of Cornwall during her visit to the Royal Voluntary Service's (RVS) summer event GrandFest in London.
"I'm glad you take the English pronunciation of Farage rather than the rather poncey foreign-sounding one that he seems to prefer.”
David Cameron congratulates Labour MP Ben Bradshaw on pronouncing the UKIP’s leader's name as “Farridge”. Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
“Beyoncé released a surprise album called ‘Lemonade’ where she directs some of her anger at her husband, Jay Z. Yeah, an entire album where she yells at her husband. Or in other words - looks like Hillary's found her running mate.”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
“I sympathise a little with Hunt – he was born into military aristocracy, a cousin of the Queen, went to Charterhouse, then Oxford, then into PR: trying to get him to understand the life of an overworked student nurse is like trying to get an Amazonian tree frog to understand the plot of Blade Runner.”
Frankie Boyle on England’s Health Secretary. The Guardian. Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images
"Hillary Clinton said Pennsylvania is where she learned to shoot a gun. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders said Pennsylvania is where he learned to load a musket."
Those Bernie age jokes never get old for Conan O’Brien. John Sommers II/Getty Images
.@RISE_Scotland's campaign...vehicle...just passed my flat. I can confirm their loudhailer is working well & the cat is now under the bed
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) April 27, 2016
Guardian correspondent Libby Brooks finds herself in the line of Scottish election fire.
Diary
- Solidarity to launch Scottish Parliament election manifesto.
- Trading updates: Lloyds Banking Group, Weir Group.
- UK car production figures for March published.
- Nationwide Building Society house price study.
- Sajid Javid, Tata Steel, Greybull give evidence on steel industry to Commons Business Committee.
- Ruling on whether British citizens living in other European countries are legally entitled to vote in the EU referendum.
- Barclays AGM
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.
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