Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Poll: UK voters fear Scottish indy more than Brexit
- Sturgeon defends referendum stance
- Turmoil in UKIP as Coburn called on to quit
- Tory leader warns business tax will cost jobs
- All eyes on Indiana as Trump readies for win
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Leicester win the Premier League … Schools in England hit by parent protest over tests … Think tank says budget cuts jeopardising Universal Credit … Trump poised to take Indiana … Mortality gap in England widens… ‘Bank of mum and dad’ to hand over £5bn to help with offsprings’ mortgages.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Party leaders criss-cross country ... Independent inquiry into death of Bailey Gwynne begins ... Rally held for Scot jailed in India ... Wind generation powers ahead ... BA flights from Heathrow to Inverness restart ... Leicester City.
Front pages
Exclusive: In The Herald, Kate Devlin reports a poll for the paper showing twice as many UK voters are more concerned about keeping Scotland within the UK than they are about Brexit.
The National spotlights the death in custody of Sheku Bayoh one year ago. The family’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, has accused Police Scotland of closing ranks.
The Daily Record has a poll putting Labour and the Tories tied in second place.
The Times says Bill Clinton is getting ready to visit Britain to back staying in the EU. His campaign partner? Tony Blair.
The Daily Telegraph says Labour has suspended 50 members over anti-Semitic and racist comments.
The Daily Mail has news of former Treasury chief Danny Alexander, saying he is one of severel ex-ministers and mandarins to have crossed over to lucrative private sector jobs.
The Guardian reports on the case of a French worker claiming compensation for being bored out of his mind. Frederic Desnard, made redundant 18 months ago, wants £280,000 in compensation and damages.
The Sun features £148m lottery winner Gillian Bayford who says the fortune tore her family apart.
The FT says the US is surging ahead in robotics, with investment more than doubling last year to $587m.
Camley’s Cartoon
Camley finds the words on the street on independence are mibbes aye, mibbes naw.
Need to know
“Make no mistake - Indiana is absolutely pivotal.” This was the SOS in an email from Republican hopeful Ted Cruz to supporters ahead of today’s primary. His aim? Contributions. His mission? Increasingly desperate.
“If we don’t go all in now,” said Cruz, “come November we will watch Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by historic margins and win the presidency.”
But it is not looking good for Cruz. His ratings are nowhere near where they have to be, with an NBC News poll putting him at 34% to Trump’s 49%. More generally, there is a sense of ill fortune about the campaign, as though nothing they do or say can break Donald Trump’s winning streak. Cruz choosing Carly Fiorina as a running mate was meant to take the headlines from Trump, for example. She has made the headlines all right, but only by falling off the stage shortly after introducing him at a campaign event. For those in search of metaphors, they don’t come more obvious.
Carly Fiorina falls off stage at Ted Cruz's Indiana event https://t.co/skcrLkVXuu pic.twitter.com/J8m3avZYe4
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 2, 2016
As for the numbers, Trump needs 1237 to win the nomination outright. If he takes Indiana’s 57 delegates he passes the 1000-mark, leaving him sitting pretty in upcoming contests in New Jersey and California. Donald Trump as the Leicester City of US politics? As Sarah Palin, the woman who almost certainly will not be his running mate would say, you betcha.
Afore ye go
£58,000
The cost of hiring security for Nigel Farage on his five-gig ‘Say No to the EU’ tour.
"I'm still friends with Boris, just perhaps not such good friends”.
David Cameron on his pal the Brexiteer.
“Take Your Kid to Work Day is a great opportunity to teach your children why you come home miserable every night.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live
I think @willie_rennie may have enjoyed his karting experience #SP16 pic.twitter.com/OK0noxDhim
— Alan Smith (@Political_AlanS) May 2, 2016
"The ongoing allegations of personal bias and the bypassing of independent assessment remain extremely damaging to David personally and to the wider party.”
Trouble at UKIP mill again as its top Lothian candidate, Alan Melville, calls for the removal of Scottish leader David Coburn, above.
"I apologise for any offence caused.”
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on comments he made on Twitter after viewing a Quentin Tarantino movie. He tweeted: ”Watching Django Unchained - A Ballymurphy N*****!”
“I have a lot of experience dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak."
Hillary Clinton’s comments prompted immediate criticism from Native Americans whose ancestors were forced into reservations in the nineteenth century. Donald Trump weighed in too, saying: “If I made that statement about women, then there’d be front page headlines.” Donovan Slack, USA Today
I predict by the year 2019, every single item in the news will be about someone who did/didn't apologise for something they wrote on twitter
— Mark Steel (@mrmarksteel) May 2, 2016
“During his foreign policy speech, Donald Trump mispronounced Tanzania and called it ‘Tanzainia’. Then his wife Melania was like, ‘That's nothing. My name is actually Kathryn’.”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
A New Zealand Rugby sleepsuit
Prince Harry’s gift to his niece Charlotte on her first birthday. David Cameron gave her a copy of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales.
"The question that we want to ask Sir Philip Green is 'you bought BHS, took enormous sums out of the business, the pension scheme went from surplus to deficit and then you sold it for a pound to somebody who was twice bankrupt and who had no experience whatsoever of the retail sector - is that appropriate stewardship of a big, important company?’"
Iain Wright, chair of the Commons Business Select Committee, which has asked Sir Philip Green and his wife Tina to give evidence to an inquiry into the collapse of BHS.
Tories reveal teaser trailer for their 2020 general election campaign. pic.twitter.com/nqBXkY7Rcm
— Tom Harris (@MrTCHarris) May 2, 2016
From former Labour MP Tom Harris
Diary
- London: BMA to hold emergency meeting to discuss the "funding and workforce crisis across the UK health service”.
- City: Interims: Aberdeen Asset Management.
- London: Putin critic Bill Browder gives evidence to Home Affairs Select Committee on proceeds of crime.
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.
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