Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Welfare cuts set to cost Scots £1.1 billion a year
- Scottish Parliament to elect First Minister
- Fear over exams postcode lottery
- Sillars calls for war crimes bill
- Cameron and Davidson in Downing Street meeting
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Police in England and Wales warn rural areas vulnerable to terrorist attack … BBC to remove 11,000 recipes from website … Call for nursing staff in England to fill in for doctors … Foreign ministers meet over Syria … Wildfire forces evacuation of camps near Fort McMurray … Han Kang’s The Vegetarian wins Man Booker International Prize.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Exams lottery claims ... Sturgeon stands for FM ... Statins could protect babies in womb from heart problems ... Explosions detected in Syrian gas fields ... Whisky exports decline but demand for single malts grows ... Maori skull to be handed over by Moray Council.
Front pages
Exclusive: in The Herald, Kate Devlin and Daniel Sanderson report on a university analysis showing what the UK Government’s welfare cuts will cost Scotland.
The National says FM Nicola Sturgeon has written to the Home Secretary in support of an Australian family facing deportation from Scotland.
The Mail has an exclusive on a “Commons love triangle” between SNP MPs Stewart Hosie and Angus MacNeil and Serena Cowdy, a writer for The House magazine.
The Evening Times reports on a gang attack on two men in Bailleston, Glasgow.
The Telegraph and The Herald picture the Duchess of Cambridge at the launch of Heads Together, a mental health awareness campaign.
The Times reports on research by the NUS in Scotland showing the number of students seeking help for mental health problems has risen sharply, with the average number seeking help per institution going up from 225 to 332.
The Express and The Herald report on think tank’s conclusions that there is a postcode lottery in exams.
The FT reports on investor Warren Buffett taking a $1 billion stake in Apple.
The Guardian highlights the deletion of recipes from the BBC website as part of bid to save £15 million a year.
Camley’s Cartoon
Camley finds the times and wanted posters a-changin’.
Need to know: a Midge minute guide to the election of a First Minister
Job title: First Minister of Scotland
Salary: £148,595 (David Cameron paid £143,462)
Candidates: Nicola Sturgeon and, reportedly, the Lib Dems’ Willie Rennie.
Previous post holders: Donald Dewar: May 1999 - October 2000; Henry McLeish: October 2000 - November 2001; Jack McConnell: November 2001 - May 2007; Alex Salmond: May 2007 - November 2014; Nicola Sturgeon: November 2014 - …
Job description: Head of the Scottish Government, chooses the Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers, who then have to be approved by the Parliament (parliament.scot).
Application process: Post must be filled within 28 days of election. Nominations open 09.30 today, close 13.30. At 14.00, the Presiding Officer will announce nominee names. Candidates have five minutes to speak, vote follows. Once a candidate is selected, each party leader speaks for five minutes each, lwith the successful candidate having the last word. For now.
Watch live at www.scottishparliament.tv or on BBC.
Afore ye go
"The next thing we know, the Leave camp will be accusing us of faking the moon landings, kidnapping Shergar and covering up the existence of the Loch Ness monster.”
Chancellor George Osborne, sharing a pro-EU platform and photo-op with Ed Balls and Vince Cable at Stansted, says the Leave campaign are trying to frame warnings against Brexit as a “massive conspiracy”.
"The votes that many people cast in Scotland's election were votes to ensure that the SNP government did not have a majority and were not in a position to seek to take forward a second referendum.”
Scottish Secretary David Mundell in Edinburgh yesterday. An SNP spokesperson responded: "As the only Tory MP in Scotland, David Mundell is just about the last person who should be lecturing others on a democratic mandate.” Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images
It's gone 3pm. Has anyone mentioned Hitler yet today?
— Iain Martin (@iainmartin1) May 16, 2016
Iain Martin keeps his finger on the Livingstone/Johnson/AN Other pulse
“A person with an equal right to stand in dignity on this planet”.
Angelina Jolie Pitt’s definition of a refugee. The actor and special envoy for the UN high commissioner for refugees was making a speech at the BBC radio theatre in London. Above, Jolie Pitt meeting refugees at the port of Piraeus, Greece. Milos Bicanski/Getty Images
while looking through old photos today, look what we found, Officer Cadet @RuthDavidsonMSP pic.twitter.com/sWXkSUIP41
— 32 Signal Regiment (@32SigRegt) May 16, 2016
25,036
The number of rest days owed to serving constables, sergeants, inspectors and chief inspectors in Police Scotland, according to figures obtained by radio station LBC. Mark Runnacles/Getty Images
#NationalVegetarianWeek pic.twitter.com/7l5lhpVxAl
— Luke McGee (@lukemcgee) May 16, 2016
On the menu this week...
"I consider myself to be independent. And I do not think I am less independent for making absolutely clear that I share the values of the Labour Party constitution and will seek to promote those values in any recommendations and findings.”
Ex-Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, the co-chair of a Labour review into anti-Semitism in its ranks, on why she has joined the party. Above, with prize-winning Scots writer Ali Smith at the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
"Hello, world.”
GCHQ, the Government listening post in Cheltenham, joins Twitter.
Feeling pleased with myself after catching mouse number two. pic.twitter.com/36UCYDasEh
— Palmerston (@DiploMog) May 16, 2016
Official: Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat, now a serial killer
“Unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct.”
What the New York Times says it discovered upon investigating Donald Trump’s relations with women. As part of its research, the paper interviewed more than 50 people over six weeks. Michael Nagle/Getty Images
“A lot of things get made up over the years. I have always treated women with great respect. And women will tell you that.”
Trump’s response. Above, a supporter. Matt Mills McKnight/Getty Images
Boris down there, preparing to announce new Telegraph column deal pic.twitter.com/Yo2MC94iMR
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) May 12, 2016
From the @independent's Tom Peck
I'd love to interview you too @HillaryClinton - we got on great last time we met..... @GMB pic.twitter.com/e9Uf67KQKt
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 16, 2016
And for his next interview after Trump...
Diary
PM World Economic Forum speech.
Home Secretary Theresa May speech at Police Federation conference.
Electoral commission publishes regular party donations update
Competition and Markets Authority publishes findings of its probe into unfair competition in UK banking sector.
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.
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