Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere. 

Front pages

The Herald:

In The Herald, political correspondent Kate Devlin says Jeremy Corbyn’s allies have been warned they could kill off Labour in Scotland if they block plans to create a new Scottish seat on the NEC, the party’s ruling body.  

The National says anti-fracking campaigners are asking Scotland to implement a ban as the first shipment of shale gas arrives at Grangemouth. 

The Mail accuses Labour of being in “La-La-Land” over its “series of hard-left 1970s policies” including a £10 an hour minimum wage.

The Herald: In the Evening Times, Stacey Mullen reports on plans by a Celtic supporters group for a food collection to help poor families this Christmas. 

The Times and FT report claims from a German business chief that Britain will be better off after Brexit. 

The Telegraph pictures Sam Allardyce, the England manager, with the headline “England manager for sale”. The paper alleges he “used his position as England manager to negotiate a £400,000 deal” and advised “businessmen” - undercover reporters - how to “get around” player transfer rules. 

The Guardian leads on the trade in endangered species. The paper says the trade in animal parts is worth £17.5bn. 

Camley’s Cartoon

The Herald:

Camley wonders if it is plain sailing ahead for Scottish Labour.

TRUMP V CLINTON. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? 

The Herald:

Here are the some of the choicest soundbites, the juiciest digs, the plainest facts, and the plain old crazy from this morning’s 96-minute debate at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. 

AUDIENCE

Watched by an estimated 80m people, and the most streamed event on the internet ever. 

THE NICETIES

Clinton greets her opponent: “How are you, Donald?”

Trump settles on a way to address his Democrat rival: “Secretary Clinton, yes? Is that okay? Good. I want you to be happy. That’s very important to me.”

THE NOT SO NICETIES

Clinton [later on]: "I have a feeling that by the end of this evening, I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened." 

Trump: “Why not?”

Clinton: "Yeah, why not. You know, just join the debate by saying more crazy things."

Trump: “Typical politician. All talk, no action.”

Clinton, after Trump said she had been absent from the campaign for a few days: "I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be President. And that is a good thing."

HIS BUSINESS RECORD

Clinton: “He started his business with $14 million, borrowed from his father, and he really believes that the more you help wealthy people, the better off we’ll be and that everything will work out from there."

Trump: "My father gave me a very small loan in 1975, and I built it into a company that’s worth many, many billions of dollars, with some of the greatest assets in the world."

Clinton: "Do the thousands of people that you have stiffed over the course of your business not deserve some kind of apology from someone who has taken their labour, taken the goods that they produced, and then refused to pay them? I can only say I’m relieved my late father never did business with you… You’ve taken bankruptcy six times.”

Trump: “Look, it’s all words. It’s all soundbites. I built an unbelievable company.”

KEEPING JOBS IN AMERICA

Trump: “Under my plan, I’ll be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35 percent to 15 percent for companies, small and big businesses. That’s going to be a job creator like we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan."

Clinton: “Donald, I know you like your own reality, but that is not the facts.”

ISIS

Trump on Clinton’s publication on website of plan to tackle ISIS: “You’re telling them everything you want to do. No wonder you’ve been fighting Isis your entire life.”

Clinton: "Well, at least I have a plan to fight ISIS."

ON TRUMP’S TAX RETURN

Trump: “As soon as the audit is finished it will be released…. I will release my taxes, against my lawyers’ wishes, when she releases the 33,000 emails she deleted [from her private email server].”

Clinton: "Why won't he release his tax returns? Maybe he is not as rich as he says he is. Maybe he is not as charitable as he claims to be. Maybe he doesn't want the American people to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxes."

Trump: "That makes me smart.”

CLINTON’S USE OF A PRIVATE EMAIL SERVER WHILE SECRETARY OF STATE

Clinton: “I made a mistake… And if I had to do it over again, I would, obviously, do it differently. But I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake, and I take responsibility for that."

Trump: “That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely."

RACE, PROTESTS, GUN CONTROL

Trump: “Secretary Clinton does not want to use a couple of words - law and order.” 

Clinton: “It’s unfortunate that he presents such a dire, negative picture of black communities in this country.”

Trump on black community: "They’ve been abused and used in order to get votes by Democrat politicians, because that’s what it is. They’ve controlled these communities for up to 100 years."

ON FALSE ACCUSATIONS THAT OBAMA WAS NOT BORN IN THE USA 

Trump: “Nobody was pressing it. I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate. I think I did a good job.”

Clinton: "He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen ... You know, Barack Obama is a man of great dignity. And I could tell how much it bothered him and annoyed him that this was being touted and used against him."

Trump on how Clinton treated Obama during 2008 debates:  "You treated him with terrible disrespect and I watch the way you talk now about how lovely everything is ... it doesn't work that way. When you try to act holier than thou, it really doesn't work."

IRAQ

Clinton: “Donald supported the invasion of Iraq.”

Trump: “Wrong. Wrong. Wrong…. I did not support the war in Iraq. That is mainstream media nonsense put out by her.”

Moderator Lester Holt: “The record shows otherwise.”

Trump: “The record is not right.”

FITNESS FOR OFFICE 

Trump: “I have much better judgment than she does. I also have a much better temperament than she has. I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win."

Clinton: “Whoo! Okay..."

Holt reminds Trump he once said Clinton did not have the "look" of a president. 

Trump: "She doesn't have the look. She doesn't have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina."

Clinton: "Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina."

Trump: “She has experience, but it’s bad experience.”

TRUMP AND WOMEN

Clinton: “This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs.”

Trump: "You want to know the truth? I was going to say something... extremely rough to Hillary, to her family, and I said to myself, 'I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate. It’s not nice.' But she spent hundreds of millions of dollars on negative ads on me, many of which are absolutely untrue. They’re untrue. And they’re misrepresentations. It’s not nice. And I don’t deserve that.”

WHO WON?

A CNN/ORC poll had Clinton the winner by 62% to 27%

But some saw it differently ...

Next debate - October 9. 

Afore Ye Go

Labour defence spokesman Clive Lewis was reportedly going to defend party policy on renewing Trident - only for the leader's office to intervene.

The Herald:

“You can't pay your bills with a Saltire and you can't eat a flag.”

Labour MSP Neil Findlay tells conference delegates in Liverpool not to be “seduced” into believing the SNP was a party of the left that Labour should be doing deals with. Above right, Mr Findlay with Jim Murphy and Sarah Boyack at the Labour leadership announcement in December 2014. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

It's the way Andra tells them.

The Herald:

“We will engage fully with and are willing to listen to options from the Scottish Government as we formulate our negotiating position for leaving the EU. There should be no doubt: we will get a deal that works for us all.”

PM Theresa May says Scotland will benefit from Brexit. Holyrood magazine. Alastair Grant-WPA Pool/Getty Images

The Herald:

“The hypocrisy from Theresa May and her party is jaw-dropping. In June many senior Tories claimed a leave vote would diminish our power and influence, cost millions in lost jobs and investment and reflect a bad deal for Scotland. Now they are trying to pretend that Brexit is the best thing since sliced bread.”

A spokesman for Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP responds. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The Herald:

"Come on then, bring it on.”

Former Deputy PM John Prescott begins a combative interview with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

The Herald:

"There was a young fellow from Ankara. Who was a terrific w**kerer. Till he sowed his wild oats. With the help of a goat. But he didn't even stop to thankera.”

The winning ode in the Spectator’s "most offensive Erdogan poem" competition in May. It was penned by Boris Johnson, now Foreign Secretary, who is due to meet Turkey’s president Recep Erdogan today. Awkward… Leon Neal - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. Twitter: @alisonmrowat