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

Today

  • Insults fly as Trump goes toe to toe with Clinton
  • May urged to end Brexit uncertainty; U-turn on listing foreign workers
  • Academic warns over indyref2
  • Degree plans for New York campus falter

Front pages

The Herald:

In The Herald, UK political editor Michael Settle says David Davis will make a statement on Brexit to the Commons today after the SNP tabled an urgent question. 

The National says Police Scotland have issued a warning over the "killer clown" craze.

"Royal Mail helping conmen defraud elderly" is the headline on the Mail's investigation into scam post from abroad. 

The Herald:

Exclusive: Hannah Rodger in the Evening Times says an investigation has been launched into the handling of a child sexual abuse case. 

The Times leads on a warning to Theresa May from business leaders that her immigration policy could close the door on an open economy. 

The Telegraph reports the U-turn on foreign staff. See Afore Ye Go. 

The FT says Facebook's UK corporate tax bill of £4m on revenues of £210m has angered campaigners. 

The Record says Ineos boss Jim Radcliffe wants to abolish the morning tea break. 

Camley’s Cartoon

The Herald:

Camley finds a certain craze spreading right to the top. 

CLINTON V TRUMP: THE SOUNDBITES AND THE FURY

Highlights and low points from this morning's live, presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri.

THE NO SHAKE START

Clinton: “Hello, hello.” 

To Donald Trump as the pair pointedly did not shake hands. They did so at the end of the debate, but the point was made - these two cannot stick each other. 

'THAT' GROPING TAPE

Trump: “That was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologised to my family, I apologised to the American people, but that was locker room talk … I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.”

Moderator asks him: “Have you ever done those things?" [groped women].

Trump: "Women have respect for me. And I will tell you, no I have not, and I will tell you that I'm going to make our country safe. We’re going to have borders in our country, which we don't have now."

Clinton: “With prior Republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them on politics, policies, principles. But I never questioned their fitness to serve. Donald Trump is different ... [He is] not fit to be president and commander in chief. I think it's clear to anyone who heard [the video] that it represents exactly who he is."

Trump: “It’s just words folks, it’s just words.” Later, when speaking about Bernie Sanders' support for Clinton, Trump says: “I was surprised to see him sign up with the devil.” He also accused her of having “tremendous hate in her heart”.

BILL CLINTON

Trump: “What he’s done to women, there’s never been anyone in the history of politics in this nation who has been so abusive to women ... Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously. She brings up words that I said 11 years ago — I think it’s disgraceful, and she should be ashamed of herself." 

Clinton: "So much of what he just said is not right. But he gets to run his campaign any way he chooses. He gets to decide what you want to talk about ... When I hear something like that I am reminded of what my friend Michelle Obama said, "When they go low, you go high."

HILLARY’S DELETED EMAILS

Trump: "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. There has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it." 

Clinton: “Everything he just said is absolutely false. It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.”

Trump: “Because you’d be in jail.”

ON THE TWO MODERATORS’ IMPARTIALITY

Trump: “It’s nice to have one on three,” one of several complaints from Trump that he was not being given enough time.

MUSLIMS

Trump: “Whether you like it or not there is a problem. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them.”

Clinton: “There have been a lot of dark, divisive things said about Muslims. We’ve had Muslims in America since George Washington. We have had many successful Muslims. We’ve just lost a very special one in Muhammad Ali … We are not at war with Islam. It plays into the hands of terrorists to act as if we are.”

CLINTON’S (WIKI)LEAKED SPEECHES TO BUSINESS IN WHICH SHE SAID: “YOU NEED BOTH A PUBLIC AND A PRIVATE POSITION ON CERTAIN ISSUES.”

Clinton: “As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln." Citing Spielberg's movie, she added: "President Lincoln was trying to convince some people, he used some arguments, convincing other people, he used other arguments. That was a great — I thought a great display of presidential leadership."

Trump: “She got caught in a total lie. She lied. Now she is blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe never lied. That’s the big, big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.”

ON TAX CRACKDOWNS AGAINST THE RICH

Trump: “Why didn’t you do it when you became a senator? Because your friends benefit.”

SYRIA AND US INTERVENTION

Trump on his vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence saying the US should intervene over Aleppo: “He and I haven't spoken and I disagree.” Despite rumours on Twitter that Pence might quit, he backed Trump after the debate, calling it a “big debate win” for his boss. 

THE LOVE-IN

The candidates are asked what they admire about each other.

Clinton: “I respect his children. His children are incredibly able and devoted and I think that says a lot about Donald. I don’t agree with anything else he says but I do respect that.”

Trump: "I will say this about Hillary: She doesn't quit. She doesn't give up. I respect that. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter."

PRESS REACTION

New York Times: "Sniffing and glowering, Mr. Trump prowled behind Mrs. Clinton as she presented herself again as the only adult on stage, the only one seeking to persuade the great majority of Americans that she shares their values and aspirations." 

USA Today: "The most bizarre presidential debate of the TV age."

CNN: "Donald Trump will live to fight another day – but it took the nastiest, most bitterly personal presidential debate in recent memory for the Republican nominee to stanch the downward plunge ... The performance likely electrified his fiercely loyal supporters but may have done little to widen his appeal among more moderate swing state voters." A flash CNN poll on who won the debate put Clinton on 57% and Trump on 34%.

FT: "Despite the chaos since the damaging leaked tape, Donald Trump was at times more disciplined."

Next debate - University of Nevada, Las Vegas, October 19.

Afore Ye Go

The Herald:

“I can’t quite believe what I’ve just been witness to.”

Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood once again picks his jaw up from the floor after seeing Ed Balls execute a salsa in the character of Jim Carrey from The Mask. Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire 

The Herald:

“I’ve had so many kind messages from former colleagues from both sides of the House, including a text from Gordon Brown telling me he’s become a Strictly fan for the first time.”

Balls begins a diary of his time on the BBC1 dance show. Mail on Sunday. Geoff Caddick - WPA Pool /Getty Images

The Herald:

"I'm getting to like Ed Balls ... must lie down until the feeling passes.”

Lord Ashcroft, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Carl Court/Getty Images

The Herald:

"I live in a nice big house and eat nice food and my neighbours are homeless and go to food banks. Does that make me a hypocrite or does it make me someone who is trying to do their best not just for their own family but other people's families too?"

Labour peer Baroness Shami Chakrabarti is asked if she could be branded a hypocrite for sending her son to £18,000 a year Dulwich College in London. ITV Peston on Sunday. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images).

The Herald:

“Now there’s a new collective delusion, that Theresa May is the new Margaret Thatcher. Actually, she is the new Harriet Harman.”

Columnist Peter Hitchens believes the new PM is more New Labour pink that true Tory blue. Mail on Sunday. Jack Taylor/Getty Images

The Herald:

"This is not data that will be published. There will be absolutely no naming and shaming.”

England’s Education Secretary Justine Greening was one of two ministers, including Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, to back-track on the idea, floated at the Tory Party conference that firms would have to publish lists of foreign workers. ITV Peston on Sunday. PA

The Herald:

"Where appropriate, cannabis should be decriminalised for medical use and available on prescription. Conference calls on the UK Government to devolve the power to decriminalise cannabis for medical use to the Scottish Parliament.”

A motion from Ayr North branch of the SNP backing the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use will be voted on at the party’s conference this week. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Herald:

“Sometimes, my judgment has been faulty. Sometimes, horrendously faulty.”

Former Justice Secretary Michael Gove considers his crash and burn from government. The Times. Carl Court/Getty Images

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