Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Front pages
In The Herald, political correspondent Kate Devlin reports on a think tank’s warning that more than a million Scots families will suffer a fall in income of £360 a year by 2020.
The Mail covers the conviction of a teenager and her boyfriend for the killing of Scottish mother Elizabeth Edwards and her daughter, Katie. “Slain by the child savages” is the headline.
The Evening Times takes a look at the growing problem of child obesity in Glasgow.
The Guardian says Theresa May has been warned by experts that pulling out of the EU customs union could lead to a 4.5% fall in GDP by 2030.
The Scotsman says house prices in Scotland have risen 4.3% compared to 8.4% in the rest of the UK.
The Times and Telegraph lead on Theresa May delaying a Heathrow decision for a year.
The FT reports that the pound had a good day after a government lawyer reassured MPs the Commons would have a final say on any Brexit deal.
Camley’s Cartoon
Camley ponders which is scarier - killer clowns or rising inflation?
FFS: Five in five seconds
What’s the story? The war of words over STV digital politics and comment editor Stephen Daisley has reignited. The original story, broken by The Herald’s Tom Gordon and Daniel Sanderson on August 19, said the broadcaster had been accused of gagging the journalist after pressure from the SNP, in particular from MPs John Nicolson and Pete Wishart. The SNP denied this. Read the original Herald story here.
What has happened now? Journalist Nick Cohen, writing in a Spectator blog, says the “silencing” of Daisley is nagging at Scottish journalism. “Everyone”, Cohen writes, from the STV and SNP to the BBC and National Union of Journalists, “behaves as if they are living in a one-party state”.
Elaborate? Cohen says this is not “a dictatorship with men in uniforms marching down the street. But a democratic one-party state like Scotland has become and England and Wales will soon be: a state where it is simply impossible to imagine the ruling party losing power. Everything changes once that prospect is glimpsed. Opposition seems futile. Media organisations adapt themselves to the new order. The best editors tell their journalists to hold power to account. The cowards and the jobsworths suck up to the elite in the hope of gaining commercial privileges or enjoying the quiet life.”
Cohen’s argument? Daisley’s opinions were his own, they were independent of party, and those who had a go at him for allegedly breaking Ofcom rules on balance are wrong, because the rules do not cover written opinion.
Anything else? Cohen details his recent Twitter exchanges on the matter with John Nicolson, above, who he describes as “a former BBC journalist in the tradition of David Icke and Paul Mason”. He also compares Scottish nationalists to Donald Trump, saying they “keep their supporters in line by assuring them that they are victims of a vast and mendacious media conspiracy that brainwashes the masses who would otherwise support them”.
Afore Ye Go
When TV goes wrong... With today being the anniversary of the formation of the BBC, we look back at some broadcasting blunders pic.twitter.com/qE5TEloyV1
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) October 18, 2016
Far from slinking away after showing footage of a gorilla while introducing an item on FM Nicola Sturgeon, the BBC has put the gaffe on a compilation reel.
"Neo-liberalism, deindustrialisation, free market ideology, Scottish poll tax, selling council houses and failing to act on early stages of global warming.”
The charge sheet for Margaret Thatcher, according to Manda Scott, former chair of the Historical Writers Association. The 45-strong body yesterday voted Mrs Thatcher the worst Prime Minister of the last 100 years. David Cameron was second, with author Tom Harper saying: "Neville Chamberlain had to contend with Hitler, Eden with Nasser: Cameron couldn't see off Nigel Farage.” PA/PA Wire
Exclusive: Sir Philip Green tells @Peston BHS collapse has been 'horrible, horrible, horrible period' for my family https://t.co/IK9Z6OICzP pic.twitter.com/30KbTlM2v6
— ITV News (@itvnews) October 18, 2016
MPs will debate the stewardship of BHS tomorrow.
#Labourreshuffle continues, you lucky, lucky people. pic.twitter.com/KKSi3f3Ok7
— Michael Savage (@michaelsavage) October 18, 2016
So what will happen first? Third runway at Heathrow, Brexit or Jeremy Corbyn completes reshuffle?
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) October 18, 2016
"We are a nest of singing birds.”
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s description of the three Brexiteers - himself, David Davis and Liam Fox - despite revelations that Mr Johnson had written a strongly pro-EU article before making up his mind to back Leave. PA Wire
https://t.co/lNK076Oxte via @telegraphnews Game, set and match to the Russians. What a balls-up. Shameful.
— Christopher Meyer (@SirSocks) October 18, 2016
A former British ambassador to the US writes on the RT affair.
"Do you agree that due to the uncertainty created on the future of EU citizens living in the UK and this Government's obsession with reducing immigration, it's now the case it's easier and more secure for EU nationals to become a citizen of Asgardia - a recently founded nation state in space - than it is to remain a valued citizen of a country where they have lived and contributed to for many years?”
SNP MP Hannah Bardell at Foreign Office questions. PA Wire
"I think the issue of the fate of such people is rather more serious than the tone you have adopted in the House today.”
Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan responds. Miles Willis/Getty Images for 9th World Islamic Economic Forum
"One dad told me on Twitter that his eight-year-old son had asked, 'Are you as good at dancing as Ed Balls?’ Me? A dancer! But I guess for young viewers who don't remember debates on whether Britain should join the euro or how fast we should cut the deficit, a dancer is - sort of - what I am!”
Yes, Ed. Radio Times. Ian West/PA Wire
"If he doesn't want to come then he doesn't want to come. It will be a big and nice party anyway.”
Permanent secretary Sara Danius of the Swedish Academy says Bob Dylan has not yet responded to the announcement, made five days ago, that he was being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS
“Of course, all of us here at Today wish Billy the very best.”
NBC’s Matt Lauer tells viewers Billy Bush, above, who appeared on the leaked audio tape with Donald Trump making lewd comments about women, won’t be coming back to the Today show. Craig Barritt/Getty Images for SiriusXM) Tweet @Todayshow
“He has a feeling he is going to lose. He knows it. But he’s such a flagrant, toxic narcissist he wants to take down the entire democratic system with him when he goes.”
Bruce Springsteen, in conversation with Matt Frei of Channel 4 News, on Donald Trump's claims the US election is being "rigged" against him. Anna Webber/Getty Images for The New Yorker
Meanwhile, the Twitter row between John "Half-educated Tenement Scots" Cleese and broadcaster Piers Morgan is hotting up:
He'd do a selfie with Bashar al-Assad if he got the chance... https://t.co/fV2RbQ1V5H
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) October 18, 2016
That would be marginally less brand damaging than doing one with you - you racist, xenophobic, elitist old bore. https://t.co/jTfioJGky7
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 18, 2016
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. Twitter: @alisonmrowat
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