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 think-tank warnings that workers face the longest period of stagnant pay for 70 years.
The same story leads The National, Guardian, FT and Scotsman.
The Mail says an increase in National Insurance thresholds, announced in the Autumn Statement, will combine with income tax changes to create a “double tax whammy” for Scots.
In the Evening Times, Stewart Paterson reports on a new transport link to Glasgow which promises to bring 43,000 jobs. Read the story here.
Spanish MEP Esteban Gonzalez Pons tells the Telegraph that any plans by Scotland to stay in the EU via a special deal will be blocked by his country.
The Times reports comments by former PM John Major that there is a “perfectly credible case” for a second EU referendum.
“Bosses passing the beak” is the headline in the Sun, which reports that the cancellation of T in the Park next year is due to more than protecting osprey breeding grounds. Rising crime and drug seizures must be tackled, a former top policeman tells the paper.
FFS: Five in five seconds
What’s the story? Margaret Thatcher had a plan to scrap the NHS.
Source? Papers from 1982, released by the National Archives this morning. These show that she was still considering the proposals, drawn up by a member of the Central Policy Review staff, even after the newspapers had got whiff of them, and after telling voters “The NHS is safe with us”.
What did the paper's proposals include? Compulsory private health insurance, charging for education, and, in a further move to cut long term spending, cancelling Trident. The ideas were put before cabinet, where, according to Nigel Lawson, Chancellor at the time, they caused “the nearest thing to a cabinet riot in the history of the Thatcher administration”. Other papers lay bare the Thatcher government’s zeal for privatisation extended to the North Sea. See UK political editor Michael Settle’s story here.
What happened to the NHS plan? The paper was supposed to have been shelved, but it now emerges Mrs Thatcher was still nursing the plans months later.
The outcome? A backlash among Whitehall mandarins led to the paper being quietly buried. The Tories went on to win the 1983 general election, increasing their number of seats by 38 and crushing Michael Foot’s Labour.
Camley’s cartoon
Camley has an idea that could be just the ticket for Scotland's long-suffering commuters.
Afore Ye Go
Nicola Sturgeon dons a fake moustache to mark Movember, the annual charity challenge for men's health which asks supporters to grow a sponosred 'tache. Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.
There are some very solid Movember efforts going about Holyrood at the moment. Liam McArthur's has air of a Sheriff in the old west pic.twitter.com/383NPo16RJ
— Philip Sim (@BBCPhilipSim) November 24, 2016
The BBC's Philip Sim is on moustache watch.
"I don't care about the reputation of this Government. But as a member of Her Majesty's privy councilI can't think of anything more damaging to the cause of constitutional monarchy than a 'Let them eat cake' attitude which prioritises the rebuilding of royal palaces while the people are struggling for bread.”
SNP MP Alex Salmond on the Government’s backing for a major revamp of Buckingham Palace at a cost of £369 million. Steve Finn/Getty Images. Commons Leader David Lidington replied: "I do think that you are in danger of going over the top here, not for the first time.”
A lemon sherbet dip dab is as close as I've ever got to cocaine.
— Gyles Brandreth (@GylesB1) November 24, 2016
Gyles Brandreth, a former Tory whip, confides.
“It can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain, cost-benefit analysis doesn’t stack up.”
Tony Blair on Brexit. New Statesman. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
£320,000
The amount former Chancellor George Osborne has earned from speeches in America in a few weeks, according to the latest register of MPs' financial interests. Andrew Matthews/PA Wire.
Look who I came across in the House of Commons: Cronus, the famous Tarantula. A picture exclusive? pic.twitter.com/9F53HQiJNr
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) November 24, 2016
Mr Osborne has also been busy with his camera, photographing the Chief Whip's pet tarantula.
Fine job, @George_Osborne. Keep it up, and I'll put in a good word with the picture desk for some shifts.https://t.co/Ndo1JZtcFO
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) November 24, 2016
The Sun's Tom Newton Dunn is impressed.
“A new report finds that protecting Donald Trump and his family is costing New York City taxpayers over a $1 million a day. Trump said: ‘Thank God I'm not a taxpayer!’”
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Back again! It's about time for @MrJohnNicolson to sit on the #bbctw sofa once more, said somebody somewhere (possibly him?) pic.twitter.com/QEiqDm4505
— BBC This Week (@bbcthisweek) November 24, 2016
Is someone suggesting the SNP MP is not backwards in coming forwards?
Charming! :) https://t.co/QOQ1ItltwC
— JOHN NICOLSON M.P. (@MrJohnNicolson) November 24, 2016
"The government of Iceland is concerned that our country's businesses are unable to promote themselves across Europe in association with their place of origin.”
Iceland's government has launched legal action against the British supermarket chain over the use of its name. Iceland claims that the supermarket has "aggressively pursued" multiple cases against Icelandic companies which use the word Iceland as part of their trademark. PA Wire
@RuthDavidsonMSP No, not normal, but we got it right on the TV graphics. We hope you are enjoying the show!
— UltimateStrongMan (@UltimateStrong) November 24, 2016
Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson paying close attention to detail here during her telly watching, and gets a speedy response to her grammar query.
'I know it's #BlackFriday but you're still paying for the carrier bags sunshine' pic.twitter.com/9g7ZzV06t5
— General Boles (@GeneralBoles) November 25, 2016
Thanks for reading. See you Monday. Twitter: @alisonmrowat
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel