Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Today
- Workers hammered by pay slump
- France in shock after priest murder
- Clinton wins nomination
- Ministers told to 'get a grip' on bed blocking
06.00 BBC Today headlines
Francois Hollande to meet religious leaders after terror attack … Counter-terror officers in UK urge faiths to be alert but not alarmed … Clinton nominated … NHS bill for consultant overtime soars … MPs warn of spike in migration pre-Brexit … Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith to push for greater equality for workers.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Hollande ... Scotland's health boards pay £20 million in consultant overtime ... Glaxo Smith Kline investing in UK sites including Montrose; follows Brexit warning ... 24-hour strike by oil workers ends ... Conservationists urge decision on beaver repopulation.
Front pages
In The Herald, political editors Magnus Gardham and Michael Settle report on new figures showing wages in the UK have fallen as sharply as those in bankrupt Greece since the global banking crisis. Workers are 10% worse off on average than they were in 2007.
“Tory Britain: There’s No End in Sight” says the National as it notes the Conservatives are now 16 points ahead of Labour in the polls.
The Times leads on the same story, saying more than two and a half million Labour voters now think Theresa May would make a better PM than Jeremy Corbyn.
The Mail says British churches have been urged to review their security following the murder of a priest in France. Father Jacques Hamel’s picture features on most front pages, with The Herald noting one of the killers was wearing an electronic surveillance tag.
The Evening Times pictures the £10,000 of damage vandals caused to Gowanbank Primary in Nitshill.
The Telegraph reports that the ban on British red meats being exported to the US, in place for nearly two decades, will be lifted in January.
Camley’s cartoon
Camley spies workers’ ships passing in the night.
Five in five seconds: Hillary makes history
1. What’s the story? Hillary Rodham Clinton has become the first woman US presidential nominee from any major party.
2. Major party? Women have run before, starting with Victoria Woodhull in 1872, but always for minority parties. The furthest any woman has made it into the major league is being nominated for vice president - Geraldine Ferraro (Democrats, 1984) and Sarah Palin (Republican. 2008).
ICYMI-- Hillary Clinton tonight at #DemsInPhilly": "We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet."https://t.co/mp1zXqgr7X
— New York Post (@nypost) July 27, 2016
3. Who did the formal honours? Her old foe, Bernie Sanders. The senator from Vermont asked for normal convention rules to be suspended so that he personally could announce the 68-year-old Secretary of State had enough votes to win the nomination. It was a boost for party unity in what has been a spiky week.
4. Any other high-profile backers? Husband Bill Clinton gave a speech that ranged from the personal (“In the spring of 1971, I met a girl”; “I married my best friend”) to the political, hailing the grandmother of two as a “change-maker” who had never been satisfied with the status quo, and contrasting the “real” Hillary with the one her opponents would like to portray. "The real one did more before she was 30 than most public officials in a career,” he said. USA Today describes the Clintons’ relationship as “a marriage that has been the most politically important since Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s –and the most fraught.”
Bill Clinton told #DemsInPhilly how he met and fell in love with Hillary in 1971.https://t.co/0YU3pgHKSP
— New York Post (@nypost) July 27, 2016
But Andrew Neil was not impressed...
Bill missed out bits of his life with Hilary in ways that would have impressed KGB censors.
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) July 27, 2016
Meanwhile, The Donald could not have cared less...
No matter what Bill Clinton says and no matter how well he says it, the phony media will exclaim it to be incredible. Highly overrated!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2016
5. Did Hillary appear? She was beamed in by satellite to the convention in Philadelphia with a message for the sisterhood. “I can't believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet. And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say I may become the first woman president but one of you is next."
Afore Ye Go
"We are faced with a group, Daesh, that has actually declared war, and we have to fight this war using all means possible. Of course we have to respect the rule of law, because we are a democracy.”
President Francois Hollande after the murder of an 84-year-old priest during an attack on a church in Normandy. Above, the president speaks to an emergency responder after arriving at the scene. France Pool via AP
“Our motto is: When they go low, we go high.”
First Lady Michelle Obama on dealing with bullies and other critics. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images
Michelle Obama has my vote for President in 2020.
— Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) July 26, 2016
Filmmaker Mark Duplass
“We need to be less timid … Jeremy and Tony have got something in common in that respect, neither of them has been very forthright when it comes to really radical policies to change things.”
Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith brackets messrs Corbyn and Blair together, possibly the first time anyone has done so. BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine. Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
Popped out to get a bottle of wine, saw a dog on a motorcycle.#Thailand pic.twitter.com/qfN94l3LGR
— martin geissler (@mmgeissler) July 26, 2016
The things an ITN correspondent sees...
"We know that farmers and crofters have serious concerns about proposals to release lynx and we would not consider reintroducing any such species without full consultation with all those likely to be affected.”
Roseanna Cunningham, Environment Secretary on plans to reintroduce lynx into the Kielder Forest. Above, cubs at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Shami Chakrabarti on whether she's been offered a Labour peerage. #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/asfzwwi5xu
— Ben (@Jamin2g) July 26, 2016
Newsnight's Kirsty Wark tackles Shami Chakrabarti on those peerage rumours.
"I am satisfied that there is nothing in your letter or in the information subsequently elicited by the deputy Serjeant at Arms which would justify regarding these events as a possible breach.”
Speaker John Bercow, above, tells Labour MP Seema Malhotra that her allegations of unauthorised entry into her office by staff from the leader’s and shadow chancellor’s offices do not amount to a breach of Commons rules. WPA Pool.
"It's only right and fair that Seema now apologises for the stress she has caused to my staff over the last few days.”
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. Jack Taylor/Getty Images
"Our clones, considering their age, were at the time of our research healthy.”
Professor Kevin Sinclair of Nottingham University declares the offspring of Dolly the sheep, Debbie, Denise, Dianna and Daisy, to be in fine fettle at the age of nine. Dolly, the first cloned mammal, had aged prematurely when she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis at a relatively young age, raising fears the cloning process would lead to harm. University of Nottingham/PA Wire
"Are you sure you're in one piece?”
Prince Charles’s question to astronaut Tim Peake after hearing of his six-month space mission at the Bristol centre of the Prince's Trust. Ben Birchall/PA Wire
RBS warns of negative interest rates for savers, meaning high street banks will now be outperformed by biscuit tins and shoeboxes.
— HaveIGotNewsForYou (@haveigotnews) July 26, 2016
Three entries in the annual All-Ireland Scarecrow Championships in Durrow, Co Laois, are effigies of a certain US presidential hopeful. Boris Johnson features too. The winner of the 3000 euro prize will be announced on Sunday. Niall Carson/PA Wire
“Make no mistake: what’s happening inside Labour is a civil war. Before long we will all have to choose a side. Sarah Champion has chosen hers. Twice. She’s a good, decent, clever woman, but she has chosen unwisely.” Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Former Labour MP Tom Harris on Sarah Champion who “unresigned” from the shadow Cabinet this week after quitting three weeks ago after calling Jeremy Corbyn’s position untenable. Telegraph
The war between Westminster’s top cats continued yesterday when it was reported that Palmerston from the Foreign Office had sidled into 10 Downing Street, only to be ejected from Larry’s lair by police.
Park has 6 new wolf pups. Still to be named. How about Huff, Puff, Blow, Your, House & Down? https://t.co/OlzqCgPjta pic.twitter.com/SSnEfpi1hI
— BBC Highlands (@BBCHighlands) July 26, 2016
And finally in animal news ...
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.
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