In your briefing today:

📣 The head of the International Energy Agency is warning the crisis being sparked by the Iran War is a huge threat to the global economy, equal to the 70s twin oil shocks, and say world leaders have failed to fully understand the scale of the problem.

Fatih Birol says the fallout could be compounded through interruptions to petrochemicals, fertilisers, sulfur and helium. The UK government’s Cobra committee will meet today to discuss the economic fallout from the crisis. (Guardian)

📣 Tehran has threatened to “completely close” the Strait of Hormuz after Donald Trump issued a 48-hour deadline, after which the US would attack Iran’s power plants. (That deadline is just after midnight tonight).

"If you hit electricity, we hit electricity," the Revolutionary Guards said this morning.

The Guards said the strait "will be completely closed and will not be opened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt." (Independent)

📣 One of Scotland’s leading economists is calling on political parties to be honest about “the gravest financial crisis since devolution” that awaits the government formed after May’s Scottish elections.

Sir Anton Muscatelli, president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has said he’s concerned Scotland’s politicians will not be honest with the public about “difficult trade-offs” required to address a “looming £5 billion black hole in devolved spending by the end of the decade”.

“It’s probably the most serious fiscal challenge that a new Scottish parliament has ever faced,” Muscatelli said. (The Times - gift link)

You don’t need to be a coder to make AI work for you. Subscribe to Mindstream and get 200+ proven ideas showing how real people are using ChatGPT, Midjourney, and other tools to earn on the side.

From small wins to full-on ventures, this guide helps you turn AI skills into real results, without the overwhelm.

Get Your Free Guide

📣 A policing failure has been blamed for fan unrest at the Old Firm Scottish Cup match at Ibrox earlier this month. (The Herald has the exclusive)

📣 The Scottish Greens want to abolish homework for primary school pupils, and exams in secondary schools, in a sweeping reform of Scottish education. (Herald)

📣 Three-quarters of people want the UK to produce oil and gas at home, rather than rely on imports, according to a poll produced for a UK offshore energy lobby group. (Scotsman)

📣 The Hope Street entrance to Glasgow Central Station reopens today, as the station continues to recover from the Union Corner fire next door. (STV)

📣 Four ambulances have been set on fire in London overnight, in what is suspected to be an antisemitic hate crime. (BBC)

📣 New York’s LaGuardia airport has been closed after a plane - an Air Canada Express flight - and a ground vehicle collided. The plane, which had 70-90 people on board, suffered significant damage, with images from the scene showing the front of the aircraft very badly damaged. There are no reports, yet, of casualties. (BBC)

📣 France’s far right is struggling in municipal elections, with significant gains for the traditional left and right - and especially the socialists (Independent)

⚽️ Have Celtic fallen out of the title race? They lost 2-0 with a dismal display in Dundee yesterday afternoon, and some of their fans are fearing the worst.

But, with only five points between Celtic and Hearts (Rangers sit second, three points off the top), and with all the sides to play each other one more time, there are a few twists and turns to come.

⚽️ Manchester City won the League Cup final, beating Arsenal 2-0 and putting all the pressure on the London side as they look to win the league. (BBC)

⚽️ Spurs continued their tumble towards the Championship with a humbling 3-0 defeat, at home, against fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest. (Guardian)

⚽️ Eddie Howe’s managerial coat is on a shaky peg after his Newcastle side - dubbed “pathetic, weak and lazy” - lost at home to Sunderland 2-1, in a Tyne-Wear derby marred by crowd violence and accusations of racist abuse towards a player. (Independent)

🗣️US President Donald Trump upped the stakes by threatening to hit Iran’s civilian power network if it doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.

Patrick Wintour, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, was quick to point out that the US has continuously described Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure as a breach of international humanitarian law.

Tonight, points out Wintour, Lord Hermer - the Attorney General - is giving a lecture at Manchester University in defence of international law.

“So hours before this attack is due to take place - to which Iran has already said recklessly it will respond by striking desalination plants across the Gulf - Hermer has an opportunity to warn both actions would probably be seen as a war crime, and also utterly contrary to the UK policy of de-escalation,” he writes. (Twitter)

🗣️Lord Kim Darroch was UK Ambassador to the US from 2016 to 2019: he warns in the Observer that Britain needs to find ways to defend itself that don’t involve the US. It follows a week of “extraordinary headlines on both sides of the Atlantic,” he writes, as Europe refused to help the US with the Strait of Hormuz.

There are lots of good reasons for Europe to say no to Trump, not least that - in his words - “they do not have confidence in his leadership. They consider him impulsive, erratic and capricious; and they simply do not trust his judgment.” (Observer)

🗣️Michael Grant offers a useful primer on Ultra culture - football’s fast-growing subculture which was behind the recent violence at the Rangers-Celtic Cup match, but has been there - all masks, coordinated singing and pyrotechnics - for years, and grown fast since Covid.

Aren’t they just hooligans with stronger visuals? Some counsel caution. Derek Watson, chair of Motherwell’s Well Society and a former ultra himself, tells Grant the ultra scene is “extremely nuanced”

“I don’t think there is a ‘one size fits all’ thing,” he tells Grant. “There is good and bad in wider society and good and bad in the ultras scene. It is very important not to tar everyone with the same brush.” (Times - gift link)

🗣️ It might feel like the world is violently anti-intellectual. But, according to Jess Cartner-Morley, pop culture is saying clever is the new cool, with models toting Camus backstage, actors being photographed on red carpets as they clutch a paperback, and singer Dua Lipa’s producing a series of author interviews, “which are superb”.

‘This is real,’ says trend forecaster Lucie Greene. ‘There is a backlash against visually focused lifestyle content, which has become so co-opted by brands. Gen Z want more. They want knowledge. They want to go deep down the rabbit hole, on podcasts and on Reddit as well as on TikTok and YouTube.’ Meet you behind the bike sheds to discuss Walter Benjamin over a cigarette, babe.” (Guardian)

🗣️Saturday Night Live came to the UK this weekend… and it went down quite well. In the Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave it three stars and said it could have been a lot worse. And she expects it to get a lot better as it settles into its (brief) run.

In the Times, Charlotte Ivers is harder on the show, proposing a drinking game for when you’re at a friend’s house watching the show: “Take a shot of vodka every time you properly laugh out loud. Then drive home”.

Ouch.

The BBC has a roundup of reviews - they’re not all as acerbic.

Sent this by a friend?