In your briefing today:

📣 Scotland’s state-backed national bank has racked up a loss of £138 million - its fifth consecutive full-year loss since it was set up - in results which are sure to spark concern about its investment strategy.

The Scottish National Investment Bank’s loss was driven by portfolio writedowns and the failure of five companies it backed - including rocket company Orbex, which collapsed in February.

An independent report last year said losses were to be expected at the bank because it was backing “propositions that might not otherwise take flight”. (FT (£))

📣 Well-wishers have raised more than £250,000 for the families of two police officers killed in the line of duty in a head-on collision near Middlesbrough. (Sky News)

📣 Jenny Gilruth, the deputy First Minister, has been accused of bullying after claims she sent a “scathing” email naming officials she disliked, with “Scottish government staff sources” also saying Gilruth has become more difficult to work with since her promotion from education secretary.

The Scottish Government has said the claims are “factually wrong” and that no such email from Gilruth or her office was sent. (Times)

📣 A “notorious far-right rabble-rouser” is trying to drum up support from followers in the US to fund Scotland’s growing tide of anti-immigration protests. (Daily Record has the exclusive)

📣 Scotland’s chief constable, Jo Farrell, has been told she has “lost the dressing room” - the confidence of fellow officers - by a senior colleague. (Mail)

📣 Glasgow City Council’s Chief Executive Susanne Millar is under scrutiny once more, after claiming failings over the “Beastie House” child abuse ring were not “catastrophic”. (The Sun)

📣 A think-tank boss has warned that Scotland cannot get out of its billion-pound black hole by public sector job cuts alone - taxes are also going to have to go up. (Herald has the exclusive)

📣 Trains across the country were cancelled by rail operator CrossCountry after a power cut at its control centre. Services are now returned to normal. (BBC)

📣 Andy Burnham travels to Ukraine today with a promise to boost Ukraine’s ability to make its own long-range missiles. (Guardian)

📣 The US and Canada are deep into a trade war with Canadian PM Mark Carney accusing the US of using “economic integration as a weapon” with a “signature written in pencil”. (AP)

⚽️ Dundee walked the short distance to their away game at Tannadice on Saturday, and walked home again after with both points, helped on the way by a lovely goal from Drey Wright. (Report & highlights)

⚽️ In England, it was a weekend of hilarious or upsetting surprises, depending on your point of view, as the Premier League kicked off with some shocks.

⚽️ Scotland striker Che Adams may have scored one of Serie A’s goals of the season on its opening weekend, after popping in a worldie for Torino against AC Milan. (Scotsman) (See the goal)

🏎️ Lando Norris boosted his hopes of retaining his Formula 1 crown with victory at the Dutch GP, after Max Verstappen had a huge crash. (Sky Sports report & highlights)

🗣️ Scotland’s information commissioner gave a fascinating interview to the Sunday Times, in which he called on prosecutors to “come clean” about why they didn’t prosecute Nicola Sturgeon, and why they dropped a fraud investigation into SNP donations.

David Hamilton also attacked the Scottish government’s “arrogance” in defying his orders to release the so-called Salmond files, questioned the political impartiality of sections of the civil service and took aim at what he sees as excessive public spending elsewhere while his watchdog is starved of resources.”

He also wondered aloud “if the government legal directorate thinks it’s some kind of praetorian guard for the first minister”.

Hamilton is aware he’s being outspoken. But he told Daniel Sanderson: “I’m one of many regulators, one of many independent chief execs of an organisation, so I don’t understand why people are saying, ‘You’re the only one standing up’. What’s everyone else doing? I’m not kowtowed by the government or anyone. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got a seal downstairs from the King which says I’ve got to do my job. That’s it.” (Sunday Times)

🗣️ The grimmest UK story of the weekend was undoubtedly news of the crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough, in which two police officers and five young men died in a head-on crash. The car the men were travelling in was going the wrong way down a dual carriageway.

We don’t know the full circumstances, yet, of that crash. But we do know the men were producing social media clips until shortly before their deaths. And we do know that another deadly wrong-way crash in Ireland, only last week, had social media at its heart.

It is, indeed, a TikTok trend to make videos showing cars racing the wrong way up a road, as Rory Carroll explains. (Guardian)

🗣️ AOC for President? The next move for New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the subject of fevered speculation: is the social media-friendly superstar politician planning to run for president?

As Ed Helmore wrote this weekend, “probably yes”. And she appears to be shifting her positions to make herself as appealing as possible to as wide a range of potential Democratic voters, too.

Although where exactly that optimal position sits is not clear. In midterms year, the Democrats are divided, with an insurgent socialist left inflicting “a string of embarrassing defeats on the party establishment in Democratic primaries this summer,” writes Helmore.

“The Democratic base is still furious with the leadership for failing in its one and only objective in 2024: to bury Trumpism,” he reports. (Observer)

🗣️ A lot of ink was spilt on the latest Royal Family drama: the Mail led the way with its poll showing just 4% of Brits believe Prince William should make the first move in peace talks with his brother, Harry, who is returning to the UK to live.

“The brothers have not spoken to each other since Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022, and it is believed there has not been any sort of contact for more than two and a half years,” the newspaper reported. (Mail)

🗣️ Amid the “to aircon or not to aircon” debate, readers looking for ways to keep their homes cool would be been intrigued by the BBC’s headline: “How this 1960s ex-council house is managing to stay cool without air con”.

The answer was not the cheap and cheerful set of suggestions - careful use of curtains, windows and fans - the headline might imply. Instead, it was a near rebuilding of the place over ten years by the architect-owner: insulating the walls, floors, and roof; replacing brick walls with timber; and installing new triple-glazed windows.

The place eventually met “Passivhaus” standards: it was airtight, sealed against outside elements, hot or cold. All that work cost £80,000 before architectural costs.

It performed well over the summer, although the heatwave in London was such that, no matter the building’s new qualities, it still hit 27C overnight one evening.

The owner concedes that, even in this most efficient home, aircon might be the way forward. (BBC)

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