TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ Today’s weather: Another sunny, warm day across the country. Glasgow and Edinburgh will make 22 degrees, while Aberdeen will top out at 18. London will make it to 26. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Blair calls for a rethink on net zero | Trump celebrates ‘100 days of greatness’ | Chapman keeps her job

📣 Sir Tony Blair has branded net zero policies “irrational” and “doomed to fail”, in comments being seen as a further signal the global consensus on green policies is collapsing.

The former prime minister called for a policy reset because voters were being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle that would have little impact on emissions.

“We need to alter where we put our focus and resources,” he said. (BBC) (Guardian) (Times £) (Tony Blair Institute: read the report)

📣 Donald Trump marked his 100th day in the White House with a rally in which he celebrated his achievements and lambasted his political enemies. He hailed “the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of the country, and that’s according to many, many people,” before a crowd in Detroit. (BBC)

Not, it must be said, to many of the people I could find. I picked 10 articles about the 100 days, which are listed below in (very) rough order of warmth. It was easier to find harsh critiques…

1. One hundred days in, Donald Trump is still winning (The Telegraph - 🎁gift link)

2. Over 200 lawsuits, 142 executive orders, and 24 days golfing: Trump’s first 100 days by the numbers (Independent)

3. Voters pleased with the job he’s doing on border security, but displeased on most other issues - including inflation (Fox News)

4. More give Trump an F than any other grade for first 100 days, poll finds (NPR)

5. First 100 days mark worst for US stock market since Gerald Ford (FT £)

6. 100 Days of Trump: the growing dismay in Europe (Economist £)

7. 100 days. That’s all it took to sever America from the world (New York Times 🎁 gift link)

8. How falsehoods drove Trump’s immigration crackdown in his first 100 days (Al Jazeera)

9. At 100 days, Trump 2.0 is in trouble (The Wall Street Journal - 🎁gift link)

10. Trump 100 days: delusions of monarchy coupled with fundamental ineptitude (Guardian)

📣 Green MSP Maggie Chapman, who made a widely condemned attack on the Supreme Court last week, kept her job as deputy convener of Holyrood’s equalities committee after three SNP members backed her in a vote. She also voted for herself, to defeat a motion to remove her 4-3. (Daily Mail)

• It was absurd Maggie Chapman could vote to save herself, writes Alexander Brown. (The Scotsman)

IDEAS
Spain left in the dark over blackout’s cause

🗣️ I first knew the Spanish blackout was more than a blip when I dropped a WhatsApp to an old friend in Spain on Monday morning. “I hope you’re not sat in the dark!” I joked, not very wittily.

Hitting send, I waited for the two ticks to appear next to the message - one to show it was sent, the other to show it was delivered. The second tick didn’t appear for hours. The mobile network was down, along with everything else. An actual response didn’t come until the evening.

“Hello! We were all in the dark,” my friend wrote (I felt bad) “It was a bit scary,” they said: the darkness was both literal and metaphorical, with no information able to circulate because nothing electronic worked. It took time for it to become clear this wasn’t a problem in the house, or the street, but the entire Iberian peninsula.

What caused it? Rumours in Spain immediately revolved around two suspects: Russia, and renewables. The suggestion of Russian sabotage was quickly discounted, although a cyberattack remains one line of investigation, according to El Pais. The renewables claim also had little supporting evidence, but has since grown legs. It made the front of yesterday’s Telegraph, and was still being pushed last night on Times Radio by Tim Montgomerie, a right-wing pundit.

The trouble is, there doesn’t appear to be any evidence to support the claim. Little in that Telegraph story backs up the headline (here’s a gift link). A Spanish think tank, Fundacion Renovables, said renewable sources were disconnected as a consequence of problems in the Iberian grid, not because they were a cause of it. And at a press conference yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said those linking the blackout to Spain’s use of wind and solar were “either lying or demonstrating their ignorance.”

The Telegraph story talked a lot about inertia, which was new to me: the best explanation I read was on LinkedIn from an expert in the field.

A commission has been established to figure out what actually went wrong. The left-wing Spanish PM is making dark noises (El Pais, €) about inadequate private sector management of the grid.

In the meantime, my friend in Spain offered as good a piece of wisdom as any I saw emerging from the crisis. Everyone should have a radio with batteries, she laughed, so they know what the hell is going on when all the power goes off. So long, of course, as the voices on the radio know themselves.

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 A charity has pointed out that the £155 million cost of reversing the two child benefit cap in Scotland, announced by the Scottish Government last year, could help meet the £256 million cost of school meals for every primary school pupil in the country. (Herald)

📣 Four men have been convicted in a £6 million corruption and bribery case involving health boards across Scotland. They were found guilty of a string of offences including bribery, corruption, fraud and theft, and have been warned they face “significant custodial sentences”. (BBC) (Sun)

📣 Scotland’s last oil refinery stopped work yesterday, as operations at Grangemouth ended after more than 100 years. (STV)

📣 The Prince and Princess of Wales celebrated their wedding anniversary on Mull, calling it a “wonderful” island and thanking crowds for their “warm welcome”. (Sun)

AROUND THE UK

📣 The Metropolitan Police’s cybercrime unit has been brought in to investigate the M&S IT meltdown. As we told you yesterday, it’s thought a hacking group called Scattered Spider is behind the attack. (Mail)

📣 Plans to protect the UK from extreme weather are inadequate, putting people and property at risk from the climate crisis, a watchdog has said. (Guardian)

📣 A mother and daughter are battling it out in tomorrow’s council elections in the same ward, for different parties. Frances Leonard is standing for the Conservatives in Marshalswick and Colney Heath, in Hertfordshire. Daughter Sally is running for the Greens. “We have learned that politics is best left outside the family gatherings,” said Sally. (St Albans Times) (The Times £)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 An Italian cardinal convicted in a scandal involving dodgy property investments and Vatican spies has withdrawn from the conclave to elect the new Pope, at the request of the late Pope Francis. (The Times £) (Independent)

🌎 Mark Carney’s Liberal Party was confirmed the winner of Canada’s federal elections, while Carney’s rival - firebrand Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre - lost his parliamentary seat. He’d been comfortable favourite to be prime minister only a few months ago, pre-Trump. (AP)

🌎 This is a fascinating long read about China’s big problems - with Donald Trump not being one. Its domestic consumer confidence has fallen dramatically, and there are long-term worries over work, demographics and a disheartened young generation. (BBC)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰 BP’s strategy and sustainability chief will step down this summer after the energy company unveiled lower-than-expected first quarter results. Giulia Chierchia had been the key architect of the company’s ill-fated foray into renewables. (Reuters)

💰 Starbucks $SBUX ( ▲ 1.13% ) missed expectations with its earnings and said it would be getting back to coffee-shop basics as it braces for the trade war’s impact. (Marketwatch)

💰 Ikea opens a £450 million showroom in Oxford Street today in a move seen as vital to revitalising the area. (Mail)

SPORT

⚽️ Arsenal had a tough night in the Champions League last night, losing 1-0 at home to PSG. (Guardian) (🎥 Highlights)

• Barcelona play Inter Milan in the other, mouth-watering, semi-final tonight. (8pm, TNT Sports 1)

⚽️ The tycoons planning to buy Rangers took a tour of Ibrox yesterday - the Daily Record got the picture exclusive. Just tell them it’s always this sunny in Govan, and the deal should be sealed… (Daily Record)

⚽️ Everyone in Scottish football agrees something’s broken, but there’s no chance of them all agreeing what to do about it. That’s the broad message coming out of talks on league reconstruction. (The Scotsman)