In your briefing today:

📣 The war in the Middle East continued to rage overnight, a battle of drones and missiles, strike and counterstrike, with the cities of Tehran, Beirut and Tel Aviv all targets.

The US has continued to warn that strikes on Iran will “surge dramatically” but President Donald Trump said he was not sending troops to Iran, considering that a “waste of time”.

📣 East Kilbride MP Joani Reid has been suspended by the Labour Party after her husband was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Reid said the move came after “the worst week of my life,” and welcomed an internal party investigation. She said she is not under police investigation and has denied any wrongdoing. (Daily Record)

📣 Health Secretary Wes Streeting has accused the SNP Government of turning down the English NHS app for use in Scotland for “nationalist” reasons. He said three in four people in England now use the app for advice, and to manage their doctors’ appointments. (The Daily Record has the exclusive)

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📣 A shoplifter who brutally attacked an Asda security guard in Arbroath, causing him to collapse and die from a heart attack, has been jailed for five years. (Daily Record)

📣 Former SNP candidate Sally Donald will have to repay nearly £20,000 in benefits after a ruling by Social Security Scotland. Donald once joked on social media of being “aboard the SNP gravy bus”. (Scotsman has the exclusive)

📣 You’ll recall a diesel spill in Perthshire that, for several days, contaminated the village of Killin's water supplies. It was blamed on a botched attempt to steal fuel from a disused filling station. Well, surprise, surprise, it’s no longer being viewed as an attempted theft or vandalism. Work on the forecourt might be to blame. (BBC)

📣 Former Scotland rugby captain Stuart Hogg has been stripped of his MBE after his conviction for domestic abuse. (STV)

📣 UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is on “collision course” with backbench Labour MPs after announcing changes to the immigration system that have been compared with those pushed by Donald Trump. (Guardian)

📣 Soham murderer Ian Huntley has been left blind by an attack in prison. (The Sun has the exclusive)

📣 Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s controversial (puppy-killing) Secretary of Homeland Security, is getting replaced next month. It’s a reminder, writes Daniel Bush, that “no one can outshine the boss”. (BBC)

📣 The BBC is hoping to head off “managed decline” by having streaming services such as Netflix help collect the license fee. (Times)

🏉 Gregor Townsend has performed major surgery on his front row, with Zander Fagerson on the bench for the first time since 2023 for this weekend’s big fixture against France. (Scotsman)

⚽️ Tottenham Hotspur are in real danger of relegation after their 3-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace last night illuminated their vulnerabilities. (Independent)

🗣️ Given events in the Middle East in the last week, the New Statesman turns to Fiona Hill, the British-born foreign policy expert who has advised Presidents George W Bush, Obama and Trump (v1.0). What does she make of the US’s attack on Iran?

Not much, it turns out. It had appeared, as recently as January, that the US security strategy was to seek dominance in its own sphere and regard further afield - including the Middle East - as a secondary concern. Now it appears ready to become embroiled in a long, bloody conflict in the region. Is this a change in strategy, Megan Gibson asks Hill?

“This is the dilemma of the moment that we’re living in, particularly with somebody like Donald Trump. He is inherently unpredictable, even to himself,” says Hill. “And if he sees an opportunity to do something that from his perspective will accrue benefits, he will take it.

“It’s clear that the war with Iran is a war of choice, just like the war [in] Iraq… There was, of course, [then] a major effort to put together a rationale; we had Colin Powell going before the UN. Ultimately we know as a result of inquiries that that rationale was fairly paper thin, but here we haven’t had that at all. There isn’t any [rationale], be it thin or otherwise, that provides any justification.”

Hill’s extended take is, as ever, fascinating, and worrying: she sees chaos and “brutal slaughter” ahead. And, because of the huge system changes that will be brought about, “you effectively get a world war,” she warns. (New Statesman £)

🗣️ The Economist also spies “a war without strategy”. “It is naive to say, as some of Mr Trump’s cheerleaders do, that because Mr Khamenei was wicked (and he surely was), any sort of war makes sense,” the newspaper says in a leader.

“When you command a machine as lethal and overwhelming as America’s armed forces, united in this operation with the battle-hardened Israel Defence Forces, you have a special responsibility to define what you want to achieve,” it says. “That is not only an ethical requirement; it is a practical one, too. War aims direct the campaign; they define the sacrifices the state imposes on its own people and the enemy; and they determine when the fighting should end.

“Politically, vagueness gives Mr Trump room for manoeuvre. Strategically, his failure to say what Epic Fury is for is its biggest vulnerability.” The newspaper urges Trump to define a goal - to degrade Iran’s military capabilities - and then stop. “He is almost there,” it says. (The Economist £)

🗣️The Spectator says Keir Starmer managed to alienate Britain’s allies in his response to the American-Israeli attacks. They were publicly called Epic Fury, notes Tim Shipman, “but behind the scenes it is Britain’s handling of the war which provoked that reaction – not just from Donald Trump but from the UK’s allies in the Gulf.”

Shipman claims that Starmer faced a so-far unreported political problem when deciding what to do: he struggled to carry his cabinet with him when arguing that the US should be allowed to use its bases on British soil.

An alliance of Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper eventually blocked him, with Miliband in particular being accused of adopting a “‘petulant, pacifist, legalistic and very political’ approach by security sources quoted by Shipman. (The Spectator £)

🗣️ Formula 1 returns this weekend, with the early morning (UK-time) Australian GP on Sunday morning. It’s an early start - but that’s ok, because The Economist notes that watching the actual race is becoming less important to a new, younger fan of the rapidly growing (and increasingly profitable) sport.

Quoting Derek Chang, chief executive of F1 owner Liberty, “some fans, perhaps drawn in by ‘Drive to Survive’ (for the first seven series of which Netflix claims 1bn views), are enticed by the drama surrounding F1. They may “barely watch the race” but do want to know “what Lewis Hamilton had for dinner”, notes Mr Chang.

And that “reimagining of F1 as an entertainment and lifestyle brand that appeals to more than just hardcore motorsports fans” also pleases sponsors: once, it was oil and fuel companies. Now it’s LVMH, the luxury giant, Disney and Lego. (The Economist £)

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