TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ The weather changes today: bright and sunny for Glasgow and Edinburgh before the arrival, this evening, of the bank holiday weekend rain. For Aberdeen and London it arrives early tomorrow. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Energy bills to fall as price cap is cut | Starmer meeting Swinney | Foreign students out at Harvard

📣 UK energy bills will fall for the first time in a year from this July, after energy regulator Ofgem announced a cut to its price cap this morning. The typical household fuel bill will fall by £129, as the cap is reduced by 7%. (BBC)

📣 Keir Starmer meets John Swinney and the other leaders of the UK’s devolved administrations today, looking to sell the benefits of recent trade deals with India, the US and the EU.

The Council of Nations and Regions will meet in London, bringing together political leaders from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London and English metro mayors.

John Swinney is likely to call for Keir Starmer to take formal action to reverse the UK Government’s winter fuel payment cuts. Earlier this week, Starmer signalled a u-turn on the hugely unpopular policy is on the way. (Scotsman) (STV)

📣 The Trump administration has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, the latest move in an escalating battle with the Ivy League University, and one which academics said could “destroy the university as we know it”.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed Harvard had allowed “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus and accused the university of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.

A quarter of the student body - 6,800 people - must transfer to other schools or leave the country unless the university bows to demands to provide records of those foreign students to the government, including audio and video footage of foreign students participating in protests.

The news sparked chaos and upset on the campus, but is only the latest escalation in a battle that has cost Harvard billions, gutting its research funding. (🎁 New York Times - free to read) (AP)

• Harvard deans and administrators sent messages of support for international students - but the school’s top leaders remain quiet. (The Harvard Crimson)

IDEAS FROM THE WEEKLY MAGAZINES
Brown tackles child poverty | Gove’s leftist stance on Europe? | Trump’s golden dome

🗣️ This weekend’s New Statesman goes big on “Britain’s child poverty epidemic” with 32 pages of the print magazine devoted to the topic, edited by Gordon Brown (who the magazine interviewed last week).

It includes Kit de Waal writing about her unheated childhood home - “sometimes the sheets were so cold they felt wet” - and actor David Tennant meeting Brown himself. It turns out the pair have “met many times”, and are both the sons of ministers. They talk about the power of volunteering. “You’ve got less engagement in your communities,” reflects Brown, “and I think that’s one of the reasons that people feel distant from what’s happening around them.” (New Statesman £)

🗣️In making a case that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has betrayed workers, The Spectator’s editor, Michael Gove, writes entertainingly of the time he tried to challenge Labour leaders, in a private “ginger beer and sandwiches” meeting during Brexit negotiations, on its pro-European views - from the left.

Responding to then shadow cabinet member Keir Starmer, who was explaining to the room Labour’s “red lines” on Europe, Gove asked if “the whole point of Labour, the whole purpose of its creation, was to allow democratic control over capital? […] That’s why Labour were committed to withdrawal in 1983. That’s why my parents voted Labour then.’

“There was a brief silence,” writes Gove. “Looking at the blank eyes opposite, I realised that for all the understanding they showed, I might as well have been speaking in Russian.” (Spectator £)

🗣️ The Economist looks to space - or, at least, to Donald Trump’s plans to put a defence system in space, over the United States, that would shoot down incoming missiles - his “Golden Dome”. Trump said it will cost $175 billion in total, take up to three years to complete and offer “close to 100%” protection. “We call it super technology,” he added. “Nobody else has it.”

In truth, it’ll almost certainly cost more, take longer, and not offer anything like 100% protection. In fact, “even a modest shield, designed to parry a couple of ICBMs, could cost $161 billion - $542 billion over 20 years,” the newspaper says.

Still - it doesn’t think the idea is daft. Israel’s Iron Dome system showed the merits of a defence that cuts loss of life, and gives politicians time to think about a response to a missile attack - rather than having to immediately fire back. Given the stakes, it may still be money well spent. (Economist £)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Reform UK has been accused of “blatant racism” in a by-election attack ad against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar which claims that Sarwar will “prioritise the Pakistani community”. (Scotsman) (STV)

📣 Scotland’s long run of fine weather is going to be broken by heavy rain and hail this weekend… with a warning of landslides for good measure. (BBC)

📣 The SNP could scoop the most disproportionate election win in the history of the Scottish Parliament next year, winning as many as half the seats on just 35% of the constituency vote and around 30% on the regional list. (Herald)

📣 John Swinney has been urged to do more about knife crime, with Conservative leader Russell Findlay telling him “young people do not feel safe” after a spate of knife crime incidents. (Mail) (Scotsman)

📣 Olly Murs cut short his show in Glasgow last night, walking off stage at the Ovo Hydro after only six songs because he was struggling with his voice. (BBC)

📣 The Scottish Sun was the big winner at the 46th Scottish Press Awards, the Scottish news industry’s Oscars, presented in Glasgow last night. Editor Gill Smith picked up News Brand of the Year - the top prize - while her team collected Journalism Team of the Year for their reporting on the death of Alex Salmond. Times columnist Melanie Reid was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award. (Newsbrands Scotland on Substack)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Sir Keir Starmer has signed an agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal will see the UK give up sovereignty of the island territory to Mauritius with the UK paying to lease back the UK/UK military base on Diego Garcia. But exactly how much that will cost is a matter of debate. (Independent)

📣 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Starmer and other world leaders of “being on the wrong side” of justice, humanity and history, saying he and other leaders were siding with "mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers". (BBC) (Independent)

📣 The BBC has been given access to audio of the Titan submersible imploding near the wreck of the Titanic, in an accident that killed five people in June 2023. An explosion can be heard as the support team, on the surface, monitors its progress. (BBC)

📣 Prepare for an era of super vision: scientists have developed a contact lens that can let you see infrared light, just like night-vision goggles. Except you can see normal light, too, and you don’t need a power source. I’d settle for a pair that meant I didn’t have to squint at my laptop… (Guardian)

📣 Britain’s best motorway services have been named: Tebay and Cairn Lodge are two that did well, and will be familiar to Scottish readers travelling in and out of the country. But Gloucester came out top. (Guardian)

SPORT

⚽️ Napoli’s Scottish duo Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour are 90 minutes away from being elevated to the sort of legendary status enjoyed by Diego Maradona, according to Joe Jordan, a great Scot who played in Italy himself. He says the pair will be made for life if they can win the Serie A title tonight by beating Cagliari. (Sun)

• McTominay ready to be crowned king of Naples (Mail)

• The game’s on TNT Sports 1 tonight, kick-off 7.45pm.

⚽️ Aberdeen star Mats Knoester says his club can upset the odds and beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final tomorrow. (Record)

• Meanwhile, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is hoping the Scottish Cup Final isn’t Greg Taylor’s Celtic swan-song. (Sun)