In your briefing today:

👋 Good morning Early Liners! Thanks for the feedback on yesterday’s deep dive into the AI bubble: I’m glad so many of you found it helpful. Apologies, also, for the mistake I made in suggesting - twice! - that Meta owned Google, which of course isn’t the case. I’ve always had an odd mental muddle between Meta, Facebook’s owner, and Alphabet, Google’s owner, which manifested heavily yesterday morning and cleared - as is traditional - only at the moment immediately after I hit “send”. Sorry for the error.

📣 Nigel Farage is coming under increasing pressure over claims of historic racism, with 28 of his school contemporaries now making claims about his behaviour while attending the exclusive Dulwich College school in South London.

At a press conference yesterday, the Reform UK leader became increasingly angry as he was asked about comments made by his deputy, Richard Tice, who said the testimony was “made up twaddle”.

He also launched a tirade at the BBC after its presenter, Emma Barnett, pressed him on his “relationship with Hitler” after allegations from a Jewish former classmate that Farage had said to him: “Hitler was right,” or “Gas them”. (Guardian)

📣 Scotland’s flu crisis is threatening to overwhelm the NHS, doctors are warning, with an unusually high number of people being hosptialised and dying from infections. The number of Scots being sent to hospital is up 70% week on week, with 17 deaths where influenza was the cause of death, and another 21 where it was mentioned on the death certificate. Those numbers, at this time of year, are usually in single digits. (Mail) (Scotsman)

📣 Harry Potter and Batman movie maker Warner Bros is in talks to sell its film and TV studios, and HBO Max streaming service, to Netflix in a deal valued at more than $60 billion. It appears Netflix has seen off rival bidders to enter exclusive talks.

The sale, if concluded, would be a huge deal in more than just a financial sense: it would pair one of Hollywood’s most famous studios with the world’s number one streamer.

Prior to closing the deal Warner Bros would spin off its cable channels, including CNN, TBS and TNT. (🎁 Bloomberg has the exclusive - gift link)

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📣 There’s a big question mark over the Acorn project, the carbon dioxide capture and storage project in Aberdeenshire that’s seen as a vital part of Scotland’s transition to green energy. Its lead developer is looking to sell its stake, just as it approaches a more “capital intensive” stage. (Press & Journal)

📣 A couple whose daughter was injured in childbirth say they finally “have answers” after a judge ruled failing at the midwife-led Perth maternity unit were responsible. (Times £)

📣 Scotland’s red squirrel population is growing - by 25% in ten years - after a reintroduction project by a rewilding charity. (Scotsman)

📣 Four countries now say they will boycott Eurovision over Israel’s participation: Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands have all pulled out of next year’s song contest. (Guardian)

📣 Keir Starmer writes in the Mirror today, saying it’s his government’s “moral mission” to lift half a million children out of poverty. (Mirror)

📣 Vladimir Putin says there are parts of the US plan to end the war with Ukraine that he can’t agree to, the Russian president indicating any deal is a long way off. (AP)

📣 Brexit Britain is “flirting with the EU again”, claims Politico, but Brussels is pretty busy - and there’s no easy lever for Keir Starmer to pull to move closer to Europe. (Politico)

⚽️ Scotland’s football fans are preparing for this afternoon’s World Cup draw: three host countries, 16 cities and 48 nations offers a wealth of possible permutations for next summer. All will be resolved after 5pm tonight. (BBC)

⚽️ Wilfried Nancy has finally arrived at Celtic as new manager, announcing: "I don't consider myself as a boss, I am a leader.” (BBC)

⚽️ Hearts had their AGM yesterday: chief executive Andrew McKinlay said this season’s table-topping performance will not be a one-off. (Daily Record)

🏉 Glasgow Warriors’ head coach Franco Smith makes 12 changes for tonight’s Champions Cup opener away to Sale Sharks, in the wake of last week’s disappointing loss to Scarlets. (Offside Line)

🗣️ Welcome to Britain’s “Slot Machine Politics”, says the Economist: where political fragmentation has led to the prospect of) tiny changes in vote share leading to big swings in parliamentary seats.

The newspaper has created an electoral model to test Britons’ suspcion that they face “arbitrariness and instability at the ballot box”. Their findings, they say, “are not reassuring”, even if they resemble what is happening in other western democracies.

“We find that in some constituencies seats could be won on as little as 23% of the vote,” says the newspaper. “Reform is likely to be the largest party, but its possible tally of seats spans a huge range from 112 to 373 - the difference between Mr Farage leading a rump opposition and becoming prime minister.

“Whoever wins, the consequence is likely to be weaker government and more contempt for Parliament.” (The Economist £)

🗣️Labour is now the party of welfare, not work, claims Michael Simmons in The Spectator. Forced to defend their budget choices last week, and especially the Chancellor’s claim that there was a black hole in the nation’s finances, “mendacity soon gave way to something closer to bewilderment”.

“Neither can grasp why they are being called out for their omissions and dishonest briefings – always more fiction than fiscal – about the state of the economy,” writes Simmons. “Their new argument is this: once you factor in the Budget’s own measures - welfare increases, the U-turn on winter fuel payments and the desire to increase headroom - a hole did indeed appear. They insist they had no choice.

“What both fail to understand, however, is that voters can see these were choices. The black hole to be ‘filled’ was one created not by economic necessity, but by the Prime Minister’s political weathervane spinning out of control.” (The Spectator £)

🗣️ If you want a blow-by-blow account of the chaotic Your Party conference, mixed in with a reminder of this young party’s tortuous existance to date, then Magan Kenyon has the most complete account I’ve read. Amid several Life Of Brian-style splits, there was a lot of infighting. At one points, notes Kenyon, “Your Party’s inaugural conference had been running for less than five hours. Already its two founding camps had split.” (The Spectator £)

🗣️The New Statesman also has its end-of-year books special, including news of its books of the year.

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