THE BIG STORIES
Your council tax is going up

📣 They’re being described as the biggest council tax rises in a generation: five Scottish local authorities have confirmed they’ll introduce chunky increases for more than two million people across Scotland, joining others who have already agreed big increases to charges, or who are planning them. Here’s a summary (with links to local news coverage, where it’s available):

• Scottish Borders and North Lanarkshire: ⬆️ 10%

• Edinburgh and Fife ⬆️ 8%

• Glasgow ⬆️ 7.5%

• East Lothian ⬆️ 10% (agreed on Tuesday)

• Midlothian and Moray Councils have proposed 10% increases, to be debated next week.

• The Daily Record is running a handy full list of councils and bands

The charges come despite First Minister John Swinney insisting local government had been given enough money to avoid big rises to charges. (The Scotsman)

📣 The US is refusing to co-sponsor a UN resolution backing Ukraine’s territorial integrity and demanding Russia withdraw its troops, being drawn up to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. It has also objected to a phrase in a G7 statement that would have condemned Russia's aggression.

The stance is another measure of the sharp shift in US tone away from backing Ukraine, and of the rift between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.

• Ukrainians are rallying round President Volodymyr Zelensky with even his harshest domestic critics offering him support after Donald Trump’s attacks on him this week. (AP)

📣 The Daily Record continues to make the running on the Rangers takeover story: they’ve got another exclusive this morning, with a grainy shot of “San Francisco 49ers big hitter” Paraag Marathe sitting in the expensive seats at Old Trafford for the recent Europa League match between Manchester United and Rangers, which Rangers lost late on after a decent performance (Marathe, it must be said, doesn’t look thrilled in the Daily Record shot…)

His presence at the game is being taken as further evidence of the US giants’ interest in buying the Ibrox club. The Record’s revelations have sparked huge excitement among fans. (Daily Record)

IDEAS
From the weekly magazines

🗣️ Michael Gove gives himself the cover of The Spectator to offer up four rules for our “new world disorder”: (1) There is no substitute for hard power. (2) We can no longer afford luxury beliefs. (3) A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand and (4) Unilateral disarmament was bonkers when it came to nukes and it’s no better when it comes to energy. It’s Gove, it’s The Spectator, it’s all quite right wing and unforgiving… but Gove’s point is that’s the world now, so we’d better adapt. It’s certainly a thought-provoking list, all the more interesting for being from someone close to power until recently. (The Spectator £)

🗣️How Europe must respond as Trump and Putin smash the post-war order (Economist £)

🗣️ We’ve talked a lot about the UK’s anemic growth. What to do about it is the subject of another book from Jon Moynihan - Return to Growth: How to Fix the Economy, Volume II, reviewed favourably by Daniel Hannan. The argument in Volume I was: we got into this mess by spending too much on public services, taxing people too much to pay for it, then over-regulating businesses. The way out proposed in Volume II: reverse all that. But any politician suggesting it - and it would only be a return to early Blair-years spending - would be chased from office. Hannan quotes Jean-Claude Juncker making the same point after the financial crisis: “We all know what to do. We just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.” (The Spectator £)

🗣️Woke waste is ruining academia, says Kathleen Stock (Unherd)

🗣️Germany goes to the polls this weekend: Annette Dittert, the London bureau chief and senior correspondent of the German public broadcaster ARD, offers a useful assessment of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which lies in second place in the polls. However well it does, AfD will not be part of the next German government: every other major party has expressly ruled out working with it. But that will mean weeks of wrangling, at a difficult time for Germany, and for Europe. We need, argues Dittert, a strong stable Germany. We might not have one for a while. And results from this Sunday’s poll may echo around the world for years. (The New Statesman £)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Scotland has so many obscure public bodies the information commissioner said yesterday that he and colleagues play “public authority bingo” over new ones they discover. David Hamilton made the amusing admission at a meeting of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body yesterday, as Russell Findlay - the Scottish Conservative leader - attempts to turn up the heat on what he calls Scotland’s “big-state circus”. (The Times £)

📣 There are weather warnings across parts of Scotland all day today, as a week’s worth of rain falls within days. (STV)

📣 Fettes College in Edinburgh had a “special inspection” yesterday after claims of racial discrimination against two pupils related to the awarding of scholarships to the prestigious school. The school said it “vigorously” rejects the complaint. The Scotsman has the exclusive.

📣 Scottish Labour’s annual conference starts today in Glasgow: Alistair Grant’s summary of the five biggest challenges facing the party is a good wrap-up of what Anas Sarwar & co face in the months ahead. (The Scotsman)

📣 John Swinney said he has “full confidence” in NHS Fife at First Minister’s Questions yesterday but claimed he would “be in danger of breaking the law” were he to comment on the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal (The Herald £)

📣 Irvine Welsh is a headliner for the Paisley Book Festival in April. (The Herald £)

AROUND THE UK

📣 Cancer deaths are 60% higher in the UK’s most deprived areas, new data shows, with the poorest worse off at every stage - from habits which can lead to cancer to survival rates once it’s been discovered. (The Independent)

📣 A record thirty English councils have been bailed out by emergency loans to avoid bankruptcy without selling off prized local assets. (Guardian)

📣 London St Pancras could get new direct services to European cities, including Milan, Frankfurt, Cologne, Geneva and Zurich, under plans to expand the London station. (Daily Mail)

📣 Britain’s oldest horse is thriving on linseed cake and liight exercise as she celebrates her 46th birthday in County Down. (BBC)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰 The Scotch whisky industry has attacked UK plans to redefine single malt whisky, saying the plans - which will allow one English whisky to be made across multiple locations, reducing costs - will “undermine” the sector's reputation. (The Scotsman) (The Sun)

💰 Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, outgoing principal of Glasgow University, has been commissioned to help Scottish Labour develop its policy on regional economic development. Muscatelli has also previously advised Nicola Sturgeon. (Daily Business)

💰Microsoft claims it’s created a new state of matter that’s not solid, liquid or gas, as it unveiled a new chip it says is a milestone on the way to creating hugely powerful quantum computers. (Semafor)

SPORT

🏉 There’s no doubting the biggest sporting fixture of the weekend. Scotland travel to Twickenham for the Calcutta Cup clash, with the mouth-watering prospect of beating England for the fifth time in a row - the first time that would ever have happened, notes Graham Bean. This isn’t tempting fate, is it? Head coach Gregor Townsend clearly knows how to prepare his side for these games, however: he says it’s about leaning into the emotional side of the clash, but not too much. “We have to be calm amongst the chaos,” he says. (The Scotsman)

⚽️ It’s a Scottish Championship clash on the TV tonight - Morton play Falkirk (7.45pm, BBC Scotland TV / iPlayer).