In your briefing today:

📣 French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed for calm after a weekend of unrest across the country.

Some 550,000 people took to the streets during the day on Saturday, in largely peaceful protests against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and poor public services.

But rioters took control as night fell, burning buildings and cars, looting shops, and attacking passers-by and police. Police arrested around 2,400 people. (BBC)

📣 The flying instructor who died alongside a 16-year-old boy in a crash near Loch Lomond has been described as a “legend” by friends, as details emerge of the accident which claimed their lives on Friday afternoon.

Ian Haggis, 80, was known as “the flying Haggis” in the aviation community and taught at a flight school based in Renfrew. The boy, who has not been named, was only on his tenth flying experience.

The plane carrying the pair crashed north-east of Drymen, in Stirlingshire, less than half an hour after taking off from Glasgow Airport. It’s not known who was flying at the time of the crash. (STV) (Daily Mail)

📣 Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth has suggested English pupils only did better than their Scottish counterparts in international school rankings because of a “shallow” focus on rote learning.

She said a “large part” of the difference was down to Michael Gove's approach as UK education secretary under then-PM David Cameron.

She said the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) may now be moving away from the "crude, narrow measurement that Mr Gove focused on". (Scotsman)

That's it. That’s the pitch.

Morning Brew is a free daily email that explains the news shaping your life in a way you won't hate. From how geopolitics hits your wallet to AI eating entire industries, it's all explained in about 5 minutes, with just enough puns to keep things interesting.

Heck, you might even enjoy the news for once. No jargon. No pretending you understood that stock market headline.

See why over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew.

Check it out

📣 One of Scotland’s major bus companies has accused First Minister John Swinney of behaving like a dictator over his plans to bring buses under public control. Sandy Easdale, who owns McGill's with his brother James, said Swinney "appears to have transformed into the next Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe". (BBC)

📣 There were shocking scenes of violence outside Parkhead before Celtic and Hearts met in a league game there yesterday afternoon. (The Sun)

📣 Clips of Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay struggling to answer the question of whether Israel has the right to exist went viral over the weekend. (Times) (🎥 See the clip on X)

📣 A wildfire killed four service members in Canada and injured dozens more, with details still emerging around the tragedy. It appears a wildfire broke out during a training exercise, quickly overwhelming soliders. (CBC)

📣 The influential Institute for Public Policy Research has become the latest organisation with ties to the Labour Party to call for the UK to re-enter the EU. (Guardian)

📣 Green Party leader Zach Polanski says his party’s motion describing zionism as racism “isn’t controversial” and he won’t overturn it. (Independent)

📣 The Pride of Britain Awards are handed out tonight: one honouree will be a doctor who, despite her own injuries, helped several victims of the Bedford train crash earlier this year. To warn: the account of the crash makes clear the horrors she saw. (Mirror)

📣 The scourge of people playing loud music on their phones on public transport is the target of a new crackdown on antisocial behaviour in England. (BBC)

⚽️ Hearts were supposed to be title challengers: on the evidence available at Parkhead yesterday, they’ll be nowhere close. Celtic tore into the Gorgie side to win 7-1, an embarrassing scoreline for last season’s nearly men. (BBC) (🎥 Highlights)

⚽️ Rangers didn’t cover themselves in glory in a 2-2 draw with Dundee on Saturday night: John McGarry thought their defending was “slapstick”. (Mail) (🎥 Highlights)

⚽️ See all Saturday’s highlights on Sportscene. (🎥 BBC)

⚽️ In England, Manchester United continue to search for a win after a 1-1 draw with Leeds, Sunderland’s woes continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Bournemouth, and Crystal Palace were embarrassed at arch rivals Brighton, losing 5-0 and posing a big question mark over new-ish manager Pierre Sarge. Diego Gomez’s goal from the halfway line is worth a watch (🎥 See the video). Champions Arsenal got a late win over Nottingham Forest.

🗣️ The tumbling clock tower of Limoges town hall, engulfed in flames, became the iconic symbol of a weekend of violent protests across France, which saw widespread arson, looting and hundreds of arrests.

After a day of largely peaceful protests on Saturday, scenes turned uglier and authorities quickly lost control into the night. There were scenes of chaos in several of the nation’s biggest cities - Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille - with police usuing tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to break up protests. Protestors even drew close to President Macron’s Élysée Palace before being beaten back by police.

The burning of Limoges town hall, a 19th-century building that had survived two world wars, brought back unwelcome memories of Notre Dame cathedral’s spire collapsing - except that fire was accidental.

Smaller-scale clashes also occurred in Paris and Lyon yesterday.

The root causes of the discontent fuelling the disturbances is being widely debated, but last night President Macron blamed it on “ultra-left” rebels seeking to overthrow the state, and a criminal element seeking to profit from the disorder to loot. (BBC)

🗣️ First Minister John Swinney told the SNP’s annual conference in Aberdeen that Scotland was ready for independence and announced new policies, including bringing buses back under public control. The BBC’s live coverage had all the key quotes - and you can 🎥 watch the whole thing on YouTube.

Mark Paul, covering the conference for the Irish Times, identified the interplay between Swinney and Andy Burnham as “the intriguing new rivalry in British politics” and found the SNP in confident mood in Aberdeen.

Swinney had joked at one drinks event, he reports, “that he was ‘in Burnham’s head and he was in my pocket’. “Later, just as Burnham had in [his Labour conference speech in] Liverpool, Swinney became emotional as he said he wanted independence for the future of his son.

“‘We build the future on the dreams of those who come next,’ he said.”

🗣️ The Sunday Times reported on a secret operation that has plunged the elite Special Air Service (SAS) into crisis. It erupted after a midnight raid in Syria in July 2022, in which two people were shot dead.

The soldiers said they had acted in self-defence under incoming fire, but the then-director of special forces overturned that and demanded an investigation. They then faced three years of limbo - still working on missions - before being cleared in May 2025, albeit with the threat of the investigation being reopened at any time.

The episode has raised questions about the levels of protection for soldiers in combat versus the need for accountability, and how to weigh these concerns in the chaos of a battlefield. (Sunday Times)

🗣️ Pro-Palestine activists have a new tactic: they are targeting defence company executives at their family homes, including at addresses in Scotland.

Activists hit three addresses two weekends ago: one in Dunfermline, one in South Queensferry, and one in Hampshire.

A group calling itself The List has published videos of people spraying red paint over cars and houses. Messages including “baby killers” were daubed on garage doors.

Counterterrorism police are now investigating the attacks, which are being seen as a marked escalation in tactics from protestors, who have previously targeted military bases and defence company buildings.

One question troubling them: how protestors are finding the home addresses of what they claim are engineers on defence projects. (Sunday Times)

🗣️ It was Icons Week on Strictly Come Dancing, and at least one reviewer found it all too much. “What are they pumping into that studio in Elstree?” asked Chris Bennion in the Sunday Telegraph. “Introduced in 2024, Icons Week, with its fancy dress and idol-worshipping, has proven to be a giddy affair, a chance for everyone to cut slightly looser than usual. But this was ridiculous.

“Even if you have a strong stomach for Josh Widdicombe’s scripted zaniness or Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke dressed up as Liam and Noel Gallagher, it was impossible not to be distracted and irritated by the juvenile, attention-seeking behaviour of the assembled professional dancers upstairs.

“Hooting, hollering and chanting at every available opportunity, their conduct was tedious and unprofessional.” (Telegraph)

Sent this by a friend?