THE BIG STORIES
Moira Salmond hits out at her late husband’s critics

📣 Alex Salmond’s widow has criticised those “determined to damage” her late husband’s reputation in the wake of an interview with Nicola Sturgeon in the Weekend FT.

Moira Salmond’s statement, via her lawyers, said: “I, and the rest of the family, continue to grieve. Life will never be the same for any of us. In recent days, it has therefore caused me and the wider family great distress to read the comments of those who seem determined to damage his reputation even in death.”

It came after Sturgeon told the FT that Salmond could “be really rough on people. Many times I intervened to stop him.” Sturgeon also said that, by his death, “I had come to accept I’d probably never speak to him again […] unless he had been prepared to acknowledge some of the things that he had done […] I came to the conclusion that I probably grieved for Alex four years, five years ago.”

• Scottish Sun: Let him rest | Scotsman: Moira Salmond hits out

• Financial Times: Nicola Sturgeon has lunch with the FT

📣 John Swinney wants to use Donald Trump’s “affinity for Scotland” in his attempt to avoid tariffs being applied on whisky imports to the US.

Talking to the BBC yesterday, Swinney said the matter of tariffs hadn’t come up on his call with Trump shortly after his election victory. But the first minister said the president-elect was “very positive about Scotland” and has “an affinity and a warmth towards Scotland.

“If that means it helps us to avoid tariffs that might be damaging to legitimate and important, critical economic interests in Scotland then don’t be surprised if this first minister of Scotland uses that.”

Given Trump’s rhetoric during the election campaign, and since, it’s likely that tariffs will be his weapon of choice in getting his way internationally: not just trade, but on the full range of diplomatic issues he’ll face. As I wrote last week, I’d expect whisky tariffs to get caught up in other matters - for instance, the UK and Europe’s online protection laws, which run counter to the interests of big US companies like Meta. So the first minister may well have his work cut out, when the matter of tariffs eventually comes up.

• BBC: I'll use Trump's Scottish links in tariff talks - FM

• BBC iPlayer: The Sunday Show (full episode)
  

📣 The new Glen Sannox ferry made its first revenue-generating voyage yesterday, simultaneously managing to be a day early, and six-and-a-half years late.

It was a day early after CalMac brought her first trip forward, presumably to avoid the embarrassment today of potentially having to cancel the sailing because of forecast high winds. It was more than six years late because, of course, of those horrendous delays during building.

Whether the maiden voyage is today’s “formal” entry into service, or yesterday’s informal sailing with people paying, will be the subject of some debate: some newspapers are still saying the maiden voyage is today, and other outlets appear to have missed news of the surprise sailing entirely. It seems a fittingly confused start to the service of this most muddled of vessels.

• The Scotsman: Glen Sannox finally makes maiden voyage

• The Herald: Glen Sannox ferry 'at risk of cancellation' on maiden voyage

IDEAS
Swinney and Forbes go the full 90 minutes | Scotland’s declining educational standards

🗣️ Holyrood Sources' feature-length interview with First Minister John Swinney and his deputy Kate Forbes is worth the investment of your time (it’s around 90 minutes long).

The National picked out Swinney's hint at a Northern Ireland-style "trigger" for an independence vote as the news line, but to be honest I found it more useful to hear this insider-y, relaxed interview in the round, over its full hour-and-a-bit. It's in stark contrast to the more aggressive interviews you see and hear elsewhere - although it's interesting how quickly the politicians clam up when questioning gets more pointed, or even close.

But, in between those moments, there's lots to be gleaned by the phrases they use, the emphasis they place, and revealing asides. Swinney comes across as the capable politician we know he is. Forbes is clearly formidably clever.

Beyond that, what you get excited - or irritated - about will rather depend on your own political lens. (Hollyrood Sources on YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify)

🗣️ Neil Mackay’s “big read” on Scottish education is also worth your time, especially if you find Swinney and Forbes light on how to deal with the problems in Scotland’s education system. Mackay speaks at length to Professor Lindsay Paterson “about the decline and fall of the once-great Scottish school”.

Paterson tells him the average citizen now has a level of numeracy and literacy roughly around what is expected of children leaving primary school. “The standards of the curriculum have steadily weakened as part of this otherwise admirable attempt to extend educational opportunity to everyone,” he tells Mackay.

“That’s the major challenge: how do you combine rigorous standards with genuinely equal opportunities for everyone? Scotland hasn’t adequately answered that challenge.” (The Herald)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Industrialist Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned chemical manufacturing faces “extinction” in the UK because of high energy prices and carbon taxes. The Scotsman has the exclusive. (The Scotsman)

📣 The UK’s first “safer drug consumption room” officially opens today in Glasgow allowing users to consume drugs in a clean and safe environment. It’s part of pilot project in an attempt to tackle the country’s high number of drug-related deaths, but is controversial. Kevin McKenna, writing in the Herald yesterday, lambasted the facility as a “human zoo”. (Sky News) (The Herald)

AROUND THE UK

📣 The vast store of NHS health data is to be opened up to AI companies to train new systems, in an initiative the government hopes will place the UK “at the heart” of the global AI revolution and attract billions in investment from US-based technology companies. Sir Keir Starmer is expected to make the announcement later today. (BBC) (Guardian)

📣 Rachel Reeves has returned from her trip to China and faces pressure on a number of fronts: continued political pressure after her budget, concerns about the bond market, and further gloomy survey data. A survey of the UK’s chief financial officers found 26% of them more pessimistic about their business now than three months ago. (Independent)

📣 George Orwell is to be honoured with a new £2 coin (Guardian)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 The Los Angeles fires have now claimed 24 lives as firefighters attempt to control the blazes before the return of the strong winds which did so much to fan the flames last week. Pollution is now an additional concern: ash from the fires could contain lead, arsenic and asbestos, officials warned. (AP)

🌎 Tougher US sanctions on Russian oil producers are forcing Moscow’s biggest oil customers - Chinese and Indian oil refiners - to look elsewhere, forcing up oil prices globally. (Reuters)

🌎 Iran might be about to start talks with the West on a nuclear treaty… but it’s also been conducting secret diplomatic missions to Russia to bolster its military and defence capabilities, The Times reports. (The Times)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers fans protested yesterday as their team ran out 3-1 winners over St Johnstone. They weren’t protesting at the result, but more at the management of the club, and the wildly inconsistent performance of the side in recent months, in which they overcame Celtic at home, but slipped to defeat on the road.

But even the protest didn’t go smoothly: while ultras left the stadium on the 55th minute, many other fans barracked them. “This is a house of juxtapositions,” says The Scotsman. “What occurred here was a great example of the fractured state Rangers now finds itself in.” (The Scotsman)