THE BIG STORIES
Politicians struggle with gender ruling fallout | Gang war could intensify | Musk’s Tesla woes

📣 The Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman continues to create widespread political fallout.

• Green MSP Maggie Chapman has been widely criticised for her speech at the weekend which accused the Supreme Court of spreading “bigotry, prejudice and hatred” by ruling that under UK equalities law, biological men cannot be women. In a rare and coruscating intervention, Scotland’s Faculty of Advocates called for Chapman to be removed from Holyrood’s equalities committee, of which she is vice-convener, saying her comments were “appalling”, “outrageous” and contrary to what any “sensible person” could conclude. (Faculty of Advocates’ full statement)

• Chapman stood by her remarks. (Gina Davidson / LBC)

• She’s been reported to the Holyrood Presiding Officer and Standards Committee by Ash Regan, the Alba Party MSP. (Express)

• The Scottish Government has “no plans” to bring gender reform proposals back (Holyrood) but could not say when fresh guidance on single-sex spaces would be issued. It’s not clear how trans people will be supported. (Scotsman)

• The Scottish Government will not tell NHS Fife to settle its employment tribunal with a nurse who objected to sharing a changing room with a trans doctor. (The Herald)

• Author JK Rowling has turned her ire on Sir Keir Starmer for showing “a lack of remorse” after an “embarrassing U-turn on gender” (Daily Mail)

• Euan McColm: Anas Sarwar’s cowardice on the issue marks him as unfit to hold office. (Daily Mail)

📣 There are warnings that Scotland’s gangland war could be about to escalate with one of the figures, an anonymous criminal based in Dubai, now “desperate to kill” and offering £100,000 bounties on six named people in Glasgow and Edinburgh. To date, attacks have been limited to the firebombing of houses and businesses linked to two crime families. (Daily Record)

It’s a wave of crime that has largely flown under the radar of much of Scotland… might this be about to change? One of Scotland’s leading columnists thinks it should - see below. ⬇️

📣 Elon Musk says he will scale back his involvement in the US Government after his car company, Tesla, posted a grim set of figures for the first quarter of the year. Revenue fell 20% and profits fell 70% compared with the same period last year and the company refused to offer a growth forecast beyond saying that “changing political sentiment” could harm sales. (Sky News) (FT £)

That sentiment has been driven by Musk’s support for the Trump administration and high-profile role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which has also caused alarm with its plans to exploit US government data. (Wired)

Tesla has wider problems than its (distracted) leader. Its car line-up is stale relative to a wave of cheaper, more innovative Chinese brands, and it has been dogged by reliability and quality issues.

IDEAS
A gangland war establishment Scotland is ignoring | The predatory men problem | A Pentagon coup?

🗣️ Neil Mackay says something important to say about the gangland war currently raging in Glasgow and Edinburgh: why isn’t Scotland more upset by it? Where are the heartfelt discussions in parliament? The expressions of concern, the high-level summits? “Unless you read the crime pages of the tabloids, you won’t have heard much about this violence,” says Mackay.

He continues: “Ask yourself why? Every cop I know says the violence is terrifying, and the tension and fear in some communities is palpable. Yet, there is radio silence from our politicians. Could it be because these crimes are happening in our poorest estates, amongst our most marginalised citizens?”

He’s right. It’s been notable that it’s only the Daily Record and the Sun doing much by way of coverage. It’ll be interesting to see if that changes. (The Herald)

🗣️Civic Scotland has been debating, if not always very well, what a woman is. Alex Massie makes a useful point about where, for many, the problems in self-identification lie. It’s not about trans people. It’s about predatory men, of which there are many.

“The trans activist movement spent years promoting the One Weird Trick that would grant men access to women’s spaces and then shied away from accepting any liability for the obvious and unsurprising consequences of its own actions,” he writes. “The dramatic expansion in trans-ness was also a licence for unscrupulous men - I know, fancy there being such a category! - to take advantage of the opportunities newly created for them.

“[Former First Minister Nicola] Sturgeon and [Former head of Stonewall Ruth] Hunt and others were right to argue that “predatory men” are the real issue and trans people a distraction from that. Unfortunately they also argued against any means by which predatory men might be distinguished from trans people. The problem, for the millionth time, is not trans-ness but maleness.” (The Debatable Land)

🗣️“Is a Military Coup Unfolding at the Pentagon?” It’s an eye-catching subject line, isn’t it? It’s posed by Ken Klippenstein, a US independent journalist, who has an apparently well-sourced piece suggesting… well, that staff within the Pentagon are deliberately working to frustrate Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Now Hegseth is plenty able to dig a hole for himself, as Klippenstein points out. And I’m not sure what Klippenstein describes amounts to a coup. But… “‘As much as Hegseth’s detractors might be right that he is chaotic and ‘unqualified,’’ a senior serving officer said in an email exchange with me this week, ‘he is Senate confirmed. It’s up to Donald Trump to remove him, not the uniformed military because they want someone else to lead them.’ (Ken Klippenstein)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 John Swinney hosts his anti-far-right summit today, largely seen as a discussion on how to counter the rise of Reform UK in the polls. As previously reported, the Scottish Conseratives will not be attending: David Bol thinks that shows Russell Findlay “has no intention of calling out Reform for being too right-wing”. (The Scotsman)

• Eight in 10 Reform voters want Scottish MPs blocked from voting on English matters, a study has found. (Holyrood)

📣 A school pupil’s attack left a teacher unconscious and covered in blood, a court has heard. Keiran Matthew, 18, pled guilty to attacking the woman at St Paul’s Academy in Dundee in March last year, and will be sentenced at a later date. (Dundee Courier £)

📣 A teenager died and another was injured after a jet-ski crashed into a pier in Lerwick harbour. (STV)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 The body of Pope Francis is to be moved to St Peter’s Basiolica for public mourning today. (BBC - live coverage)

• His funeral will be held on Saturday at 9am UK time, with plans underway for his “humble” funeral. He will be buried in St Mary Major Basilica, with Prince William attending for the UK. (The Sun)

🌎 US and European negotiators will meet in London today to discuss Ukraine with speculation that Russia has told Washington it is willing to drop its claim to those parts of the country it does not occupy. Ukraine said no plan had been shared with it. (Guardian)

🌎 The “infighting and backstabbing” that marked Donald Trump’s first term have returned, with deep fissures over trade, national security and personal loyalty to the President. (AP)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰The UK’s economic growth forecast has been slashed as Trump’s tariffs hit the UK harder than Europe, with growth of just 1.1% projected for next year, and 1.4% the year after. The IMF also warned the broader global economy will “significantly slow” because of the tariffs. They will also increase the chances of a recession in the US. (Independent) (Semafor)

💰 The UK’s state-owned energy company will not use solar panels linked to Chinese slave labour, Ed Miliband will announce. That’s a big deal: campaigners claim 97% of solar panels sold in the UK contain polysilicon sourced from the Xinjiang region of China, where there are suspected human rights abuses of the Uighur population. (The Times £)

• (From 2022) Evidence grows of forced labour and slavery in production of solar panels and wind turbines (Guardian)

SPORT

⚽️ Everton’s former sporting director, Kevin Thelwell, is the front-runner to take on the same job at Rangers this summer after a two-month search. (The Record has the exclusive)

🏉 Edinburgh Rugby’s game against Zebra Parma in Italy, scheduled for Saturday, has been moved to Friday night so it doesn’t clash with Pope Francis’ funeral. It’ll still be shown live on Premier Sports. (The Scotsman)