TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ Another bright spring day for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. A little more cloud means temperatures won’t hit yesterday’s heights, but it’ll still be dry. London will be much the same. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Swinney unveils election year programme | Sturgeon breaks silence on gender | India launches strikes

📣 Scotland goes to the polls exactly a year from today: In Holyrood yesterday, First Minister John Swinney fired the starting gun for the election campaign with the final annual programme for government of this term. He set out plans to reduce waiting times for GP appointments, scrap peak fares on ScotRail, tackle child poverty and stimulate the economy.

Opposition parties attacked the lack of content in the announcement and the SNP’s record in government, but The Herald found five talking points, STV tallied ten takeaways and The Scotsman spotted 15 key policies.

• See Ideas, below, for a roundup of today’s analysis and commentary on the programme. ⬇️

• Read the Programme for Government (Scottish Government).

📣 Nicola Sturgeon wasn’t in the chamber for the announcement but came close to upstaging the First Minister, offering her first public comments on the Supreme Court’s ruling that gender is defined by biology.

Speaking at Holyrood, the former First Minister said the lives of transgender people will become almost “unliveable” after the judgment, and expressed concern about interim guidance published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry dismissed Ms Surgeon’s claim as “the sort of fatuous hyperbole that she has indulged in in relation to these issues from the outset”. (Herald) (Mail) (Guardian)

📣 India launched a series of air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir overnight, in response to a terrorist attack in Kashmir last month which killed 26 men, mostly Indian Hundu tourists. India claims Pakistan backed the massacre, which Pakistan denies.

At least 19 people were killed and 38 injured in the overnight attacks, according to Pakistan, which also claims to have shot down several Indian fighter jets. Islamabad called the action "an act of war” and promised a “strong response”, marking a dramatic escalation in hostilities between the nuclear-armed countries. (AP) (BBC)

IDEAS
A lukewarm reception for steady Swinney

🗣️ “Was that it?” Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar asked Holyrood after John Swinney had introduced his programme for government.

For sure, Swinney’s big unveiling offered few surprises, and didn’t rock the boat. Where once the Scottish government wanted to push through grand environmental schemes or great liberalisations of social policy, the Swinney agenda is a more managerial affair.

There are obvious reasons for that. A year out from an election, the First Minister wants improvements in the areas voters care most about: improvements on NHS waiting lists, continued support on the cost of living. Some efforts on the economy. Booze back on the trains (even if the ban wasn’t enforced), and cheaper tickets to boot (even if price cuts did little real good last time).

It’s not stuff designed to cause a fuss. You could even argue Swinney is “protecting the Ming vase”, just as Keir Starmer was doing only last year: ensuring his precious poll lead lasts to election day by not saying or doing anything too outré. “They say a week is a long time in politics,” The Scotsman says, wearily. “With the campaigning already underway, the next year may seem like a lifetime.”

Other reaction this morning is similarly underwhelmed. The Mail leads with Tory leader Russell Findlay’s assessment of a “flimsy bid to clear up his own mess,” noting that a third of his own MSPs failed to attend, including his predecessors Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon.

“Russell Findlay cut through the hubris like a bushman swinging a machete,” writes Stephen Daisley, while “Anas Sarwar roared to life with a volley of blows against the SNP leader. Quite why he chose this exact moment to come out swinging, I’ve no idea but the belated show of gumption is welcome”.

The Record is kinder. “The doctor will see you now,” its print front page states. Paul Hutcheon says the programme confirms “that through luck and steady governance, [Swinney] is in the driver’s seat with a year to go until the Holyrood election.”

The Herald isn’t wildly impressed. “This is a Programme for Government full of quick wins ahead of a crucial election. But it lacked substance and action,” writes Rebecca McCurdy. “Was there really enough announced to cover Mr Swinney’s four main aims of government?” It missed the mark, she reckons.

Alex Massie in the Times (£) spots platitudes aplenty. “‘Times are tough’ the first minister said and since this is the case and amidst much ‘uncertainty’ voters should be reassured that his government is one ‘that seeks to do the best for Scotland’ The soft bigotry of low expectations, a phrase memorably coined by George W Bush, has rarely been softer than that.”

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has unveiled nearly 1,600 new shows for this year’s programme, its third-biggest lineup ever. It’s a remarkable comeback, notes Brian Ferguson. (The Herald)

📣 A group of yobs on e-bikes has caused widespread damage to the famous Braid Hills golf course, a municipal golf course in Edinburgh. The course has come under repeated attacks from youngsters on the electronic bikes, which are increasingly becoming a menace around the city. (Daily Record)

📣 Schools in West Lothian are the victim of a suspected cyberattack. (BBC)

AROUND THE UK

📣 Britain has signed its biggest post-Brexit trade deal, with India, that will boost trade with the country by £25.5 billion a year. (Independent)

📣 Criminals who skip sentencing could get two more years in prison, under a bill being introduced to Parliament today. (BBC)

📣 Train drivers could start to look younger… the minimum age is being lowered to 18, to try and plug a shortage of candidates. (Guardian)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 What was expected to be the smooth political coronation of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz got messy yesterday: with “honoured guests and family sat in the upper tribunes of the Bundestag, dressed in their Sunday best” to watch his elevation… the parliament refused to vote him in.

It took a scramble, and a few hours, to summon the votes, hitting Merz’s authority before day one.

The FT has some vivid colour behind its paywall, but there’s widespread coverage of a dramatic day in Berlin. (FT £) (Euractiv) (BBC)

• Merz later warned the US to “stay out” of German politics (Guardian)

🌎 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Donald Trump Canada “is not for sale” during a visit to the White House. “Never say never,” replied Trump. (BBC)

• Canada is looking beyond Washington for new trade partners (Semafor)

🌎 Cardinals from across the world enter the Sistine Chapel to begin voting in the Papal Conclave today, in what is being called “the largest and possibly most unpredictable conclave ever to take place”. (Guardian)

SPORT

⚽️ Brighton owner Tony Bloom says he can help Hearts “disrupt Scottish football” with a near-£10m investment in the club. Fans are to vote on the deal. (Mail)

⚽️ The Early Line stayed up well beyond its bedtime to enjoy the second leg of Inter Milan’s ding-dong battle with Barcelona in the Champions League, in what must be one of the great semi-finals. The instant classic ended 4-3 to the Italians, 7-6 on aggregate, after extra time, with David Frattesi scoring the winner.

As Jonathan Liew, who was there, puts it: “And so ended what turned out to be less a Champions League semi-final and more of an elongated scream, the sort of game that emerges when both sides give up on perfection and in so doing somehow manage to produce it.

“Perfect theatre, perfect tension, perfect imperfection, a perfect clash of styles and a perfect balance: between flamboyant, fearless youth and grizzled, grimacing experience.”

Perfect. (Guardian) (🎥 Highlights)

• The game nobody wanted to end (BBC)

• Where does it rank among best-ever semi finals? (BBC)

⚽️ Arsenal travel to Paris tonight a goal down to PSG in the other semi-final. Declan Rice thinks they can win the game, and the tournament. (Mail) (8pm, TNT Sports 1)