TODAY’S WEATHER

☔️ A damp day for Glasgow and Edinburgh, with spells of heavy rain for both, while Aberdeen stays dry. London will be overcast too. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Reeves plans a bonfire to get economy going | Trump unhappy with Putin | Swinney will meet the President

📣 Ahead of her important Mansion House speech in the City of London tonight, Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil her “Leeds reforms” today: a package intended to sweep away some regulation of financial services, making it easier for homebuyers to get bigger mortgages.

More mortgages will be available at more than 4.5 times a buyer’s income, which the government says will create up to 36,000 additional mortgages for first-time buyers over the first year of the new system.

The changes will raise concerns, however, that the Government is rolling back safeguards introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which had mortgage default at its heart. (Independent) (Housing Today)

• Tonight’s Mansion House speech will be a big opportunity for Reeves to signal to the City how she will bring growth back to the U.K. economy. (CNBC)

• Reeves will light a “a bonfire of financial services regulation” as she looks to rekindle her relationship with the City, including proposing scrapping certification regulations for city professionals, and making it easier to set up and scale fintech firms. (City AM)

📣 Donald Trump has had a telephone chat with the BBC ahead of his planned double-header visit to the UK - the first a private visit to his Scottish golf courses later this month, the second a State visit hosted by the King in September.

He told the broadcaster that he was “disappointed but not done with Vladimir Putin” over the ongoing Ukraine war, and also endorsed Nato - a shift on his previous position. (BBC)

• Trump has said the US will supply Ukraine with billions of dollars’ worth of weapons, paid for by European countries. He also warned Russia of severe sanctions unless it ended its war with Ukraine within 50 days. (Guardian)

📣 Speaking of which… John Swinney will meet Donald Trump during that visit later this month. The meeting will take place despite the First Minister’s criticism of Trump in March, when he said an official state visit should be cancelled over Mr Trump's position on Ukraine. (Herald)

IDEAS
Why counterfeits are getting so good | Champions toast wins after drug raps | Our tenements at risk

A day for a mixed bag of links: what I’ve found interesting around the web. Spot something yourself? Feel free to hit reply and share it with us all.

🗣️ If your holidays take you close to one of the big sunshine destinations around the Mediterranean this summer, chances are you’ll encounter what I saw last night: as dusk fell, the street vendors unfurled sheets on the ground, covered in counterfeit football tops, and quickly drummed up a very brisk trade indeed.

Although I’m long past the age where I can wear a football top as anything other than an act of satire, I take an interest: there are always designs I’ve never seen (the youth of today prize the obscure), and the quality has soared from back in my day too. Once, your Costa knock-off was very obviously a knock-off: so badly printed your pals could spot it a mile off. Now the colours are fuller, the fabric better, the badges and sponsors’ badges at least stuck on, not printed. Your €20 gets you much more these days.

I’m not really in the market for $11,000 bags ether, but I’m told by The Wall Street Journal (🎁 gift link) that at the other end of the counterfeit spectrum we’re seeing the same surge in quality: rip-off super-luxury handbags are now so convincing even the staff who sell them can’t spot the fakes. If you’re having to resort to “XRF technology to test the metal composition of handbags’ buckles to spot the new fakes” then you know the counterfeits are pretty good. The Journal’s story also explains why the big brands are relaxed about it, for now.

Meanwhile, on the seafront here in Spain last night, the street vendors were ready to scoop up their wares and disappear into the night at a moment’s notice from their spotters, their daily game of cat-and-mouse with the local Policia Municipal continuing as it has for decades. Some things don’t change so fast.

🗣️It’s been interesting to note the… limited references to both the men’s and women’s Wimbledon champions having been found guilty, recently, of doping violations. It’s the first time both champions have served bans for having banned substances in their systems.

Both Iga Swiatek and Jannick Sinner blamed contamination of medication - reasons the tennis authorities accepted - and that may explain why everyone’s moving on, explains the BBC. Not everyone will be satisfied.

Former Wimbledon champion fits into that latter camp. He was outraged at their conduct when the story broke last year, calling it “disgusting for our sport”. On Sunday, he tweeted out a single-character message - “*” - presumably in protest at Sinner’s win.

Sinner addressed the concerns yesterday, saying he and Swiatek had discussed their victories after a tough year of scrutiny for them both. “We've been celebrating in a way even more,” he told the BBC, “because it was a very difficult time for her and also for me, and only me and my team and the people who are close to me know exactly how it went.”

Indeed so.

🗣️It was sad to see yet another historic Glasgow building vanish: that derelict Pollockshields tenement that collapsed after a years-ago fire might not have been especially distinguished or famous (although it was B-listed) but is another example of how hopelessly careless Glasgow is with its built heritage.

Andrew Learmonth sounds the alarm about more of the city’s tenements in a column in today’s Herald: his is needing expensive repairs to its mullions (no, no idea either), an example of how these ageing buildings need a little TLC. And, with money tight, that’s often not being handed out.

Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, a vocal advocate for Glasgow’s historic buildings, thinks we need a tenements act: The Scottish Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance made recommendations for one all the way back in 2019 and, yes, not much has been done since. Maybe, with an election looming, new plans will be floated before too many buildings go the way of that Pollockshaws block.

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 A "crisis" over mental health care in Glasgow has been exposed by a service user who claims they were denied help when they needed it most. Marius Samavicius launched an investigation after a three-year battle for support in Glasgow, which saw the 33-year-old's suicidal thoughts referenced as a “lovely wee email”. More than 1,100 people have died while being cared for by the service. (Record)

📣 The Faroese prime minister, Aksel Johannesen, says Shetland could boost growth and revitalise island life by following his country’s example and replacing ageing ferries with undersea tunnels. Shetland Islands Council wants to build tunnels to four outlying isles in the archipelago. (BBC)

📣 Scottish businesses are in pessimistic mood: more are braced for economic decline than hoping for growth. (Scotsman)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Aristocrat Constance Marten fell from her status as a high society darling to being found guilty, yesterday, of killing her baby, after a drawn out trial. A family feud and deep distrust of the authorities helped to drive her off-grid with her rapist partner Mark Gordon, who had previously been jailed for two decades. The Independent charts a “shocking” downfall. (Independent)

📣 A nurse on her first day as a “flight nurse” was among those killed when a small plane crashed at London Southend Airport. (BBC)

📣 The UK is still a “powderkeg” of racial tension, a year on from last year’s summer riots, a report claims. (Guardian)

📣 MasterChef presenter John Torode has confirmed he was accused of using racist language, in an allegation that was upheld as part of a review into the behaviour of co-presenter Gregg Wallace. Torode said he had “no recollection of the incident” and was “shocked and saddened” by the allegation. (Independent)

📣 More than a third of UK workers say fears of being forced back to the office are affecting their mental wellbeing. As more employers issue “return to office” mandates, 84% of employees who work in a hybrid way say it has a positive effect on their mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing. (Guardian)

📣 Donald Trump plans to dismantle the US Education Department after a Surpreme Court ruling confirmed he could. (AP)

SPORT

⚽️ There’s a new top-flight middle class emerging in Scottish football, reckons Mark Atkinson, as Hibs spend more than £1 million on a player for the first time, Tony Bloom’s near-£10 million arrives at Hearts and Aberdeen’s owners also plough in millions this summer. Other clubs should beware. (Scotsman)

⚽️ Brendan Rodgers has led Celtic players on a pilgrimage to Lisbon - and the scene of the club’s greatest triumph. (Sun)

🏉 Scottish trio Rory Sutherland, Ewan Ashman and Darcy Graham have been called up as cover for the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia. (Offside Line)