TODAY’S WEATHER

☔️ You’ll need your waterproofs today if heading out in Glasgow and Edinburgh: it’ll be wet until late afternoon. Aberdeen and London will be dry, although the Granite City will be the brighter of the two. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Reeves urged to tax, not cut | UK has a new tariff deadline | Police push back on gang links to deaths

📣 Rachel Reeves is facing a cabinet revolt over her spending review, to be announced next week, with fears that heavy departmental cuts will lead to manifesto promises being broken. She’s being urged to consider more taxes on the wealthy, instead of cuts. (Independent)

• The chancellor will announce £15 billion for trains, trams and buses outside London today, as she launches a charm offensive to persuade colleagues the country is not headed back to austerity. (Guardian)

📣 Britain has been “spared” Donald Trump’s new 50% import tariffs on steel and aluminium… but only until July, as work continues to finalise details of the UK’s trade deal with the US. The US President issued an executive order last night that gave the exemption, but also imposed a new deadline to get the deal done. (BBC) (Times £)

📣 Police Scotland has said there is “no intelligence” to suggest the deaths of two Scottish men in Spain are linked to ongoing violence in central Scotland, or that the killings were planned in Scotland. (STV)

• Mobsters are blaming other gangsters for the killings (Daily Record)

• A crime gang is setting aside £500,000, fearing it’s being wrongly blamed. (The Sun)

Where do we want Scotland to be in 2050? 

That’s the big question being asked at a new conference that will bring together leading figures from the worlds of business, politics, and civic society to share innovative ideas, knowledge, and understanding.

The Early Line is proud to be a partner of this new, exciting exchange of ideas, taking place at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Tuesday 17 June 2025.

Speakers at Scotland 2050 include First Minister John Swinney, Anas Sarwar, Cherie Blair, Kate Forbes and Alex Cole-Hamilton. You can see the full programme on the conference website.

Better still, you can be there too, for free, joining hundreds of other attendees keen to see - and help shape - Scotland’s future.

To get your FREE ticket, click here.

IDEAS
Your Substacks du jour

A snapshot of the world through the eyes of a few of the Substack authors in my inbox…

🗣️Adam Boulton, writing for Reaction, digests the UK’s Strategic Defence Review, and spots a gap between how the public sees the world, and the darker view the “defence establishment” holds: “The evolving complexities of the UK’s security are common ground for what might be called the defence establishment. The electorate is not on the same page regarding the threat as the authors of the SDR. Political leaders on all sides have been reluctant to spell out the full implications of the changed world to their voters. This review creates an opening for that conversation.” (Reaction)

🗣️ The respected defence commentator Mark Urban says the Defence Review is “pointedly different to the Global Britain and Indo-Pacific language of the Johnson years” because it focuses on concerns much closer to home. It highlights the importance of physical, undersea internet and energy connectors, linking the UK to the rest of the world, to more traditional concerns of keeping sea lanes open. This graphic rams that message home: (War and Peace)

🗣️ Over in the US, Matt Kiser at WTF Just Happened - a Substack largely devoted to political news - describes his mood only in emojis, thus: 🧨💸📉🤯.

His “Today in one sentence opener” is laced with… some despair. I won’t quote it all here - it runs on for a while - but it starts with Elon Musk’s denunciation of one-time pal Donald Trump’s tax plans as a “disgusting abomination,” takes in Trump’s blaming of the Boulder firebombing on Joe Biden, and lingers on the acting head of FEMA - on the second day of hurricane season - telling staff… he “didn’t realise” the US had a hurricane season. Oh dear. (WTF Just Happened)

🗣️ Finally, more lightly… I got a surprise (as usual) reading After School, Casey Lewis’s invaluable guide to youth culture, which informs me I’ve been going to the bar all wrong - at least when visiting the US - for decades. She links to this piece in the New York Times - Gen Z Does Not Want To Start A Bar Tab (🎁gift link) - and notes: “The only thing I’ll say about this piece on Gen Z’s bar tab etiquette (or lack thereof) is that it’s seriously wild Willy Staley’s viral 2023 tweet is still serving as fodder for reporters. I guess it’s just proof that this uncouth behavior — where young people close out their tabs after every single round — has not evolved at all over the last few years.” Who knew? (After School)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 The downgrading of neonatal services at University Hospital Wishaw could see mothers having to travel all the way to Aberdeen for specialist services because of pressure at alternative facilities closer to home. (The Scotsman has the exclusive)

📣 Voters have been talking to the BBC ahead of tomorrow’s byelection in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. They describe a town centre that’s “dying”, with even the local football team moving out the area. Away from the ding-dong battles between party leaders over the seat, these are the issues weighing on locals’ minds. (BBC)

📣 There’s a place in Scotland where 94% of people regularly travel by train, to the surprise of Alastair Dalton in his fascinating piece about the nation’s varied travel habits. (The Scotsman)

📣 Organisers of Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows have been urged to be “pretty smart” and cash in on the decision by Oasis and AC/DC to play huge gigs in the city while the festival is in full swing. Tony Lankester, the new Fringe Society chief executive, said it was an opportunity to engage new audiences. (Guardian)

• Lots of arts bodies worried about a lack of public funding today: the Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh International Festival and a new arts centre in the city all want more. Meanwhile, Cumbernauld Theatre’s boss is stepping down months after a funding row. (All from the Herald)

AROUND THE UK

📣 Mohammed Al Fayed spent decades spying on women shoppers in Harrods changing rooms, according to a new book by his former bodyguard. (The Mail has the exclusive)

📣 Did May’s good weather cause an increase in small boat crossings on the English channel? It’s a factor, experts say, but only one in a complex picture. (BBC)

📣 Some train operators around the UK have excessively prosecuted fare dodgers, the rail regulator says, with “inconsistent treatment and outcomes” across the network. But fare dodging is costing railways hundreds of millions of pounds every year. (Guardian)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 The UK is “cosying up to China” after years of rollercoaster relations, writes Ankur Shah on the BBC. He pins his long read on a British delegation’s visit to the sprawling city of Chongqing, where railway lines on stilts go through buildings, described by one visitor as “what happens if you take the planning department and just say ‘yes’ to everything […] it’s just amazing.”

But what is the likely outcome of these warmer relations? And what of national security concerns? This is a useful and accessible primer. (BBC)

🌎 Meanwhile… China really wants to attract talented scientists. By cutting research budgets, Donald Trump is helping (and China is moving quickly to capitalise), notes the New York Times (🎁 free to read)

🌎 Everyone thought Elon Musk and Donald Trump would eventually fall out… but perhaps not this soon. But Musk’s description of Trump’s signature tax and spending bill as “pork-filled […] disgusting abomination” - in a post on X, of course - would seem to be a clear signal of worsening relations, despite recent warm words from the President. (BBC)

• Musk has sided with critics who say the bill hasn’t cut spending enough (WSJ)

SPORT

⚽️ It was a day of rumour and counter-rumour in Glasgow: former Southampton manager Russell Martin was thought to be signing on as Rangers manager, only for it to be claimed he was only on a shortlist (although quite high up that list).

• Now, The Sun claims Martin is in “final negotiations” over personal terms, and will be the next manager. (The Sun)

• Some Rangers fans aren’t impressed by the choice, but Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn - who played alongside Martin briefly - says he shouldn’t be written off as damaged goods. (Daily Record)

• This “risky” appointment means Russell Martin will start on the back foot as Rangers manager, says Graeme McGarry. (Herald)