TODAY’S WEATHER

🌦️ Changeable across the country, after a chilly start - especially in the east. It’s bright in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness first thing, but rain will come later - lunchtime in the west, afternoon in the east and north. Aberdeen manages to be bright and dry all day, as does London after early fog. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Sarwar attacks Farage as Labour sinks | Scottish quango chair “astonished” at spending | Ryder Cup glory for Europe’s golfers

📣 Anas Sarwar branded Nigel Farage a “poisonous little man” who knows nothing about Scotland, and accused the SNP’s Scottish government of being “knackered and out of touch” during a speech to the Labour Party’s UK conference. Sarwar’s speech came as a new poll showed his Scottish Labour party has fallen to third place, behind Reform and the SNP. (BBC)

• Keir Starmer decried Reform’s plans to revoke the rights of thousands of people to live in Britain as “racist”. (Guardian)

• Fraser Nelson: Was Keir Starmer wise to call Reform “racist”? (Substack)

• Rachel Reeves will address Labour conference today: she’s planning a library in every English primary school, unveil plans to get more young people into work, and place strong emphasis on economic responsibility in her speech. (Guardian) (Mail)

📣 The chairman of Scotland’s water regulator - appointed to the job last year after an outcry over executive spending - says the misuse of public money on business-class flights and luxury goods came about because “executive overreach had run rampant”.

Ronnie Hinds said he was “astonished” at what had happened before he joined the board of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. And he also questioned how the Scottish Government could properly oversee its many quangos.

“I couldn’t believe that a chief executive of a small body like that could get away with that kind of behaviour for quite a long time, without something happening to rein him in,” said Hinds, who is critical of non-executive board members who failed to challenge his predecessor. (The Times £)

📣 Europe won the Ryder Cup after a day of drama at Bethpage Black, in which Team USA staged a remarkable comeback that only just fell short. Shane Lowry leapt around the green with joy after making a vital putt at the 18th to get the European’s over the line to retain the trophy. Tyrrel Hatton then added a half point to make it a clean win. (Scotsman)

• Europe captain Rory McElroy condemned the “unacceptable” abuse from fans, saying his wife was hit by a beer (Guardian)

• An emotional Shane Lowry took a shot at US fans, saying he hoped the next Ryder Cup - on his home soil of Ireland - will be a “lot nicer”. (Daily Record)

• Keegan Bradley called for a rule change (Daily Record)

IDEAS
Six things we learned over the weekend: Tower block risk, Labour’s woes, Scotland and drugs, and potholes

🗣️Thousands of Scots live in tower blocks at risk of catastrophic collapse. This is a story I’ve long been interested in, and I’m proud of the work my colleague - Dan Vevers at the Sunday Mail - has done to figure it out. In short: there are lots of flats made from the Large Panel System - the same system which failed, killing five, at Ronan Point in 1968. After that, government advice called for mains gas to be removed from these buildings, as gas explosions can cause them huge problems. But 60 years on, potentially dozens of towers in Scotland still have mains gas. And the government isn’t even keeping an accurate record of them. (Sunday Mail)

🗣️ The polling got even worse for Labour. According to a new Norstat poll for the Sunday Times, Reform has overtaken Labour in Scotland, with Nigel Farage’s party “now within touching distance” of becoming the main opposition at Holyrood. Labour, says the poll, would land its worst result in the history of the devolved parliament. Donald Trump is more popular in Scotland than Keir Starmer - and Scottish voters “overwhelmingly” back Farage’s policy of the mass detention and deportation of illegal immigrants. (Sunday Times £)

🗣️Andy Burnham’s challenge to Keir Starmer took a stumble. More than half of Labour Party members might not want Starmer to lead them into another General Election. But they’re not all that enamoured with the “King of the North’s” tilt at the leadership, with Scottish MPs particularly critical of Burham’s potential impact ahead of the Scottish elections next year. One MP told Scotland on Sunday: “The interviews that Burnham has been doing aren’t helpful. Him coming back wouldn’t help anyone. He’s a big fish in Manchester - but not in Kent, not in Cornwall and not in Scotland.” (Scotland on Sunday)

🗣️Drug users need rehab, not harm reduction, say campaigners. We’ve the worst drug death reate in Europe, and hand out 11 million doses of methadone and heroin substitute every year. The government spends more than £20 million a year on harm reduction organisations, “where drug users remain addicted for life,” points out the Sunday Post. But we offer only 140 publically-funded rehab beds. With even greater danger round the corner - nitazenes, hugely strong and now being found in cocaine - experts claim Scotland’s drug strategy is trapping people in dependence, not change. (Sunday Post)

🗣️Jaguar Land Rover is in real trouble after a devastating cyber attack. And, worryingly, so are its many suppliers. The company was forced to shut down at the end of August after its interconnected computer systems were infiltrated by a hacking group, identity (and purpose) not known.

The company has now been given a £1.5 billion loan guarantee to help support those suppliers, but there’s still no indication of when they’ll start building cars again.

(Guardian)

🗣️There’s a reason Britain has so many potholes. And it’s all to do with how the road is made. Around 30 years ago, we changed the way we surfaced our roads, moving away from hot-rolled asphalt to a new technique called “thin surfacing”. Those new surfaces are used on those lovely, smooth roads in Germany and France, and avoid some of the problems you get with the old method. It’s cheaper, quicker and easier to lay, too. But you’ve got to maintain them. And we don’t. So when water gets under those thin surfaces, freezes and thaws… they are blown apart. (The Times £)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Four Scottish gangsters have been released from jail in Dubai - but told to leave the country. The quartet was arrested 12 days ago, and it’s not clear where they’ll head next - although speculation points to South America. (Daily Record)

📣 Labour is being urged to be more “transparent” over the reasons it had to suspend a second MSP in two months. Lothian MSP Foysol Choudhury was suspended by the party pending an investigation, but it’s not known what sparked that probe. (Scotsman)

📣 The global oil crash of 2014 ended Aberdeen’s “oil capital glory days” says the FT. “Weakness in the historic fossil fuel sector is cascading through the wider north-east economy,” writes Simeon Kerr. “Aberdeen has lost about 18,000 jobs, or 10 per cent of the workforce, since 2010.” That’s filtering through to the to-let signs on the former grand corporate offices in the West End, and empty shops on Union Street (FT £)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 An ex-Marine attacked a church in Michigan, opening fire and setting the building ablaze during a Sunday service. At least four people were killed and eight wounded. The attacker was shot dead by police. (AP)

📣 Britain may already be at war with Russia because of the depth and intesnity of cyber-attacks, sabotage and other hostile activity orgniased by Moscow, according to a former head of MI5. (Guardian)

📣 Economic sanctions have been reimposed on Iran 10 years after its landmark nuclear deal saw them lifted. The three European partners to the deal - the UK, France and Germany - accused Iran of “continued nuclear escalation”. (BBC)

SPORT

⚽️ Fans of the Old Firm continue to wallow in their misery. Celtic fans weren’t happy with a goalless draw with Hibs on Saturday. And even a win for Rangers, away to Livingston, couldn’t pacify Rangers fans yesterday. But Hearts fans are pretty happy with life: they’re top of the table.

• Max Aarons blasted home the late winner to get Russell Martin his first league win. (Sun)

• Keith Jackson: I can see the stars aligning for Derek McInnes and Hearts (Daily Record)

• Celtic aren’t worried about a Tynecastle title charge (Daily Record)

• 🎥 See all the weekend highlights (Sportscene) (Sunday’s Match of the Day)