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Scotland counts the cost after Storm Eowyn
PLUS: big announcements coming up on the Scottish NHS and UK economy
👋 Good morning! It’s Monday 27 January 2025, and I’m Neil McIntosh, editor of The Early Line. It’s great to have you here.
Sent from Edinburgh every weekday at 7am, The Early Line brings you essential news and thought-provoking views on Scotland, the UK, and the world. Understand your world, free of pop-ups and clickbait. Forwarded this by a friend? Join The Early Line at earlyline.co - it’ll cost you nothing.
☁️☀️ Today’s weather: Rain in both Glasgow and Edinburgh will give way to brighter skies in the late morning. But it will return in early afternoon in the west, and early evening in the east. Aberdeen will see rain until mid-afternoon when it will brighten… a little. London is covered by no fewer than three weather warnings for wind and rain today: you’ll not be surprised to hear that, yes, it’s windy and wet all day. (Here’s the UK forecast).
And here’s all you need to know this morning:
THE BIG STORIES
Scotland counts the cost after Storm Eowyn | Swinney’s NHS speech | Remembering Auschwitz
📣 Scotland continues to clear up after Storm Eowyn, branded the “£600m killer storm” by the Mail. Rooves were ripped from homes and factories, seafronts smashed, transport badly disrupted, two of Scotland’s biggest stadiums were damaged, and one person died. (Mail)
A young man died after his car was hit by a falling tree in Ayrshire (BBC)
The Island of Jura is expected to be without power until later today, and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh - and its Benmore Garden near Dunoon - have seen heavy damage. (Scotsman)
There’s substantial disruption across Scotland’s rail network, with services cancelled and rail replacement buses running in some areas. There’s a (long) list of cancellations on ScotRail’s site.
📣 The Scottish Government will unveil a plan to revive the NHS today, with the First Minister pledging his personal “leadership and direction” on the plan.
In a speech, John Swinney will set a target of 150,000 more appointments and procedures each year, and a new health and social care mobile phone app. (Scotsman) (Herald)
📣 The world will remember the victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau today, 80 years after its liberation. Heads of state including King Charles and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will attend a ceremony at the site. But the focus will be on 50 survivors of the death camp who will return to the place where 1.1 million people - mostly Jews - were murdered.
Survivors return as world remembers Auschwitz 80 years after liberation (BBC)
Commemorations are being live-streamed from 8am UK time. (YouTube)
This three-minute video from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty tells the story of the camp, hearing from a survivor and a Russian soldier who was among those who liberated the camp. The stories are familiar but no less moving, and horrifying.
The Wiener Holocaust Library has put much of its collection online for the first time. The Guardian has the exclusive. (The Library)
The Auschwitz Memorial X Feed is worth following: it commemorates victims, educates on the site’s history and has details of today’s events.
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IDEAS
Reeves’ big week for the economy - and why it matters for us all
Growth comes before any other priority,” the chancellor will say. “Because without growth we cannot cut hospital waiting lists or put more police on the streets. Without growth we cannot meet our climate goals or give the next generation the opportunities to thrive. But most of all, without growth we cannot improve the lives of working people.”
🗣️ Rachel Reeves has a big week ahead, and her success - or lack of it - will have an impact on us all, as the state of the economy - and with it, jobs, the cost of mortgages and investment in public services - will hang on her success.
The centrepiece will be a big speech on Wednesday, in which she will confirm well-flagged plans to support a third runway at Heathrow, and reform of planning rules.
That follows a wider - and rather Conservative-sounding - push for deregulation, and demands that fellow Cabinet members find new ways to drive growth.
As we’ve reported here in recent weeks, there’s a steady flow of polls and surveys showing pessimism around the economy: Reeves has been packing her diary with meetings to understand what business leaders want, and what she does this week is her attempt to turn that round.
How Rachel Reeves has been galvanised by Davos mauling (Sunday Times) (Tim Shipman’s excellent read conveys the mood very well, even if Davos felt even more unmoored from reality this year than it does most of the time)
Growth at all costs? Why Reeves is in a sudden rush on the economy (Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC)
Reeves eyes commuter town boom to boost home ownership (Independent)
Simon Nixon, on his Substack, notes: “If the effect of the recent rise in bond yields has been to embolden a government whose hallmark until now has been excessive timidity, so much the better.”
Gary Stevenson, a former trader, has made quite a name for himself explaining economics (and his own left-leaning politics) on YouTube. His explainer on the current state of the UK economy - Is the UK government bankrupt? - is an interesting primer on the (now receding) bond market problem Reeves has faced. You’ll maybe not agree with his politics… but you’ll leave a little wiser about why bond markets are important.
AROUND THE UK
📣 200 companies have signed up for a permanent four-day working week with 5,000 staff set to have longer weekends with no loss of pay. (Guardian)
📣 Storm Hermina is causing disruption in the south of England: flights to and from London are being cancelled as a result. (Independent)
📣 Pharmacists want tighter controls on weight loss drugs, saying online sales risk patient safety. (BBC)
AROUND THE WORLD
🌎 Columbia has agreed to accept flights of deported migrants from the US after the biggest diplomatic spat of the week-old Trump White House.
Trump promised on inauguration day to deport “millions and millions” of people: an estimated 11.7m people are living in the US illegally. That programme started immediately, but Columbia refused to accept flights.
That prompted the US to punish its long-time ally with hefty tariffs and visa sanctions on Columbian government officials and their families. The Columbian government backed down within hours. (Reuters)
🌎 Thousands of Palestinians have been allowed to return to northern Gaza for the first time since the earliest days of Israel’s war with Hamas. (AP)
SPORT
⚽️ Portugese winger Jota could seal his return to Celtic today as the champions start to flex their financial muscles: fans can expect a replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi to arrive this window, and a move for Kieran Tierney remains likely - although he may not turn up until the summer. (Daily Record) (The Sun)
⚽️ Rangers beat Dundee United 3-1 to finally win a game after going a goal down - something they’ve not managed all season. But the win was marred by a late, soft, red card for Mo Diomande, which referee Nick Walsh refused to back down on despite being called to the pitchside VAR screen. Rangers will appeal. (The Sun)
🏉 Taylor Swift watched her boyfriend’s team, Kansas City, reach its third Super Bowl in a row, as they beat the Buffalo Bills 32-29. They’ll face the Philadelphia Eagles on February 9, in New Orleans. (AP)
👍 That’s your Early Line for the day
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