In your briefing today:

📣 A man has been killed by a falling tree as Storm Boelo left a trail of destruction across Scotland, with significant flooding in coastal communities in the west of Scotland and thousands of people left without electricity.

The 60-year-old man was hit by the tree on a road near Castle Douglas yesterday morning; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Amid gusts of wind hitting 85mph in Argyll and Bute, 50,000 properties were left without power.

The worst-impacted area of the country was the west, with heavy flooding in the centres of Largs and Salcoats. But there were reports of injuries in Perth and Kinross, and disruption across the north. A falling tree also killed a man in his 20s as he drove through North London. (BBC)

📣 There’s been a surprise election result in Brazil: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftist incumbent president, won a fourth term over his far-right challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, in a result that’s being interpreted as an unexpected reversal of the conservative surge sweeping across Latin America.

Like his father four years ago, Bolsonaro refused to accept the outcome and has demanded an annulment, claiming his defeat was the result of foul play. (Guardian) (New York Times)

📣 John Healey delivers his first budget on Wednesday: city economists fear he will deliver a “boring budget” as a prelude to an early election, which could trigger a “spike” in Britain’s borrowing costs. “All roads in Britain’s politics increasingly point towards an early election in 2027,” one analyst said. (Telegraph)

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📣 The Scottish Greens have rejected a proposal to end their long-standing opposition to nuclear power. (Times)

📣 NHS reforms will pile more pressure on overstretched doctors and damaging care, the government has been warned. (Herald)

📣 Police Scotland is facing compensation claims from 34 officers who say they suffered hearing loss after dealing with Bonfire Night violence last year. (Daily Record)

📣 Defence secretary Wes Streeting says Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days. His message came days after the government launched a “Be Ready” campaign, urging households to stockpile non-perishable food, water, blankets and battery-powered radios. (Read Streeting’s piece)

📣 Andy Burnham’s call for the UK to consider a return to free movement with Europe is being backed by his senior cabinet members, even if some backbench MPs have qualms. (Guardian)

📣 Support for Reform UK is collapsing, a poll suggests: it puts Nigel Farage’s party on 20%, with the Conservatives on 24% and Labour on 32% - its highest rating since the last election. (Independent)

📣 Donald Trump has been on a “blitz” of visits to rallies in an attempt to shore up the Republican vote ahead of next week’s midterm elections. (WSJ)

⚽️ Celtic overcame Hibs despite going down to an early Elding goal, equalising moments later and Camila Duran striking just before half-time to earn all three points in Edinburgh. (Report & 🎥 highlights)

⚽️ Hearts enjoyed an away day, for once, beating Motherwell 2-0. (Report & 🎥 highlights)

⚽️ Manchester United manager Michael Carrick looks set to lose his job after another 3-0 spanking. (BBC report & 🎥 highlights)

⚽️ Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho rolled back the years to celebrate the winning goal in last night’s El Clásico at Barcelona by sliding along the turf on his knees. (BBC)

Scott McTominay continued his comeback after heart surgery by scoring his third and fourth goals in four days, in a ding-dong match against Roma. (Report & 🎥 highlights)

⚽️ The Scottish Cup third-round draw took place yesterday: see the full draw. (Daily Record)

🗣️The Sunday Times revealed that “jobs that don’t exist” cost Scottish taxpayers at least £27 million a year. The problem: roles become redundant, but because the Scottish Government has a no-redundancy policy, the people in them don’t lose their job. One NHS Highland worker hasn’t had a specific job for 17 years. (Sunday Times)

🗣️ Observer editor James Harding sat down with Bill Gates: inevitably, they talked AI and Epstein.

On the AI: Gates immediately warns that humans will soon be - maybe already are - no longer the most intelligent thing on Earth. “AI is an ‘evolutionary event’. Not in the sense of a gradual change, but a step change for life on Earth. ‘Like monkeys to humans,’” Gates tells Harding.

In a passage Harding admits he didn’t understand at the time, and had to research later, Gates says we don’t have to worry about AI not aligning with human interests… not yet. But in three to four years: yes, absolutely. As Harding puts it: “In other words: AI could be out of control before the next World Cup”.

On his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein: “For such an inquiring mind, he’s also incurious,” notes Harding, even if he denied - under oath - visiting Epstein’s properties. (Observer)

🗣️ MSP Amanda Bland, whose resignation from Reform Scotland relegated it to third-largest party in Holyrood, told The Sunday Post life in the party was like being “in a coercive relationship.” She told Marion Scott: “The behaviour of the Scottish leadership, the persistent shouting at me, was triggering. It took me right back to being a child.

“I will not put up with that same kind of abusive, misogynistic behaviour that I have been subjected to from the leadership clique here in Scotland.” (Sunday Post)

🗣️The revelation that the Duchess of Sussex’s father is being investigated for a cache of child abuse material on his devices occupied much of the weekend press. The Sunday Times reported he could be “a possible sex offender of the grossest kind”, while Polly Vernon asked: should we now view the Duchess of Sussex’s efforts to portray a perfect family life in a new light? (tl;dr: it’s hard not to). The Sun, meanwhile, reported Thomas Markle Snr had only headed to the Far East years ago “because 12-year-olds are legal there”. Markle, 82, denies the claims.

🗣️ The FT’s Simon Kuper wrote an excellent long read over the weekend which reported his - frankly disturbing - experiences on Paris’s streets a couple of weekends ago. I can’t imagine living in a place where law and order had broken down to that extent. He does: that it’s Paris makes it all the more shocking.

His piece lies behind the FT’s near-insurmountable paywall. But a comment underneath has gone vital all by itself, and has been posted on X. “The politicians are the symptom, it’s the entitled voters that are the disease,” the anonymous reader - “Le Gun” - offers. “Everyone things the politicians can fix this. Five minutes with any senior pol in power will completely debase you of such hallucinations,” Le Gun adds.

I’m not sure I agree, but it’s thought-provoking… and it’s clearly striking a chord. As the poster says, “FT comments never miss”. (Twitter/X)

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