TODAY’S WEATHER

⛈️ Pack your umbrella for rain all day in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, although Aberdeen should be dry. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Scotland’s failing flood defence programme | Farage welcomes Tory defector | Russia’s “massive” attack

📣 Scotland’s plan for flood protection schemes to protect thousands of homes across the country is a costly mess, according to a report by Audit Scotland. Overall, the cost of schemes has almost tripled in ten years, while only a fraction of the properties needing protection have benefited.

Around £30 million has been wasted on schemes that are no longer going ahead, while there has been no understanding on whether promised multi-year public funding would be enough. There are problems with leadership, too. (STV) (BBC)

• While “there are good examples of public bodies and councils working well with each other and with communities to tackle flooding”, says Audit Scotland, “there are gaps in leadership, data, resources, skills and capacity” and “the funding mechanism for major flood schemes is not fit for purpose. We are really concerned that the action needed will not happen at the scale and speed required.” (Read the Audit Scotland report)

📣 Nigel Farage arrived in Scotland to unveil a new MSP and declare that the Scottish Conservatives will “cease to be a political force” after next year’s Holyrood elections. But his press conference didn’t go smoothly - the Reform leader forgot that the party’s first MSP was Michelle Ballantyne, in 2021, when he unveiled Graham Simpson, a Conservative list MP who has represented Central Scotland since 2016. (The Times £) (Mail)

• Phil Sim: does Reform pose an existential threat to the Scottish Conservatives? (BBC)

• Paul Hutcheon: Nigel Farage’s chaotic press conference shows he’s a liability for Reform UK in Scotland (Daily Record)

• Alex Massie: Scotland’s protest voters now have a new home (Times £)

📣 Russia launched a “massive” attack on Kyiv overnight, with early reports saying at least four people were killed and 30 injured. Casualties were expected to rise, with a five-storey residential building in the city hit directly.

More than 20 locations were hit across the city in the mass missile and drone attack, the first on this scale since Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump in Alaska on 15 August. (Guardian) (AP)

IDEAS
How to revive Glasgow | The “B” word to beat Reform | Why Kentucky bourbon’s gone from boom to bust

🗣️ I’m spending a lot more time in Glasgow these days, enjoying the daily reminder of just how different Scotland’s biggest city is from its capital. A new and long Bloomberg feature on the city, by Feargus O’Sullivan, does a good job of explaining the good and the bad: “While its impressive architecture may not have the spectacular aesthetic appeal of its smaller neighbor Edinburgh, Glasgow more than makes up for its more workaday feel with cool — whether that be fashion, restaurants, music culture or even football,” he writes.

Plans are now afoot to revive the city centre, which hasn’t recovered from the pandemic and suffers from some structural issues, not least that relatively few people live there, and that the affluent west side of the city is “severed” from the centre by the M8.

But there’s wonderful architecture, ideas on how to revive some of it, and early signs of some work being done. Here’s a long read about Glasgow which manages to not be entirely gloomy… (Bloomberg - free to read)

🗣️We did a lot on Reform and immigration here yesterday, so I’ll spare you more - except… Rafael Behr did a good job of explaining Reform’s success, and was interesting on how the party could be beaten.

First, that success: as we (sort of) know, Nigel Farage isn’t worried about objections to his plans based on rule of law, “because his offer to the electorate is wilful transgression and denial of consequence”. This, I think, is the neatest explanation of his platform I’ve seen in a while.

Second, how to beat it: we need to discuss Brexit. Carefully, perhaps: “not to belittle the hopes and expectations of leave voters or conflate their sincerity with the venal cynicism of campaigns that lied about what was on offer.” But still raise it, because “the principal author of their predicament [is rehearsing] the remake.

“We tried listening to him. His probity and judgment were sold as the product called Brexit. It turned out to be a piece of shit. Enough people already know this is the truth, but it would be liberating to hear it from the prime minister.” (The Guardian)

🗣️ Finally, a little more on populism and its costs from the world of… Kentucky bourbon. The drink was on a tear between 2011 and 2020, with sales growing 7% over that period and some buyers seeing it not just as a drink, but as an investment. But then the bubble burst, with the pandemic killing bar sales and inflation driving drinkers away.

The final straw: Donald Trump’s tariffs. Most provinces in Canada have stopped importing American beverages in retaliation, dealing a huge blow to a market that’s worth 10% of Kentucky’s sales. “That’s worse than a tariff, because it’s literally taking your seles away, completely removing our products from the shelves,” says the CEO of the company that makes Jack Daniels. (BBC)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Music fans have been left out of pocket after the In The City festival, due to be held on Glasgow Green last weekend, was postponed. (BBC)

📣 Edinburgh councillors are reviewing the rules which blocked private schoolchildren in hospitals from free lessons during their treatment. (The Scotsman)

📣 The Paddle Steamer Waverley is on an epic diversion via the east coast of the UK for the first time, because of forecast bad weather on the other side of the country. (The Scotsman)

AROUND THE UK

📣 The Treasury is considering tax rises for landlords as part of its drive to increase revenue. The latest plan would be to levy National Insurance on rental income. (Times £)

• Threats over increased property taxes are slowing down the UK housing market, say estate agents (Guardian)

📣 Ministry of Defence staff were warned not to share information containing hidden tabs, before the accidental release of the details of almost 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to the UK - a mistake that will eventually cost around £850 million. (BBC)

📣 The manufacturer of Mounjaro, the popular weight loss drug, has paused shipments to the UK ahead of a big price rise next month. (Sky News)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 Donald Trump’s extraordinary, creeping takeover of Washington continues: his administration has now taken control of the city’s main railway station from Amtrak. In recent weeks Trump has increased the number of federal agents in the city and taken over its police department. (AP)

• Eric Lewis: Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops is pure authoritarian political theatre (Independent)

🌎 A shooter killed two and wounded 17 in an attack on a Catholic church in Minneapolis, as 200 children celebrated Mass during the first week of school. (AP) (Mail)

🌎 Denmark has summoned a senior US diplomat to demand an explanation after claims figures connected to the Trump administration had infiltrated Greenland to conduct “covert influence operations”. (Times £)

• The US told Denmark to “calm down” (BBC)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers took one look at Celtic’s embarrassing exit from the Champions League on Tuesday night… and said “hold my beer”. Russell Martin’s side capitulated to a 6-0 defeat on the night, 9-1 on aggregate, against Club Brugge, leaving the manager gloomily promising to put things right, and Rangers fans in the stands telling him exactly where to go. (BBC)

• “Just 84 days into his tenure as Rangers’ manager, supporters unequivocally decided last night that his time at Ibrox is already up,” writes Scott McDermott. (Daily Record)

• Rangers exited Europe “with almost impressive incompetence. It was failure par excellence,” says Alan Pattullo. (The Scotsman)

• Martin spoke of “hurt, humiliation and pain” after the joint biggest margin of defeat in Gers’ 153-year history. But he claimed he’ll still be in charge for Sunday’s Old Firm clash with Celtic at Ibrox. (The Sun)

• This inept, embarrassing and gutless display highlighted that Martin, and the majority of the players he brought in this summer, are out of their depth at Ibrox, says Matthew Lindsay. (The Herald)

⚽️ Manchester United, meanwhile, didn’t have so far to travel for their humiliation… they found it at Grimsby, in the Carabao Cup. (BBC)

⚽️ Hibs and Aberdeen find themselves in the European spotlight tonight.

• Aberdeen are in Bucharest after a 2-2 draw with FCSB in the Europa League, with Graeme Shinnie saying qualification would be a “massive moment”. The game is on BBC Scotland TV (8pm). (STV)

• Hibs play Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Conference League, in “the club’s most significant fixture in a very long time”, writes John Greechan, but most overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit. The game is on SolidSport (8pm). (Scotsman)