In your briefing today:

📣 Scottish Government ministers have been warned they do not have a “clear, detailed plan” to deliver vast public sector reform capable of closing a £5 billion gap between public spending commitments and available funding.

The warning has come from Auditor General Stephen Boyle, who said setting out goals would “not be enough”. In a blog post, he said “the hardest work remains.

“My audits, and those of my predecessors, have shown repeatedly that the Scottish Government is good at setting out its vision, producing strategies, frameworks, and plans. But it has struggled to deliver on policy ambitions.

“Service reform has been talked about for a long time but so far there has been no evidence of large-scale change on the ground since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013.

“Instead, what we have seen is short-term measures that have helped balance annual budgets rather than fundamental changes to how services are delivered.

“Hard decisions about the shape, size and, especially, the operation of the public sector have not yet been taken.” (Read the blog post in full) (Scotsman) (Times)

📣 The trial of a Libyan man in the US over the Lockerbie bombing has been postponed again, after new evidence in the 37-year-old case came to light only three days ago. Jury selection - due to start tomorrow - has now been halted, and the case is expected to resume in January next year.

Lawyers acting for Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi say significant new evidence, not previously seen by either defence or prosecutors, emerged only last Friday. It came after months of preparation, including extensive pre-trial legal argument.

Now a grandfather in his 70s, Al-Marimi is accused of carrying out the attack along with two Libyans who faced a Scottish court in May 2000. (BBC)

📣 It was a purchase of “extreme urgency” for the cash-strapped NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde top brass: a new set of office suites, dubbed “chandelier corridor” by staff, costing more than £134,000 and rushed through - without the usual competitive procurement processes - using a process normally reserved for a crisis.

The initial work was costed at £46,699 - but came in at almost three times more after various items, some of which aren’t entirely clear from the invoices, were added.

The work and its cost will only add to the ongoing debate about how officials are overseen. (The Herald has the exclusive)

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📣 Scottish youth football has had a troubled start to the new season, with rogue dads and coaches bringing what’s being called a “new all-time low” for thuggery in the opening weekend. (Daily Record has the exclusive)

📣 Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been found guilty of abusing two children. The historic charges involved a girl between 1993 and 1996, and a boy between 2006 and 2010. Both were of primary school age. (Daily Record)

📣 Sir Chris Hoy believes the onus to encourage men to get tested for prostate cancer should not just be on high-profile men like him. He says 10,000 men a year find out too late they have prostate cancer. (BBC)

📣 Twelve people have been arrested in a wave of organised crime arrests in the wake of the A66 crash which killed seven people, including two police officers. (BBC)

📣 Iran says it is ready for a new set of sanctions the US has dubbed an “economic D-Day”. (BBC)

📣 A Kremlin advisor has warned UK drone factories may face attacks from “unknown sources” after military blueprints were shared with Ukraine. (BBC)

📣 The Tate brothers have revealed the tricks they used to portray themselves as “uber wealthy” in a court ruling, confessing they rented their supercars and $50 million yacht. The pair face extradition on an array of abuse and trafficking charges. (Mail)

⚽️ Celtic take a commanding 3-0 lead to Austria tonight, with any sort of result against LASK Linz taking them to the promised land of the Champions League league stage. (Scotsman)

⚽️ Dutch football had a grim opening weekend with supporters suffering burns, hearing damage and eye injuries when Feyenoord fans threw fireworks during their game away to SC Cambuur. (Independent)

🗣️ Yesterday I mentioned Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman who’s seen as a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for US President, should she decide to run.

But it did get me thinking… who else? Although the election itself doesn’t happen until November 2028, candidates will tend to have announced themselves 18 months before the big day - which means March next year, before primaries that start in January 2028.

So we can’t know for sure… but we can ask someone with a decent idea of the nascent field as it forms: the bookies. Here’s the half dozen they think are in the running, in reverse order.

6. President Donald Trump. 16/1 - A surprise inclusion, you might say, given he’s a second-term President and is constitutionally barred from going again. But this is where we are. Trump, 80, has touted the possibility of a third term since the start of his second term last year, and still says he’d love to run. But overturning the Twenty-Second Amendment barring him would require either approval from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures. Neither’s likely.

5. Jon Ossoff. 8/1 - Ossoff is the first-time Democratic senator who has won brownie points on the left by amplifying stories about Trump’s super-eager executive assistant, Natalie Harp. (She sent letters to the President gushing “you’re all that matters to me” and “no one knows or cares about me more”.) It occupied some political air, got the White House on the back foot, and suggested some political talent. And it was certainly enough to persuade a White House spokesperson to describe him as a “cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.” That’s the sort of endorsement many Democrats would love to have.

4. Marco Rubio. 8/1 - The current Secretary of State, a Republican, was once seen as just a bit too much: very hawkish, very old-school Republican. But after a failed Presidential run in 2016, and being eclipsed by Trump, he embraced the MAGA movement and is seen as a convert to the cause. He’s been loyal to Trump in his current role, and his work deposing Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has won him many friends. He performs well in polling.

3. Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez. 8/1 - Per yesterday’s link, this Ed Helmore profile of the Democrat New York congresswoman goes deep on the subtle shift she’s making to her positioning, and the work she’d have to do to convince the country to support her. The sense remains that she is too far left for Main Street America but that might not deter a determined run for the nomination. And American politics may well be taking a leftward turn. This November’s midterms will be revealing.

2. Gavin Newsom. 15/2 - the Democratic governor of California continues to play his cards close to his chest when asked if he’s running. But, notwithstanding disaster, assume he will. He’s been subtly adjusting his position on issues: last year he defined himself as a fierce opponent of Trump, but in a rare bipartisan moment, encouraged families to take up “Trump Accounts” yesterday, calling them “incredibly important”. He’s drifted rightward on social issues including transgender participation in sports, and has rebuked his party for ignoring mainstream concerns about immigration and inflation. But he’s also offered left-wing arguments on economics and AI. His colourful past - he had an affair with the wife of a staffer - may count against him, though.

1. JD Vance. 4/1 - the Vice-President, a Republican obviously, is the clear front-runner to take over from his boss in 2029. He’s a curious character: he travelled from full “never Trump” to Full Trump: delivering that famous - notorious? - Munich Security Conference speech last year, in which he told an incredulous European audience the biggest threats they faced came from inside - migration, freedom of speech - rather than Russia or China.
This summer has been one long audition for the top job: he’s unveiled a $1 billion investment at a steel plant, and worked rallies from Ohio to Maine. He’s got another book out - Communion - of which reviews have… not been kind.
But he is, by common consent, a thoughtful man. Too thoughtful? A smart guy who plays dumb? Either way, it’s not a problem that appears to worry the bookies, at least for now. Expect to see him go for it.

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