TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ It’ll be a beautifully warm and sunny day for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and London. Temperatures will hit the mid-20s across the board, although it’ll be warmest in London, as per. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Starmer under pressure on migration | Evidence of famine in Gaza | Findlay seeks to calm Scots Tories

📣 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is coming under pressure to take a “more radical” approach to the small boats crisis because of rising public concern about the government’s handling of the issue. A poll shows 71% of voters think he is doing a poor job of tackling the issues surrounding housing asylum seekers in hotels. (Times £)

What would “more radical” look like? Lord Blunkett, the former Labour Home Secretary, wants the government to suspend the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Refugee Convention, and introduce a digital national identity scheme. (Mail)

• Iain Macwhirter: Glasgow’s refugee problem is the cost of the city’s kindness. Even Susan Aitken, “one of the most left-wing council leaders in the country”, says “The UK asylum system has become a machine for creating homeless refugees.” (The Times (£))

• Esther Addley: A dangerous moment - the emboldening of Britain’s far right (Guardian)

📣 Israel continues to call claims of a famine in Gaza an “outright lie” and points to its efforts to allow more food into the strip since ending a blockade. But doctors in Gaza point to the state of their patients, with protruding ribs an indication of severe malnutrition, as daily evidence of famine. “It’s beyond imagination,” says Mohammed Adeel Khaleel, a Texas surgeon volunteering in Gaza. (AP)

📣 Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay will deliver a speech later this morning to activists and journalists, days after a second MSP resigned from the party. Jeremy Balfour resigned last week, saying the party had “fallen into the trap of reactionary politics” under Findlay’s leadership. (Herald £)

• Alex Massie: Scottish Tories have an opportunity to try some fresh thinking (Times £)

• Daily Record: Desperate Scottish Tories face oblivion at the hands of Reform if they don’t change course (Daily Record)

IDEAS
Six things we learned at the weekend: Migration hotel protests | KGB’s nuclear plot | Festivals’ struggles

There were contrasting approaches to the migrant hotel protests across the country over the weekend: one finding racism lurking in the shadows of the disquiet, the other seeing good reasons for the tension.

🗣️In the Observer, John Simpson and Catherine Nellan profile Epping, where this summer’s protests against migrant hotels started. “Epping is awash with either accusations of racism or stern denials of it,” they write. “Epithets such as “far-right” and “racist” are denied and white residents often feel the need to mention non-white friends.

“Conversations can begin with the hotel and protection of women and girls before pivoting to the economic burden on the country, the unfairness of people entering illegally, the state of public services, taxes and wealth inequality.

“But at some point, almost every conversation descends into misinformed, anti-Muslim tropes.” (The Observer)

🗣️In The Spectator, however, Rod Liddle sees the national flags springing up around England as a warning sign. “I wonder if it has occurred to any members of our government to ask why this whole Operation Raise the Colours business has taken off and why quite so many people seem to be taking part in it,” he says.

What he sees is the importance of the protests – “the weight of numbers behind them, the fact that it is not just yer usual suspects, the depth of anger it conceals and the problems which thus lie in store in the future.” (The Spectator £)

🗣️The KGB plotted to pollute Scotland’s coastline with nuclear waste at the height of the Cold War, according to a new book about the extraordinary life of Oleg Lyalin, a Soviet agent who defected from the KGB in 1971.

The plot, to create conflict between the UK and USA and stoke Britain’s anti-nuclear movement, would have seen nuclear material released near the Holy Loch US naval base near Dunoon, on the Clyde.

Writes the Mail: “During his debriefing by MI5 he revealed how he had been tasked by Moscow with drawing up plans for a series of attacks to destabilise the UK and spread panic if a war looked imminent.” (Mail)

🗣️ A new CalMac ferry was launched - from a yard in Turkey. MV Lochmor, which will serve the Outer Hebrides, is the first of two ships being built there. Some have noted that Turkish yards seem to be making steady progress through their Scottish order book, while Ferguson Marine continues to struggle with its years-late order for two ships. (Scotsman)

🗣️ As the Edinburgh Festivals conclude, a sense among some that too many venues and acts were chasing too few audience members this year. Katy Koren, who runs the Guilded Balloon venue, told the Herald: “There's not enough audience for the amount of shows this year […] the smaller shows have struggled.”

Only official numbers, which usually arrive in the weeks after the festivals close, will give an accurate indication if numbers were down, perhaps exacerbated by the big Oasis and ACDC concerts at Murrayfield, or if the woes are more normal. After all, shows have struggled to be discovered amid the city’s vast Festivals programme for decades. (Herald (£))

🗣️One thing this year’s Festival Fringe will undoubtedly be remembered for is its struggles with free speech. Pauline McLean looks back at this year’s controversies, in particular at the publicly-funded Summerhall, where “not only did they shy away from conflict, they apologised to artists for allowing someone with gender critical views [Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes] to have space in their building.”

Former SNP minister Fergus Ewing is now calling on the Scottish government to insist that any arts body receiving public funds must undertake to honour freedom of expression under the law, or forfeit the grant. (BBC)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 A BBC documentary looks back on the Piper Alpha disaster in which 167 people died, with survivors recalling the slack safety culture of the time and the “wonky, worn out” Piper Alpha itself. They had to flee walls of thick smoke and flaming debris ‘the size of cars’ to get off the platform. (Disaster at Sea: The Piper Alpha Story, on BBC iPlayer). (Sun)

• Alison Rowat’s review: “Decades on, the message has lost none of its power to shock: ‘Mayday, mayday. We’re abandoning the radio room. We can’t talk any more. We’re on fire.’” (Herald £)

📣 The number of affordable homes being built has fallen for the third year in a row despite a national housing emergency being declared. (STV)

📣 A chip shop has battered and fried Marks & Spencer’s strawberry and cream sandwich. "The reaction's been brilliant,” a representative said. “Lots of curious first-timers, plenty of 'no way okay, maybe!' moments, and a fair few instant converts.” Maybe it’s the time of day, but just the photograph makes me queasy. (Daily Record)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Russia has accused Ukraine of striking a nuclear power plant in a drone attack. (Guardian)

📣 Immigration to the US has swung from one of the biggest influxes in American history to almost zero. (🎁WSJ - free to read)

📣 Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is taking heat for having three homes: she’s added a seaside apartment in Hove to her family home in Greater Manchester and her grace-and-favour London flat. Rayner is also the housing minister: her department has warned of the “negative impacts” of second homes. (Mail) (Telegraph £)

📣 Ministers want to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales, toughen up community punishments and allow inmates to earn early release as part of an attempt to avert another prison crisis. (Guardian)

📣 Four-in-ten Gen Z employees say loneliness is driving them in to office work. Many started their careers during Covid, so have never known office-based rituals such as the water cooler chat, or trip to the pub. (The Times £)

SPORT

⚽️ Rangers manager Russell Martin insists a third 1-1 draw in a row “isn’t the end of the world”, but disappointed fans may disagree. Their side goes into next weekend’s Old Firm game six points behind Celtic. A stalemate away to St Mirren was the latest trigger for their fury. (BBC)

• The result was not the only problem: Hamza Igamane refused to come on as a substitute, after Rangers rejected a transfer bid for the forward. (BBC)

• Other highlights from the weekend in Scottish football: Celtic found it easy at home and Hearts managed a stunning comeback from 3-0 down.

⚽️ Scotland manager Steve Clarke will name his squad for our World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Belarus today. Is this the first step of his last dance with the national side? (BBC)

🎥 Thrills and spills down south in the Premier League yesterday: Manchester United could only draw away to Fulham after Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1 in a game that’ll be remembered more for off-field banner action, and Everton got a winning start in their shiny new stadium.