TODAY’S WEATHER

☀️ Another sunny day across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with it feeling warmer than yesterday, especially in the east. London will be dry but overcast and cooler. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Swinney to unveil his plan | Labour rethink winter fuel payments | VE parade salutes the wartime generation

📣 First Minister John Swinney will set out his programme for government today, presenting his priorities for the final year of this Holyrood term and, inevitably, starting a long election campaign ahead of next May’s vote. (Holyrood)

• In a column, Swinney said the programme would show “with actions not words that my government is on your side.” He added: “I’ll set out how we will protect our economy from global chaos, make it easier for you to see your GP and how we can keep more money in your pocket”. (Daily Record)

• How has the SNP done against its 2021 manifesto promises? Not especially well: five of 20 headline pledges have “inarguably” been delivered on. But many other promises have been “delayed or kicked into the long grass.” (BBC)

📣 The UK government is rethinking its winter fuel payment cut amid growing anxiety about the electoral damage the policy is causing. A full reversal is not expected. But the threshold for eligibility could be raised to benefit more pensioners. (Guardian has the exclusive)

📣 Yesterday’s VE Day parade was “a celebration that paid its respects, with some poignancy, to the wartime generation,” writes Sean Coughlan. “There was an understated warmth that suited the moment” at “one of the last big public moments of recognition for the diminishing number of veterans from World War Two”. (BBC) (Times)

• Scotland’s heroes relive the moment they knew victory was won (Mail)

• The day in pictures (📸 Scotsman)

• The two members of the Royal family to have served on the front line in recent conflicts - Princes Andrew and Harry - were absent. (The Times £)

IDEAS
How the Conclave will work a lot like Conclave… behind closed doors

🗣️ The conclave to elect a new pope starts tomorrow. What to expect? Well, of course… nothing until the end. The very nature of it (secretive, behind locked doors) means the watching faithful, and global media, have a lot of time to fill. Expect blethering pundits, and lots of live shots of St Peter’s Square.

🗣️We don’t know how long it’ll take. But it will not take as long as the 1268 edition, which lasted two years and nine months, and only ended after Viterbo residents tore the roof off the building where the prelates were staying and restricted their meals to bread and water to hurry them up. The rules have changed since.

🗣️But, even today, it could take the thick end of a week, although the last two were done by the end of the second day. The agonising behind closed doors is depicted well in the film Conclave, by all accounts.

🗣️Secrecy is taken seriously. Even the meals served to cardinals play a role. Messages to those inside have previously been hidden in food: thus, pies and chickens, which could conceal notes, are banned. Nuns will prepare dishes in-house, instead.

🗣️Each day will have two moments of drama, at midday and dusk, when the crowds stare up at the chimney erected on the roof of the Sistine Chapel and wait for white smoke. There’s quite a production to get the right smoke in the right place. You’ll hear the groans if it’s black, of course… and the cheers when white smoke puffs out, as TV network researchers frantically scramble for notes on the successful candidate.

🗣️Who’s it going to be? Reading around, it seems Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle comes into the Conclave with some support, with some suggestions being he might even win quite quickly. Yesterday, The Independent named him “the youthful 67-year-old emerging as a favourite”. But, bear in mind the Independent also managed to name Pietro Parolin as favourite in another article on the same day. Really, nobody knows.

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 A campaign group fears Scotland’s most notorious stretch of road - the A83 Rest and be Thankful - may never be protected from the landslides which now regularly close it, because no money has been budgeted for a mile-long tunnel. They are also concerned at plans to close the route for 17 separate days over the summer as part of a ground investigation. (Herald)

📣 Residents of the Isle of Cumbrae say a planned double Council Tax on second homes will “disproportionately impact” the island and reduce income into the local economy. “The type of properties that will be forced onto the market are not the ones permanent residents want,” a community council spokesman said. (Express)

📣 Watch out for long delays on the M8 this weekend: resurfacing work on the eastbound side will start on Saturday, and run until the evening of Tuesday May 13. (STV)

AROUND THE UK

📣 Film tariffs will form part of trade deal negotiations between the UK and US after Donald Trump said he wanted a 100% charge levied against movies made outside the US. The UK government will also unveil a new industrial policy for the sector. (BBC) (Bloomberg £)

📣 Two motorcycle racers have died after a crash at a British Supersport Championship race in Cheshire. A third rider is in hospital with “significant” injuries after the crash, which happened on the first turn of the first lap. (Mail) (Sky News)

📣 Some English Conservatives say they need to revive the “sprirt of 2019”, forged by Boris Johnson, to reverse their fortunes, and fight Reform UK. There’s no appetite to bring back Johnson himself, though. Not for now. (Politico)

📣 Here are eight homes for sale with links to World War Two… from former airfield control towers to the place General Eisenhower stayed when he visited the UK during the war. (Yahoo Finance)

AROUND THE WORLD

🌎 Germany finally has a government, ending a political limbo caused by the collapse of its last government in December. Conservative Friedrich Merz will become Chancellor today, and is promising to turbocharge the German economy and engage in some rapid overseas diplomacy, with visits to Paris, Warsaw, Brussels and London lined up early on. (BBC)

• John Kampfner: Merz’s entire worldview turned on its head mid-election campaign because of JD Vance’s infamous speech at the Munich Security Conference, where it became clear the US may no longer be its protector. (Politico)

🌎 Israel’s cabinet has voted to seize the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time, raising the potential for an occupation and new Israeli settlements in the territory. (AP)

🌎 It was the Met Gala in New York last night: the glittering showbiz occasion is famous for what its attendees wear. This year’s focus was menswear… and some spectacular looks were on show. (📸 Guardian) (📸Independent)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰 Changes to the UK’s non-doc arrangements could cost the public purse “billions”, new research warns. Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget had anticipated the move would make £10.3 billion this year. (City AM)

💰 Heineken UK opened a new head office in Edinburgh yesterday with John Swinney pulling an (alcohol free) pint, and the company’s MD calling for it to be made easier to promote zero and low-alcohol products. (Daily Business)

💰 The details behind President Trump’s cryptocurrency meme coin - $TRUMP - are staggering. The US President is selling access, with the biggest holders of the coins invited to a dinner at one of his golf resorts later this month. The proceeds go to Trump as an individual: this isn’t being dressed up as some form of political funding, and his company has made more than $320 million on the coin so far. (AP)

SPORT

⚽️ The fallout continues over the behaviour of Old Firm fans at the weekend: John Swinney condemned Rangers ultras who put up a banner featuring Graham Souness, a shotgun and the slogan “take aim at the rebel scum,” while police also investigated the throwing of a bottle onto the pitch and a fan who mocked Rangers fans who died in the Ibrox disaster. (The Sun)

• The Celtic fan caught taunting Rangers fans was sacked from his job (The Sun)

🔴 Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams in a dramatic World Snooker Championship final to become China’s champion last night. “This is like a dream,” he said. (Guardian)