The biggest surprise from new Epstein pictures

PLUS: Offord's off to Reform - what might it do to Scottish politics? | A beautiful Scottish home of the year | And the best movie, TV and sporting picks for the weekend

Author

Neil McIntosh
December 13, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

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👋 Good morning! It’s Saturday 13 December 2025. I’m Neil McIntosh, editor of The Early Line, and it’s great to have you here.

đź“Ł You’re reading the weekend edition of The Early Line. Paying subscribers get the full version, with six talking points and film, TV and sporting recommendations for the week ahead.

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Have a wonderful weekend, all!

⛆ Sorry: no two ways about it - if you’re in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Inverness you’re facing a dreich old weekend, the west slightly dreicher than the east and north. But Aberdeen will be bright all weekend, and London will manage to be sunny. (Here’s the UK forecast).

SIX THINGS TO TALK ABOUT
More Epstein pix | What Offord to Reform means | When AI eats its own | A winning Scots Grand Design

🍸 The weekend’s “did you see” moment has already happened: another tranche of photographs from the Epstein estate, featuring Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, former prince Andrew, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Bill Gates, Woody Allen and, perhaps most surprisingly at this stage, philosopher Prof. Noam Chomsky posing with… Steve Bannon.

That may give the American professor’s fans pause for thought, even if they already knew about Chomsky’s long association with the convicted sex offender.

What the images prove isn’t clear - apart from Epstein’s extraordinary (and not entirely explained) ability to build and sustain relationships even as he was disgraced, and the unusual network of connections his influence created. (Sky News) (Guardian)

Upgrade to read the full Party Line, and read about what Lord Offord’s defection might do to Scottish politics, an extraordinary example of what happens when AI eats its own output, and a beautiful and remote Scottish house that’s won a home of the year prize.

PLUS: find top TV, film and sporting picks for the weekend.

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