TODAY’S WEATHER

🌧️ It’ll be a very wet day in Glasgow, with Edinburgh not much better. Aberdeen looks likely to be drier, while London is also expected to be overcast, but dry. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
Trump’s warning to “crazy” Putin | Baroness Mone back in the headlines

📣 Donald Trump has warned Russia that any attempt to conquer all of Ukraine will lead to the nation’s “downfall”.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” the US President wrote. “He has gone absolutely CRAZY! […] I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” (Truth Social)

• Trump’s remarks came after Moscow’s biggest aerial attack on Ukraine, in which 12 people died. (BBC)

• Trump was also critical of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying the Ukrainian president was “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does". (Guardian)

📣 We’ll be seeing and hearing a lot of Michelle Mone - Baroness Mone of Mayfair - in the days ahead, thanks to a BBC documentary.

Mone, often described as one of the UK’s most successful businesswomen, is embroiled in controversy over Covid-era PPE contracts. The Baroness has been stripped of the Conservative whip, is on leave from the House of Lords, and a business connected to her is under investigation by the National Crime Agency. She, and husband Doug Barrowman, deny any wrongdoing. (BBC)

• In the Sun, BBC host Laura Kuenssberg says the interview that “sticks” with her most was the one where Mone confessed to lying to the press. The Sun also has its own video documentary on Mone. (The Sun)

• The Sunday Post took a long look at “the toxic experiences of those who knew the entrepreneur, worked with her and called her a friend.” (Sunday Post)

• David Cameron “lost the plot” in making Mone a Tory peer, according to her former PR consultant Jack Irvine. (Daily Record)

🎥 The Rise and Fall of Michelle Moan airs from tonight on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer.

IDEAS
Five things we learned over the weekend

🗣️ Labour is busy trying to undo the damage of its last budget. We already knew Sir Keir Starmer had quietly announced a U-turn on the winter fuel allowance cut, when he said the government would be looking at making it available to more pensioners.

What we learned over the weekend is that the two-child benefit cap is also likely on its way out, with the Observer reporting the Treasury has been ordered to find the £3.5 billion it’ll cost. (Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner refused to confirm the move yesterday morning on TV, but stopped short of saying the story wasn’t true).

Getting rid of the cap is not really a u-turn - it was a Conservative policy. But Labour’s decision to keep it was unpopular. And now a new child poverty strategy has been delayed until the autumn so benefit changes and reforms can be fully costed in the budget.

The country narrowly supported the cap staying in a poll last year - but the move would help soothe increasingly mutinous Labour backbench MPs. (The Observer)

🗣️ Two faintly disturbing pieces on the state of young masculinity appeared.

• Young US men joining Russian Orthodox churches in pursuit of “absurd” manliness. (BBC)

• “Nick wanted to drop body fat and build his own micro-harem of women” - The Guardian

Conclusions to draw? The crisis in what it is to be a man isn’t a fringe concern - it has a very real influence on mainstream culture, cutting across politics from the horrors of Andrew Tate to some of the extreme positions taken in the culture wars. And young men desperately need better, less toxic role models.

🗣️Just how vital are youth workers in tackling violent crime among young people? Scottish opposition parties and at least one charity are suggesting we are in the middle of finding out: the debate comes in the wake of an apparent surge in youth violence, including the death of a teenager.

Scotland’s justice secretary, Angela Constance, said yesterday there were “many reasons” for a complex problem. But the Youthlink Scotland charity claims there’s been a 50% reduction in council youth workers in the last eight years, cutting services which can redirect young people who might otherwise get into trouble. (BBC)

🗣️Is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe near the “brink of ‘collapse’” as the Herald’s headline suggested yesterday? Not quite, although the financial model of many performers and venues is under ever-increasing strain.

Last year’s Festival Fringe was the biggest ever, with 2.6 million tickets to 3,746 shows. But Edinburgh’s popularity as a tourist destination, coupled with council restrictions on short-term lets and events at Murrayfield Stadium, means that accommodation is becoming harder to find and more expensive, amid wider inflation of costs to stage shows.

Katy Koren, Gilded Balloon’s artistic director, told the Herald: “It has become a lot harder to persuade artists to come to the Fringe. Its value to artists is massively in doubt now and is more in doubt every year.” (The Herald)

🗣️The BBC has announced changes to the way it commissions programmes that are viewed as Scottish, Northern Irish or Welsh. The Early Line has previously covered anger at the way some productions, such as hit show The Traitors, are labelled Scottish but employ few people who live here.

Now, the BBC says it will go beyond what the regulator Ofcom demands. Rhodri Talfan Davies, BBC Nations Director, said in a statement: “In future, we will not typically commission a new network production regionally unless we are confident it will invest at least 70% of its production budget locally and/or draw significantly on local programme-makers and crew to produce the show.”

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson welcomed the news, adding that he was looking forward to meeting the BBC “to understand how quickly the improvements to commissioning in Scotland will happen.” (The BBC’s announcement)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 The families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre are calling for documentation about the crash to be released. Files on the crash are not due to be released until 2094. (Scotsman)

📣 Nicola Sturgeon says the Supreme Court’s definition of a woman has been “massively overinterpreted”. Speaking at an event in England, the former First Minister said “if […] the judgment means we have to move to a situation where trans lives are almost impossible to live then I’m sorry but the law has to change because that is not an acceptable way to be.” (The Times £)

📣 We mentioned the case of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas last week: the BBC has produced a long read on his long descent from promising youth star, described as having the ability to “play anywhere” by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, to drug smuggler. It’s quite the tale. (BBC)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 At least 24 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in central Gaza overnight, including one on a school sheltering displaced families. (BBC)

📣 The bodies of five skiers have been found near the Swiss resort of Zermatt after an avalanche. (Independent)

📣 Fred “the Shred” Goodwin is receiving a pension worth £600,000 a year as the government prepares to sell its final stake in NatWest, which took over the Royal Bank of Scotland he led at the height of the financial crisis. Taxpayers are expected to take a £10 billion loss on the bailout. (Guardian)

📣 France was hit by its second major power outage in two days after a fire at a substation in Nice, which police blamed on sabotage. That followed a blackout in Cannes, which may also have been caused by an arson attack. (BBC)

SPORT

📣 Aberdeen fans lined the streets of the city to celebrate the team’s Scottish Cup win, with tens of thousands of people turning out to cheer players on the traditional open-topped bus. (STV)

📣 Gary Lineker bade farewell to Match of the Day last night with a sniffle, tributes and a montage. “Rather like my football career, everyone else did the hard work and I got the plaudits”, he said. “It’s been utterly joyous.” The Guardian’s Paul MacInnes notes the former England striker has, uniquely for Match of the Day presenters, been present for an entire generation - 26 years in the hot seat. “You don’t believe it but you will be missed,” said Pep Guardiola. (Guardian)

📣 Aston Villa have complained about their referee, who they say made a “big mistake” that contributed to their 2-0 defeat at Manchester United, costing them qualification for the Champions League. (BBC)

📣 Newcastle United secured the final Champions League place at a nervy St James’ Park. (Mail)