In your briefing today:

📣 The US has launched new airstrikes on Iran, followed - as yesterday - by Iranian attacks on its Gulf neighbours. The strikes came after Donald Trump, speaking at the Nato summit in Turkey, warned of further attacks, said he didn’t “want to deal with them any more” and called the Tehran leadership “scum” and “dishonourable”.

It all points to an escalation in a conflict which will have immediate and long-lasting impacts both on the Middle East, and the global economy.

📣 The owners of the Jackdaw gas platform in the North Sea have warned there’s a risk of gas shortages this winter unless their plans for production are approved. They claim the platform could meet 6% of the UK’s gas needs from October.

The industry regulator is still considering revised applications for production both there, and at the Rosebank oil field west of Shetland. A court had ruled both were unlawfully approved.

Environmental groups have been fighting the plans for years, saying the development will exacerbate the climate crisis. (BBC)

📣 Nigel Farage has successfully resigned his Clacton seat and will now force a by-election in the seaside seat, although it’s likely his best-known opponent will be Count Binface, the comedy candidate.

The archaic parliamentary system means the Chancellor has to give her permission for an MP to stand down, by granting his request to be made steward and bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

Rachel Reeves confirmed, in a Tweet, she would not block Farage: “If he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him,” she said. (Independent)

Over 4 million people have had the same lightbulb moment.

Morning Brew is a free daily newsletter that breaks down what's happening in business, finance, and tech — clearly, quickly, and with enough personality to make it the best email in your inbox.

No yelling. No filler. Just the news, finally making sense.

Try it for free

📣 There’s been a big fire on Edinburgh’s Princes Street overnight: the former Debenhams went ablaze in the small hours, and fire crews are reported still to be on site at send time. Public transport has been disrupted. (Edinburgh Live) (BBC)

📣 Glasgow Chamber of Commerce says “incomplete evidence” has been pushed over an option to demolish part of the M8 in the city. The business organisation wants to see more detailed modelling of plans for the Woodside Viaducts. (Times)

📣 Work on Edinburgh’s new indoor concert arena, planned for Edinburgh Park on the fringes of the city, has stalled amid problems finding a building contractor. (The Herald has the exclusive)

📣 The parents of a severely disabled teenager say they are being forced to hunt for jobs he can’t do just so he can continue to claim benefits. (Daily Record)

📣 Members of the Tartan Army are being offered free tickets to the Commonwealth Games, which start on 23 July. Only a limited number are being made available through an offer to the Scotland Supporters Club - but the move will raise concerns about ticket sales for the event. (BBC)

📣 Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington was an “unmitigated disaster”, the chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee has said in a report. (Independent) (Read the full report)

📣 Andy Burnham has a clear run at Number 10: his last potential rival, Al Carns, has ruled out his own leadership bid. (BBC)

📣 A Democrat in a high-profile “must-win” race for US Senate has quit amid sexual assault allegations, in a big blow for his party. (WSJ)

📣 The UK heatwave is reaching further north (as temperatures this morning in parts of Scotland are showing) and is expected to last for days more. (BBC)

🎾 We’ve been guilty of ignoring Wimbledon, but it should demand some of our attention in the days ahead, not least because we have the romance - and drama - of a British wildcard entry, Arthur Fery, sensationally making the men’s singles semi-finals. He beat the world number 10 Flavio Cobolli in a wonderfully entertaining game on Centre Court yesterday: the first wildcard to make that stage in 25 years. (Report & highlights)

⚽️ Tonight at the World Cup, a mouth-watering clash between France and Morocco: we already know the North African, having been narrowly beaten by them in the group stages, and they’ve had moments - if not entire games - where they’ve looked impressive since. But France are most people’s favourites to win the tournament. (9pm, STV)

🗣️ The Herald effectively republishes a powerful column by Marissa MacWhirter, calling on Susanne Millar - today, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council - to resign.

Millar was Chief Social Work Officer for the entire period children were being failed at the “Beastie House”, over which seven people were convicted in November 2023.

They’re re-running the column from May after John Grady, MP for Glasgow East, spoke in the House of Commons yesterday to accuse Glasgow City Council of failing children and demand an independent public inquiry.

Social workers saw children in the house regularly, yet did not raise the alarm, speaking instead about “the invitability of neglect within the profile of the communities and services they worked in”.

Writes MacWhirter: “Millar is paid around £230,000 per year (plus pension contributions) to run Scotland’s largest local authority, but I am not convinced that she can run a bath after reading this report.” (Herald (£))

🗣️ What’s happened to John Swinney’s promise of a food price cap? Iain Macwhirter reminds us that the First Minister, during the election campaign, promised price controls - within the first 100 days of a new SNP government - on 50 staple items, such as chicken, eggs and bread. Responsibility for this policy “grenade” has been passed to Stephen Flynn, seen by some as a leadership rival to Swinney.

MacWhirter thinks the plan is running aground. “The best we can say about John Swinney’s attempt at turning Scotland into Venezuela is that it was a transparent and cynical electoral bribe. The Nationalists needed something to offer Scottish voters squeezed between the cost of living crisis and the SNP’s tax hikes,” he writes.

The expectation is the policy will be “finessed away”, he writes, “by turning it into a voluntary scheme of price restraint, which is of course no policy at all". (Times)

🗣️ Brian Wilson offered a blunt assessment of Morgan McSweeney’s reappearance last weekend. Keir Starmer’s aide, he said, offered Andy Burnham a handy “beginner’s guide to getting everything wrong” for an incoming Prime Minister. “It is difficult to hear his confessional without a sense of incredulity and breach of trust,” writes Wilson.

“How could such amateurism and incompetence have been allowed to prevail in these early days of Starmer’s reign?

“My guess is there were too many bright young things, less clever than they assumed themselves to be, already jostling for influence and position, with little interest in learning from past experience or with any understanding of the extent to which first impressions shape lasting perceptions of a government.”

Wilson warns Burham that the traditional talk of a 100-day period of grace is old-fashioned now. He’ll get 20 days in which to generate a sense of positivity and purpose… or risk failing like his predecessor. (Scotsman)

🗣️ And finally… The Scotsman salutes a Scottish success story. Ember, the Edinburgh-based coach company, is about to expand into England, with plans to increase its workforce from 450 today to nearly 1,000 within 18 months.

Perhaps, it suggests, the secret of their success is Ember don’t have dynamic pricing: you pay the fare they charge, busy or quiet. “We didn’t want to create something that makes people feel exploited every time they travel,” says co-founder Pierce Glennie.

“A fair price for a fair service sounds like a winning formula. Who knows, maybe it will start to catch on?” suggests the Scotsman, hopefully. (Scotsman)

Sent this by a friend?