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In your briefing today:

• Prince Andrew might have stopped using his titles, but his problems are not going away

• Weekend catch-up: Swinney’s perfectly boring plan, and fever-pitch budget speculation

• Old Firm fans are united by frustration, as Hearts keep on winning

📣 Police are to investigate claims Prince Andrew pressured a bodyguard for dirt on Virginia Giuffre, the prominent accuser of Jeffrey Epstein who took her own life earlier this year.

Giuffre will claim, in a memoir released tomorrow, that she had sex with the prince on three separate occasions, including once with Epstein and approximately eight other young women. Prince Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing. (BBC)

A spokesperson for the Met say they are “actively looking into” reports in the Mail on Sunday that Andrew asked a personal protection officer to find information about his accuser. (Independent)

• Lingering dread remains over what else could emerge about Prince Andrew (Sky News)

• The King had to threaten Andrew with action to strip him of his titles if he didn’t voluntarily stop using them. Andrew was said to be digging his heels in and showing a “startling lack of contrition”. (Mail)

📣 The Gaza ceasefire is back in place this morning after its first major test over the weekend, when Israeli forces launched a wave of air strikes in Gaza and cut off aid supplies to the enclave. (AP)

• Israel said its airstrikes yesterday were in response to Hamas’s “blatant violation” of the peace deal, when “terrorists fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire” towards its troops in Rafah, killing two soldiers. (BBC)

• Palestinians in Gaza fear ceasefire “could collapse at any moment” (Guardian)

📣 Investigations continue after a robbery at the Louvre in Paris, which saw priceless jewellery stolen by a very professional gang. They made for two display cases which contain what remains of France’s crown jewels. And, as Hugh Schofield reports, it will be straightforward for the thieves to sell on their haul. (BBC)

• How the thieves broke in, what they stole and what happens next (Guardian)

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AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 BBC Scotland presenter Kaye Adams has been suspended from her morning radio programme after bullying allegations. But she will continue her work with ITV, on the network’s Loose Women show, while an investigation continues. (Mail)

📣 Flightpaths at Scotland’s two busiest airports are unveiled today: the long-delayed proposals would see more direct routes in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh and reduce delays. But the Edinburgh proposals could have an impact on communities around the airport. (Scotsman) (Read the Glasgow proposals) (Read the Edinburgh proposals - PDF)

📣 A “humble church organist” in a remote Scottish community hid a dark secret when he moved there in the 1960s… Austrian musician Walter Hambock had been Adolf Hitler’s personal pianist. (Mail)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Two people died after a cargo plane crash in Hong Kong. The victims were airport workers driving a ground vehicle who were hit by a jumbo jet that appeared to veer off the runway and end up in the sea. The crew on board the jet survived. (South China Morning Post)

📣 European leaders are confident that a deal to lend Ukraine €140 billion, secured on frozen Russian central bank deposits, can be agreed by the end of the year. (Guardian)

• Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky had another volatile meeting at the White House on Friday, this time in private, as the US President warned his Ukrainian counterpart that Ukraine would be “destroyed” by Russia if it did not accept Putin’s terms for ending the war. (FT £) (Independent)

📣 The Israeli league match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv was cancelled before kick-off on Sunday, amid what police called “public disorder and violent riots". The unrest comes days after officials in the UK banned Maccabi fans from attending their club’s Europa League match against Aston Villa next month - a move condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (BBC)

📣 Advice to feed babies peanuts early and often helped 60,000 children avoid allergies, a study found. (AP)

SPORT

⚽️ Old Firm football fans are united by their misery this morning: Celtic tripped up at Dens Park, losing 2-0 to a brilliant Dundee performance. But just when Rangers fans thought they might enjoy a little schenfeude at Celtic’s discomfort their pursuit of Kevin Muscat - expected to become their new manager - blew up, for reasons unclear.

Both clubs are left in crisis - while Hearts continue to win, opening up a five-point lead at the top of the table.

• Shanghai Port boss Muscat will not be the next manager of Rangers (Daily Record)

• Danny Rohl - ruled out last week - is back in the frame for the Ibrox hot seat (The Sun has the exclusive)

• Brendan Rodgers spoke about trying to find Ferrari speed in a Honda Civic after his Celtic side mis-fired their way to their first defeat away to Dundee in 37 years. (Herald £) (BBC) (🎥 Highlights)

• Rangers have no manager to hide behind after their latest failure against Dundee United (The Scotsman)

• Highlights of Saturday’s games, including Rangers v Dundee United, Kilmarnock v Hearts, Hibernian v Livingston, Motherwell v Falkirk and St Mirren v Aberdeen.(🎥BBC)

⚽️ Manchester United enjoyed a huge win against Liverpool, beating them 2-1 at Anfield thanks to a thumping Harry Maguire header. (BBC)

🏎️ Max Verstappen is back to talking about a fifth world championship after his dominant win in the United States Grand Prix. (BBC)

IDEAS
Three things we learnt at the weekend: Swinney’s perfectly boring plan, fever-pitch budget speculation, and the troubles mount up for Prince Andrew

🗣️John Swinney plans to “bore” his way to an election victory, reports Daniel Sanderson. That’s indiciated by his actions after wrapping up a “policy-light SNP conference”: he jumped on a plane to Zambia, 5,300 miles from home, for six days in sub-Saharan Africa, largely out of the domestic political limelight.

“We are boring our way to victory,” one “leading party figure” told Sanderson, “but we just have to grit our teeth and get there”. The party’s annual conference, they said, had been an “ideas free zone”. Labour will attack that, in time, claiming that after 20 years in power the SNP is out of fresh thinking.

The political weather between now and Christmas, goes the thinking, will be entirely made by the build-up to, and aftermath of, Rachel Reeves’ end-of-November budget. The SNP is keeping quiet. “Why interrupt the Labour Party when they are making mistake after mistake?” asks a leading SNP figure “close to Swinney”.

“They have been jaw-droppingly terrible, and voters feel misled.” (Sunday Times £)

🗣️ Speaking of which… can speculation over a budget reach fever pitch? Rachel Reeves’ options certainly have onlookers… excited. In The Sunday Times (£), Josh Glancy asks which levers she might pull - accompanied by a picture of her pulling on some railway junction-box levers, just to ram the metaphor home.

He thinks tax rises are on the way - breaking manifesto promises - with a "significant rise in income tax” coming down the tracks.

That’ll be the big (controversial) headline, should it come to pass. Of the rest, he expects a largely statist set of interventions by Reeves - don’t expect, he suggests, much to stimulate growth in business - partly for ideologogical reasons, partly through ministers’ lack of experience of the private sector, partly because growth isn’t entirely in the government’s gift.

There is some thought that taxes on gambling firms could go up. In that case, reports Simon Jack at the BBC, expect Betfred to close all 1,287 of its high street shops, putting 7,500 jobs at risk. Betfred boss Fred Drone, now a billionaire thanks to the business he set up in 1967, says 300 of his shops are already losing money - and even a modest 5% increase on gambling taxes would raise that to 430. Gamblers would be chased online, and offshore, he warns.

🗣️ Prince Andrew relinquished his titles and honours on Friday after pressure from King Charles, in an attempt to limit the damage he is causing to the Royal family. But Andrew remains in deep, and very public, trouble, ahead of the posthumous release of Virginia Giuffre’s memoirs tomorrow.

• It was widely reported that Prince William wants to see more action against his uncle. The Prince of Wales is not happy with the outcome of the meeting between Andrew and King Charles, and will take a “more ruthless” approach, including not inviting him to his coronation. (Sunday Times £)

• It was reported Andrew used a one-year gag order on Virginia Giuffre to stop her undermining Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee celebrations in 2022.

• According to the Telegraph, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice will reveal that Giuffre was abused by her father and family members for years. She was then abused dreadfully - including by one man she calls only a “well-known Prime Minister”, according to excerpts in the New York Post, after being recruited by Jeffrey Epstein.

Don’t expect the story - or the pressure on Andrew - to go away.

👍 That’s your Early Line for the day

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