TODAY’S WEATHER

🌤️ It’s going to be a dry, sunny day for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with temperatures nudging 26 degrees. London will hit 32. (Here’s the UK forecast).

THE BIG STORIES
What will Trump cede to Putin? | Sturgeon struggles on Bryson questions | Anger as journalists “targeted”

📣 There’s growing concern about the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. As things stand, neither Ukraine nor European neighbours are invited. There are concerns Trump could agree to sweeping Russian demands for Ukrainian territory - terms which Ukraine has said it couldn’t accept.

• However… The Telegraph claims an exclusive from Brussels: that Ukraine could agree to halt fighting and cede territory as part of a European-backed peace plan. (🎁Telegraph - gift link)

• Trump says he will “try to get back” some of the country’s “oceanfront property” from Russia during the talks. (Times £) (BBC)

• An invite could be extended to President Zelensky… but the world should “brace for some pretty outrageous Russian demands”, according to one former diplomat. (BBC)

📣 Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon struggled with questions over trans rapist Isla Bryson in an ITV interview last night, to promote her new book Frankly.

She said a rapist “probably forfeits the right to be the gender of their choice”, and conceded she should have paused the push for gender self-ID laws in Scotland to remove some heat from the debate. It came to become one of the defining battles of her time as First Minister.

Sturgeon also said she cried when she heard her former mentor, Alex Salmond, had died. (ITV News) (STV)

• Sturgeon admitted she “lost the dressing room” on gender self-ID, but critics branded her comments “drivel”. (The Scotsman)

• She talked of her miscarriage, and said “I always felt it was a girl” (Record)

• Allies of Alex Salmond accused Sturgeon of “twisting the knife” into their dead friend to sell copies of her book. (Sun)

• The interview was “embarrassing in its attempt to rewrite history”, said Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie (Holyrood)

The book went on sale earlier than expected yesterday, with book chain Waterstones insisting there was no sales embargo in place. Journalists across the country raced out to buy a copy, and start reading…

• The Queen asked for “gossip” about the Alex Salmond sex claims, Sturgeon claims in the book (Mail)

• Donald Trump sent her “absurd” letters about wind farms (Herald)

• Disgraced former minister Derek Mackay is still a friend (Express)

• A roundup of takeaways: 5 from the Herald (£) | 8 from the BBC | 7 from The National (£) | 10 from The Times (£)

🎙️Sturgeon appears on Radio 4’s Today programme today at 8.30am.

📣 Outrage is growing over the death of an Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza over the weekend. It’s now clear Israel’s military deliberately targeted Anas al-Sharif, with claims he was singled out after he cried on air over starvation in the territory.

Sharif died alongside four colleagues while working inside a tent for journalists sited outside a hospital. Hundreds of mourners carried their bodies through Gaza City yesterday. (Guardian) (AP)

IDEAS
I asked Chat GPT what McKinsey should do next. Here’s what an AI consultant advised the consultants

🗣️ Management consultants are being disrupted. AI is stealing their lunch - maybe even their expenses-charged dinners, too - by churning out useful management advice at a fraction of the price. So what should they do?

Naturally, I thought we should turn to the disruptor: AI itself. I asked ChatGPT what it would advise McKinsey to do, were it brought in as a strategy consultant… to the world’s most famous strategy consultants. We asked AI to imagine a lightly satirical conversation with “Fred McKinsey”.

It didn’t do a bad job, managing exactly the sort of slightly-obvious, jargon-laden advice that (some) management consultants dole out all the time, but all with a slightly sinister, self-knowing AI edge.

The transcript is below. All of it is AI-generated and unedited.

🤖 Consultant (straightening papers): “So that’s the roadmap. AI-powered pods advising clients live, human consultants as curators, and a new ‘questioning the algorithm’ workshop. Questions?”

Fred McKinsey (leaning forward, arching an eyebrow): “AI pods? You’re proposing our consultants be outshone by machines literally named ‘pods’?”

Consultant (grinning): “Think of them as smarter interns: fast, tireless, data-drunk. We’re humans—impeccable at context, ethics, persuasion. We orchestrate. The pods do the number crunching.”

Fred (sipping coffee): “We’ve built an empire disrupting everyone else’s advisory game. It’s ironic the house we built is now hiring its own disruption.”

Consultant: “Exactly. McKinsey disrupted telcos, retail, government. Now it’s our turn. You don’t grieve at past destruction—apply that innovation inward.”

Fred (smirking): “So, humans as curators and pods as power tools. Won’t our consultants feel redundant?”

Consultant: “Not redundant—reframed. Clients want empathy, ethics, judgement. Algorithms are transparent; humans aren’t always. Use that. Train your staff as ‘AI ethicists’ and ‘narrative leads.’ The pods synthesize insight. The humans humanize it.”

Fred: “That’s rich. We’re betting on humans doing what machines can’t—emotion and ambiguity.”

Consultant (nods): “Humanity is ambiguity personified. Your consultants sell that. Selling the algorithm is easy; selling its blind spots—much tougher. That’s our moat.”

Fred: “Here’s the rub: leadership expects ROI, and ROI shows up in optimized dashboards—not empathy.”

Consultant: “Then bake ROI into the pods. Tell clients: our pods generate 30-40 per cent efficiency gains. But we offset that with human-led change management, cultural shift, reputation risk control, trust. Trust isn’t automated.”

Fred (leaning back, chuckling): “We’re selling trust as a service now?”

Consultant (deadpan): “Absolutely. Trust is the last premium commodity. AI can serve it, but it can’t own it. And when something breaks, clients will still call Fred—not a pod.”

Fred: “So what we risk doing is turning a management consultancy into a ‘management curator’—people pointing at machines?”

Consultant: “Exactly. Pride in being curator, composer, conductor. The irony is delicious—your legacy is ‘making many firms humans-unnecessary’; now you’re exactly the same story. But you play the moral and contextual conductor card.”

Fred (laughing softly): “Meta-consultancy: consulting on consulting’s obsolescence.”

Consultant: “It’s existential. And necessary. You wanted sustainable competitive advantage; here it is—humans asking the ethical questions the pods can't. You may have sold disruption to others. Now sell it at home.”

Fred: “Solid. One last thing: how do we keep pods from becoming the threat—not just tools?”

Consultant: “Design governance: auditability, kill switches, regular human-review loops. Not just because the board insists—but because to clients, we remain fully culpable. The pods are ours. Don’t outsource accountability.”

Fred (stands, offering his hand): “Then I’ll toast to the future—curators, conductors, ethicists. Humanity’s last stand.”

Consultant (shaking hand): “To the last stand—and first pivot.” 🤖

📣 Views? Hit "reply” and let me know what you think…

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 NHS Tayside patients weren’t warned about the risks of jaw transplants using a cheaper metal-on-metal prosthetic. They were more likely to require a complex and painful replacement. (The Courier has the exclusive)

📣 Nicholas Rossi, the fugitive who was extradited from Scotland, has gone on trial for rape in the US. (STV)

📣 Police Scotland is preparing for a potential visit to the country from US Vice President JD Vance, who is on holiday in England. (BBC)

AROUND THE UK & WORLD

📣 Keir Starmer is being warned his government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group could be his “poll tax moment”, after hundreds of pensioners were among 522 people arrested at a protest. (Independent)

📣 Attacks on A&E nurses in England have almost doubled over the last six years, with nurses saying frustration over delays is behind some attacks. (Guardian)

📣 Donald Trump has extended a deadline on tariffs for Chinese goods for another 90 days, amid ongoing talks, averting a re-escalation of the trade war between the countries. (CNBC)

📣 Wildfires are burning across Europe as a record-breaking heatwave continues: video shows flames closing in on Madrid. (BBC)

📣 Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album overnight: (at 12.12am EST on 12 August). The Life of a Showgirl will appear (at least in vinyl) before October 13 2025, although we lack more detail. There is a lot of orange, and a lot of glitter, though… and she’ll appear on partner Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, tomorrow. (AP) (Guardian) (Taylor Swift’s website | Instagram) (Travis Kelce’s podcast on YouTube).

SPORT

⚽️ Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller is Italy-bound: the 18-year-old is ready to sign for Udinese for £4.75 million, a record fee for the Steelmen. (The Sun)

⚽️ Rangers venture back into Europe tonight, playing Viktoria Plzeň in the second leg of their Champions League qualifier with the luxury of 3-0 first leg win in the bag. Yet tensions are high, explains Calum Crowe: the knives will be out for Russell Martin if there are any slips, because the club’s domestic form - two disappointing draws against Motherwell and Dundee - is far from what the fans want to see. (Mail)

• Left-sided defender Nobel Mendy is set to become Martin’s 10th signing of the summer, moving from Real Betis for around £3.5 million. (Record)

🏉 The latest innovation in the battle against rugby’s brain injury problem: flashing mouthguards. You’ll see them (although hopefully not in action) at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. (Sky News)