Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere.
Front pages
In The Herald, political editor Tom Gordon says 10,000 businesses will avoid crippling rates rises as a result of the Scottish Government’s relief package.
The Mail dubs Finance Secretary Derek Mackay the “minister for give and take” for announcing rates relief on the same day as making higher-earning Scots pay more tax.
“Indy can be ‘sweet deal’ for EU” is the headline in The National, reporting the views of a constitutional expert from University College, London.
The Times says Brexit Secretary David Davis has acknowledged it will be “years and years” before the UK shuts the door to low-skilled EU workers.
Both the Times and the Telegraph report that a British IS suicide bomber received £1m compensation after being held at Guantanamo Bay.
The Guardian speaks to a British Muslim teacher who was escorted off a plane to New York in front of his pupils. “The only thing I can put it down to unfortunately - I hope I’m wrong - is because I’m a Muslim,” Juhel Miah tells reporter Steven Norris.
In the Evening Times, Stewart Paterson reports on new jobs coming Glasgow's way.
Camley’s cartoon
Camley reckons there could be something Fawlty with the food hygiene in Edinburgh hotels. Read the story by Martin Williams here.
FFS: Five in five seconds
What’s the story?
ndyref2 shall henceforth not be referred to as indyref2.
Says who?
Nicola Sturgeon. In an exclusive report in The National today, Kathleen Nutt reveals the FM told a meeting of 25 senior party figures not to use the term.
Explain?
A source told Nutt: “We were having a conversation about independence generally and Nicola said we shouldn’t be making reference to indyref2. She said this is a new referendum, we have a different set of circumstances, different reasons for having one and it is a completely separate matter.” Read the story here.
A new position?
There have been murmurings for a while, and last Saturday Alex Salmond let the cat out of the bag at a Yes rally in Ellon when he said: “The European issue has brought indyref2, or new indyref as I’ve got to learn to call it apparently, back to the top of the agenda.”
New indyref? What about indyrefnew? Indyref2.0? Indyref buy one get one free?
Clearly this is an etymological work in progress.
Afore Ye Go
I would love to have Derek Mackay's sofa at home - he keeps finding new cash almost every week.
— Marek Zemanik (@marek_zemanik) February 21, 2017
From Scottish Conservatives policy director Marek Zemanik, though Murdo Fraser MSP seems to think the Finance Secretary has a magic tree rather than a special sofa:
So now we know for sure that @DerekMackaySNP has a magic money tree, just magicked up another £40m from nowhere for rates relief.
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) February 21, 2017
“Given the Foreign Secretary once famously declared that he would not go to New York in case he was mistaken for Mr Trump, is there any chance that President Trump will not come to London on a state visit in case he is mistaken for the Foreign Secretary?”
Alex Salmond MP to Boris Johnson at Foreign Office questions. The Foreign Secretary said he had been mistaken for the US president twice - in Newcastle and New York, adding it was "a very humbling experience”. Johannes Simon/Getty Images
Boris Johnson cuts a dash in eye-catching running clothes https://t.co/ovVwZALgQP pic.twitter.com/zg8A0s9XwJ
— Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics) February 21, 2017
Earlier in the day, the Foreign Secretary opted for more casual wear.
"The volume of wishes for the president to stand, the number of people who will be disappointed is galore and I don't want to disappoint them.”
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe uses the occasion of his 93rd birthday to announce he will run for office again. Above, reading his birthday card. AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
"This is the protocol. The mufti's office regrets this inappropriate behaviour in such meetings.”
A spokesman for Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian after Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right presidential candidate, refused to wear a headscarf for a meeting with Lebanon’s grand mufti in Lebanon yesterday. Above, Ms Le Pen declines the use of a white scarf prior to cancelling the meeting. AP Photo/Hussein Malla
"Get on your bike”
An ermine-clad heckler in the Lords after Lord Tebbit (above left with Lord Baker), famous for once describing how his unemployed father got on his bike to find work, complained that cycle lanes were adding to congestion. Bruno Vincent/Getty Images
Palmerston sneaking into Downing St this morning checking out Larry, I've heard the FO are trying to keep him in stop any diplo incidents! pic.twitter.com/fAGOuWIJLs
— Political Pictures (@PoliticalPics) February 21, 2017
Palmerston the Foreign Office cat on manoeuvres. Thanks to @PoliticalPics.
Whoops, the BBC Breakfast captioners are not up to speed with the day's presenters, Dan Walker and Sally Nugent, much to rival Piers Morgan's delight:
Thanks for reading. Twitter: @alisonmrowat
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