Hello and welcome to The Midge, the e-bulletin that takes a bite out of politics in Scotland and elsewhere. 

Camley’s cartoon

The Herald:

Camley reads the signs of the times in Aleppo. 

Front pages

The Herald:

In The Herald, political editor Tom Gordon reports that the Scottish Government is dropping its plan to use higher council tax revenues to invest an extra £500m in education. 

Exclusive: The National pictures Alex Salmond MP with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. The former FM says he was told by Mr Juncker that Scotland had “earned the right to be heard and listened to”. 

“Has justice gone mad?” asks the Mail, reporting that a sheriff allowed a road rage driver to avoid jail by knitting items for charity. 

The Herald: Exclusive: Stacey Mullen in the Evening Times reports on a street attack on Maryhill Road, Glasgow, which left a pensioner shaken. 

The FT details the US Federal Reserve’s raising of short term interest rates to 0.75%. It is only the second rise in a decade. 

The Telegraph pictures former captain Rachel Webster, who has urged the UK Government to stand down the Iraq Historic Allegations Team. 

The Guardian leads on David Davis telling a Commons committee that it will be February before the Government publishes a Brexit plan. 

The Sun has a “world picture exclusive” of prince Harry with his girlfriend, Meghan Markle, walking in London’s West End. 

The Times reports on “the cleanest-living generation on record” as figures show the number of under-16s experimenting with alcohol and cigarettes has fallen to a record low. 

FFS: Five in five seconds

What’s the story? Theresa May arrives in Brussels today for a European Council one-day summit. 

The schedule? 1030: arrivals, 1215: working lunch, 1730: press conferences, 1830: informal dinner of EU27 countries, excluding UK.

“Excluding UK”? Bit rude, non? Better get used to it in these post-Brexit vote times. On the menu at the dinner is drawing up a strategy for the talks which will take place once Article 50 is triggered and the two-year Brexit countdown begins. One key item to be decided is who leads, with MEPs said to be unhappy over the prospect of the European Parliament’s man, Guy Verhofstadt, being pushed aside. 

Is Mrs May hurt by the dinner snub? Au contraire. The line from Downing Street is that it shows the 27 know that for Britain, Brexit really does mean Brexit.  “It shows that they are facing up to the reality that the UK is leaving the EU, that we are going to be triggering Article 50 by the end of March, that means they are going to need to know how they are going to handle the process where they have got to work out the position of 27.”

So it’s crisps and nuts for Team May on the plane back home? One expects the official transport of the PM might be able to run to a toastie. 

Afore Ye Go

From the Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Jamir Hussain.

The Herald:

1.4%

The rise in MPs’ salaries from next April, taking their wages to £76,011 a year. Above, the title of Ken Loach’s latest drama, about benefit sanctions, is displayed on the side of parliament to publicise the film. Nicky J Sims/Getty Images.

Russian president Vladimir Putin introduces his dog Yume, an Akita, to rather nervous-looking Japanese journalists. The dog was a “thank you” gift from Japan for Russia’s help after the earthquake that hit the country in 2011. Putin previously alarmed German chancellor Angela Merkel, who is afraid of dogs, by bringing one to their meeting. You Tube

The Herald:

"In the light of the Foreign Secretary's display of chronic foot-in-mouth disease, when deciding on Cabinet positions, do you now regret that pencilling FO against his name should have been an instruction not a job offer?”

Labour MP Peter Dowd to Theresa May at PMQs. Mrs May said he was in fact a “FFS - a fine Foreign Secretary”. It was announced yesterday that new London mayor Sadiq Khan is to sell the water cannon bought by his predecessor Mr Johnson for £90,000. Theresa May, when Home Secretary, refused permission for their use. Gareth Fuller /Getty Images.

The Herald:

"The poor thing looks like it's trapped"

One of many complaints on Shawlands and Strathbungo Community Council’s Facebook page about a Christmas tree, complete with fence, erected on a traffic island in Shawlands by Glasgow City Council. The fence is thought to be there for health and safety reasons. Lucinda Cameron/PA Wire

From Guy Opperman MP

The Herald:

27,000

The number of donations received by the Social Bite charity, backed by George Clooney, above, to ensure homeless people get a hot meal this Christmas. Social Bite runs cafes in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Social Bite/PA Wire

What a former Labour spin doctor is up to these days.

The Herald:

The world’s first Amazon customer delivery by drone took place yesterday in Cambridgeshire. As announced by chief executive Jeff Bezos. Amazon/PA Wire 

The Herald:

"There's that many people now in the House of Lords, they are running short of toilets.”

Labour MP Dennis Skinner questions the Government on the wisdom of having 800 unelected peers in Parliament while the number of MPs is cut from 650 to 600. Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool/Getty Images.

From Ukip's Douglas Carswell

Labour MPs "do a Band Aid" in support of a living wage. Still on a festive note: 

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. Twitter: @alisonmrowat