The Treasury has been the real problem at the heart of the Defence Investment Plan for months. Everyone in and around defence knew it. Now the Defence Secretary has said so publicly, and resigned. I knew John Healey when he was shadow Defence Secretary and I was the SNP’s defence spokesman. He understood what was actually at stake, and took it seriously. He won’t have done this lightly. The DIP was supposed to turn the government’s defence commitments into funded reality. It’s been delayed and fought over for the best part of a year while the threat environment has got worse, not better. Starmer needs to treat this resignation - arguably the most significant yet - as the warning it is.

The many takes flying around about John Healey, resignation gossip and national security spending miss a fundamental point. In Finland, where people have a strong social safety net and a real sense of shared national purpose, around 80% say they would be prepared to defend their country. In the UK, that figure is closer to 30%. That should tell us something. Until we change the financial architecture of our economy and bring the essentials of life out of the grip of corporate extraction and into public ownership, we will always be told to choose between bombs and butter. But the reality is we need both. Modern hybrid warfare means every public service is part of our national resilience. Energy, water, housing, health, transport, food security and social care are not separate from defence. They are defence. If we want people to defend the country, we have to build a country people believe is worth defending. A thriving state. A fair economy. A society where everyone feels they have a stake. I spoke about this on Peston on Monday night.

As what looks like an unprecedented #hyperElNino builds in the Pacific It's worth knowing that a permanent El Nino state may have existed during the Pliocene, 3 million years ago This is a climate we are on the verge of returning to Read more here

In our version of 2030, a fragile peace holds in Ukraine, but the peacekeeping effort required to keep it that way is stretching Europe thin. And after little progress since Trump’s Iran War, America has delivered on its promise to leave Europe to the Europeans. 🧵1/7

Drowning is one of the biggest dangers to kids around the world. As summer begins and trips to the pool or beach become more common, it's time to recap drowning prevention. Important to note: Drowning happens in seconds and is often silent. It can happen to anyone, any time there is access to water. magazine.publichealth.jhu.ed…

There will be immense convective available potential energy (CAPE) over SW UK this afternoon. The higher the CAPE, the more powerful any thunderstorms have the potential to become. BUT this only gets realised if there's sufficient moisture & the 'capping inversion' is broken.