The leader of Reform UK and best bud of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, testified to Congress yesterday and told Americans that the UK has a free speech crisis and has become akin to North Korea. That is patently absurd, and some of the supporting evidence given for it is likewise. But some of it is not, and some of the most telling instances are not even being highlighted. So what's really going on? Let's discuss.

China has been hosting an economic summit that brought together Russia, Indian and numerous other countries from the global south. And then it topped that off with one of its spectacular military parades that put Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in the spotlight, and rather showed up Trump's birthday parade as being a pale imitation. But the serious business underlying all this is the growing momentum the Trump administration is giving to the growth of a powerful and assertive group of non-Western nations, and the rise of China as the first and most powerful amongst them. Let's discuss.

Back in May, we saw the numbers of visitors to the United States plummeting in the wake of President Trump's attacks on most countries in the world with his tariffs and much else besides. Particularly with visitors from Canada, but also Europe and elsewhere. It was speculated that, if it continued, it would wipe billions of revenue off the US tourism industry and leave a lot of, particularly small, tourist businesses in significant trouble. So at the end of the holiday season, how much did those predictions bear up? As it turns out, pretty robustly. With one interesting exception. Let's discuss.

Lots of people have been speculating this weekend that maybe Trump has been out of sight because his health isn't good. That all seems overblown, but it did focus people's minds briefly on what would come next had it been the case. And the fact is that there are reasons to think it would be substantially different, and in many ways potentially much more difficult even than the erratic Trump 2.0 experience. It all focuses on the rise of artificial intelligence, and how the race to the bottom on AI-enabled authoritarianism, and the rise of tech companies as sovereign global players, is going to make life complicated. Let's discuss.

If anything has defined Donald Trump's second term as president, it is his use of tariffs to bully the world into giving the US highly unequal trade deals. He has used tariffs as an economic bludgeon, but also a political punishment weapon - targeting India and Brazil for political, not economic, reasons. Well, now it is all up in the air as the appeals court has confirmed that all of it was Trump exceeding his powers and authority. Now he is left dangling for months waiting for the Supreme Court to rule - and if it upholds the decision against him, all those tariffs will have to be paid back. And that will leave Trump looking ridiculous before the world, and his administration in total chaos. Let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week, countries are forming common-interest groups across the world to find ways to reduce their exposure to Trump's America and to work on the old rules-based trade order. Also, the world postal services stop sending parcels to the US. Russia pummels Ukraine's capital - Europeans hope Trump will take note, and you can guess how that goes. The head of the CDC is fired for not being anti-vax enough. And more. Plus, I answer a couple of your questions.

You're not supposed to be able to use the Presidency of the United States in order to enrich yourself. Indeed, previous presidents provoked controversy even from commanding lucrative deals AFTER they'd been in the office. But all those rules are out of the window with President Trump. Between deals for Trump licensing, gifts, crypto initiatives, and more - Trump has been doing very well indeed over the last seven months. Indeed, once you step back you can't help but notice - his distinctive style of confrontational leadership couldn't be better calculated to encourage lots of wealthy people to see it as being in their interest to give him money. Let's discuss.

We knew that Trump's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had directed spies to go into Greenland as part of a covert influence operation. Now, Denmark has identified three individuals doing exactly what she had directed - gathering names of potential supporters to try to seed a secessionist movement, to create conflict and division between Greenlanders and Denmark. This shows that, not only has Trump's ambition to take Greenland not gone away, but it's likely that lack of progress to date may prompt him to become impatient. Let's discuss.

We know all about some of the very public moves - gerrymandering in Texas, for instance. But across multiple measures - many of which are hidden in plain sight - Trump's MAGA Republican Party is step by step dismantling America's processes for ensuring free and fair elections. The details don't capture the public attention, but unless they're halted, it could be the start of an extended dark period for the US the like of which it hasn't seen for a very long time. Let's discuss.

The US used to lead the world in its innovation, including in energy and industry, and also in its medical advances. And that was because it invested in scientific knowledge, and turned that knowledge into useful services that were easily sold to the whole world. Now, the Trump administration is fixated on articles of faith, not actual scientific advance. It hates renewable energy, which the rest of the world sees as the technology of the future. It hates the mRNA vaccine technology that Trump originally championed during the Covid pandemic, but which has become mired in conspiracy theories. And it is now shaping public policy to match its superstitions and myths. It's hurting America - and may well be exported to some of the rest of us. Let's discuss.