A week ago, we were noting that President Trump fired the head of the statistics bureau that gave the world the bad news about US jobs growth. And we speculated over whether he was really going to push a compliant partisan into that post, given that just about everybody said that if he did, it would completely undermine America's credibility when it came to information about its economy. Well, that's exactly what he did. So let's discuss.

The more that President Trump does his trademark freewheeling in the run-up to his summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, the more it becomes apparent that this is an illegitimate process. Trump's America has no valid cause to be inserting itself into a conflict from which it is walking away, and on behalf of a side that has not granted it power to represent it at the negotiating table. The trouble is - nobody is prepared to cross Trump by telling him such a thing, and so the slow-motion car crash continues to its inevitable conclusion. Let's discuss.

A growing number of rather vocal people, some with large platforms to amplify their message, are utterly convinced that Britain is in deep decline, on the verge of a massive uprising and even civil war, thanks to widespread perceptions of crisis. Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK is one of the most prominent, with his 'lawless Britain' campaign. And yet when you look at some of the statistics where you would expect to see evidence of such a crisis - they seem not to justify the rhetoric. So is this purely an online perception? How could such a thing happen, and what are the chances it becomes reality in the near future? Let's discuss.

The Trump Putin summit has been confirmed to take place in the state of Alaska next Friday. But as more has come to light, it seems possible that the whole event, and the optimism that Trump expressed for what might come out of it - might just have hinged on a mistake made by Trump's hapless special envoy Steve Witkoff when he met Vladimir Putin a few days ago. Even before that possibility came out, it seemed somewhat unlikely it would do anything but provide yet another chapter in the long ongoing saga. Let's discuss.

The comforting line is that it's all just temporary. Sacking the scientists. Removing the research studies. Publishing anti-scientific conspiracy nonsense as if it were fact. But there are some very good reasons to think we simply cannot be so complacent - that forces are coming together to make this a moment in history where we could - with all our technology and hubris - be about to take a step back away from an evidence-based enlightenment to a faith / superstition based period in history. Let's discuss.

Suddenly, President Trump and Russia's President Putin are on course to have a face-to-face meeting, possibly as soon as next week. What changed? Was it the threat of secondary tariffs against countries like India and China for buying Russian oil? Was it the three hour meeting between Putin and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, which apparently saw great progress, but no major breakthroughs? Whatever it was, the meeting is supposed to be on, and it's worth considering whether it represents any kind of move forward, even a potential step change - or just another chapter in more-of-the-same? Let's discuss.

As he campaigned for re-election, Trump made it quite clear that part of his agenda was one of vengeance against all those he felt had wronged him - especially his political opponents. He appointed slavishly loyal figures to head up all the key agencies - and now that plan is starting to kick into high gear. Pursuing Obama and members of his administration on what appear to be flimsy accusations of 'treason' over Russian interference in the 2016 election. And also, most conveniently for him, finding a way to deflect the focus of attention for the Epstein files onto people like Bill Clinton, rather than Donald Trump. Let's discuss.

In his first time, President Trump was partly constrained by the so-called 'adults in the room' - people who could explain to him why some particularly mad idea would not work. We already knew that this time was different, but we had been lead to hope that there might be at least one or two adults in the room - keeping their heads down and choosing their moments. Marco Rubio or Scott Bessent perhaps. Some constraints. The evidence is piling up that that's really not the case. Let's discuss.

Elon Musk just got the first piece of good news he's had for a long time - a massive $30 billion bonus from the Tesla board if he stays with Tesla as CEO and, you know, actually focuses on doing that job rather than running around playing politics and alienating all of Tesla's customers. While no announcement has been made about Musk's promised new political party, The America Party, the implication is surely that the project is now dead. But will that alone be enough to revive Tesla's fortunes? Let's discuss.

President Trump claims he ordered two nuclear submarines to change their position in relation to Russia, in response to some inflated rhetoric from Dmitry Medvedev. This was portrayed as projecting strength in the face of Russian intransigence in Ukraine. But it actually conveys two things that Trump certainly didn't intend. One is weakness, as opposed to strength. And the other is the fact that Trump is beginning to realise that he needs another way to try to dominate Russia on the world stage, because Plan A has failure built in. Let's discuss.