UK - When I started as a primary school teacher 30 or so years ago, nobody used the term “school readiness”. It wasn’t discussed because it was a given and, by and large, children joined reception ready to learn. Children were toilet trained, they could use cutlery, they could separate from their parents and they could communicate their basic needs. The situation today looks very different. A new survey of reception teachers by early-years charity Kindred Squared highlighted how many children are starting school without the independence or skills that were once taken for granted. The statistics are striking, and reflect what my colleagues and I have been seeing in the classroom over the past decade.

GERMANY - Europe must become a military superpower to survive without the United States, the former head of Britain’s Armed Forces has warned. General Sir Nick Carter said the continent could no longer afford to rely on the US “by default” and called for a rapid increase in defence spending. In a report ahead of a major security summit in Germany, he said Europe “should be a superpower, economically, politically and militarily” to defend itself in the “evolving world order”.

EUROPE - Europe must grow up and start acting like a true world power in light of the growing threats from China, Russia and now America, President Macron has said. Speaking before an EU summit on competitiveness in Brussels on Tuesday, the French president said the bloc should not let its guard down by assuming that tension with the US over Greenland, technology and trade had ended. Macron said he would urge fellow EU leaders to capitalise on “the Greenland moment”, when European nations realised they were under threat, to push for long-delayed economic reforms and reduce the bloc’s dependence on the US and China. Europe faced a “wake-up call”, he said, and was dealing with an “openly anti-European” Trump administration that “shows contempt” for the EU and wants the bloc to disintegrate.

UK - The boss of one of Britain's biggest banks has called for 'stability' and 'certainty' as doubts over Sir Keir Starmer's future wreaked havoc on the bond markets. With Labour's meltdown over Lord Mandelson leaving the prime minister on the brink, the yield on ten-year gilts - a key measure of how much it costs the UK government to borrow - jumped to over 4.6 per cent. Analysts said investors are worried that the downfall of Sir Keir could see a more Left-wing prime minister take his place – leading to even higher borrowing and more spending. ‘If we do get a change in the premiership, the replacement is likely to be from the left,’ said Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies. In a potentially explosive development, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for the PM to go over the Mandelson scandal, having already told him to stay away from Scotland because he is politically toxic.

CHINA - China has urged its banks to curb their exposure to US government debt, citing market volatility and growing financial and geopolitical risks, Bloomberg has reported citing people familiar with the matter. Over the past decade, China has steadily trimmed its US Treasury holdings, a shift that has seen it overtaken by Japan and the UK as the largest foreign holders of American debt. Since peaking at around $1.3 trillion in 2013, its holdings have fallen roughly by half to about $650–700 billion, reaching levels not seen since 2008.

USA - For decades, the dominance of the United States has been primarily based on the strength of the US dollar. Having the main reserve currency of the world has meant that everyone else has wanted and needed our currency. In fact, our currency is our number one export. Most Americans don’t realize this, but far more dollars are used outside the United States than are used inside the United States. Having such a strong currency for such an extended period of time has allowed us to enjoy a standard of living that is far beyond what we actually deserve. So what is going to happen now that the rest of the world is starting to move away from the US dollar?

USA - Donald Trump has handed control of three top NATO command posts to European countries. Britain will take over its Atlantic Command headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, while Italy has been given responsibility for the southern flank at its Naples base. Germany and Poland will oversee Joint Force Command Brunssum, in the Netherlands, on a rotating basis as part of the historic shake-up. NATO insiders insisted that the move was about European nations shouldering more responsibility for defending the continent rather than Mr Trump walking away from the alliance. It means that European commanders will now lead NATO’s three joint force commands at an operational level. The US president has threatened to play a lesser role in the alliance and has discussed withdrawing troops from Europe to focus on other threats, such as China. His posturing has called into question whether American forces would come to the aid of their European allies if Russia attacked them.

EUROPE - It was designed to be Europe’s most advanced fighter jet – fast, deadly and flanked by a swarm of armed drones. Unveiled by the leaders of France and Germany in 2017, the scope and ambition of the €100 billion (£87 billion) Future Combat Aircraft System (FCAS) beggared belief, with “remote carriers” and a “combat cloud”. But nearly a decade on, the project looks less like the pinnacle of European aspiration and more like a messy divorce, symbolic of a malaise at the heart of French-German relations – the “engine” of the European Union. And the project is in danger at a time when security co-operation is needed more urgently than ever, with Russia looming over NATO’s eastern flank. “Those who now demand absolute control should not be surprised if there are consequences.” They went on to suggest that it was time for Berlin to make its own purely German fighter jet.

USA - The foundation of what is widely considered as “world order” – the sovereignty of a country over its territory and the prohibition on other countries intervening in its internal affairs – were laid in the Westphalia Treaty in 1648. Thereafter, it evolved through wars, international trade, and diplomacy, with significant milestones in the Hague (1899, 1907) and Geneva (1945) Conventions. The League of Nations was established after World War I with the intention of preventing such horrors from ever occurring again.

UK - We are already getting close to the €100 billion (£87 billion) mark and the total is still rising. Stellantis – the company that controls Fiat, Peugeot and Chrysler – announced on Friday that it was writing down €22 billion on its electric vehicle unit. The bill is only the latest in a series of enormous losses suffered by the major American and European auto manufacturers who jumped on the EV bandwagon. In reality, it turns out that electric cars are only a small part of the overall market and that, insofar as it exists, Chinese manufacturers will capture most of the sales. The gamble on electric cars has turned into a catastrophe and it will be many years before the industry recovers.

ISRAEL - Israeli defense officials recently told their US counterparts that Iran’s ballistic missile program represents an existential threat, and that Jerusalem is prepared to act unilaterally if necessary. According to security sources, Israeli intentions to dismantle Iran’s missile capabilities and production infrastructure were conveyed in recent weeks through a series of high-level exchanges. Military officials outlined operational concepts to degrade the program, including strikes on key manufacturing sites.“We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles,” the source said, adding that Israel is not yet at that threshold but is continuously tracking developments inside Iran. The officials stressed that Israel reserves freedom of action and emphasized that it will not allow Iran to restore strategic weapon systems on a scale that threatens Israel’s existence.

IRAN - Iran is not seeking a military confrontation with the United States, but the key question is what Tehran is willing to concede to avoid one. Iran is unlikely to relinquish its ballistic missile arsenal because the Islamic Republic views it as the last credible pillar of deterrence and a hedge against what it sees as unreliable US guarantees, Dr Raz Zimmt, head of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told 103FM on Monday. Zimmt said Iran is not seeking a military confrontation with the United States, but the key question is what Tehran is willing to concede to avoid one. He argued that Iran’s leadership has clear red lines, and missiles sit at the center of them. From Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s perspective, Zimmt said, the missile program is the primary tool left to deter Iran’s enemies, and he does not trust US assurances.

ISRAEL - Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington this week, amid fears in Israel that Donald Trump will strike a weak deal with Iran. Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had been expected to travel to the US in mid-February for the first meeting of Mr Trump’s Board of Peace. But the meeting was brought forward following the initial round of US-Iran talks in Oman on Friday. Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, represented the US. Israel is demanding that any agreement reached at the talks includes limitations on Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorist groups, rather than only its nuclear ambitions. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, has said he wants talks to extend well beyond Iran’s nuclear programme. However, there is unease in Israel that Mr Trump will ultimately favour a “narrow” deal on nuclear enrichment that will do nothing to address Israel’s other concerns.

EUROPE - One of the reasons the West is not on the winning side, is that it repeats the age-old mistake of underestimating Russia. It started long before Napoleon’s invasion in 1812. During the Polish-Russian war in the early 17th century, the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth got all the way to Moscow but were eventually repelled. The Swedes tried, and failed, in the Great Northern War in the early 18th century, that ended with a catastrophic loss for Sweden.

USA - Elites did their part to fight global warming by flying dozens of private jets to the super bowl. Wealthy elites, many of whom likely believe that climate change is a big problem, flew hundreds of private jets to attend the Super Bowl this weekend. These are the same people who support things like banning plastic straws. Funny how all of that goes right out the window when it comes to their comfort and convenience. They will virtue-signal in public then just do whatever they want to do.