Nick Hedge

Following the ongoing situation in Iran, I am convening a special Security College on Monday. For regional security and stability, it is of the utmost importance that there is no further escalation through Iran’s unjustified attacks on partners in the region.

🇬🇧 From the stage in Munich, Keir Starmer paired rhetoric with hardware: the UK will send its Carrier Strike Group into the North Atlantic and the High North later this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating shoulder to shoulder with the United States, Canada, and other NATO allies. It is a deliberately visible signal, not just that United Kingdom is “back in the room,” but that deterrence in Europe’s northern approaches is being treated as a shared, operational responsibility. Starmer’s wider message in Munich was that Europe has to build real “hard power” and stop outsourcing its safety, and a carrier group working with allies is one of the few things that instantly makes that argument feel real. In the same week, Britain’s defence leadership also pointed to a bigger NATO focus on the Arctic and Norway as part of that posture, which tells you this is not a one off photo opportunity, it is a direction of travel.

$27.2m for Michelangelo’s foot at Christie’s. That’s $1.15m per square inch.