It has been the sort of week that will be referred to in decades, even centuries, hence as being one that was a turning point in history. There is a lot to come, but let's see if we can make sense of where we have gotten to in just the last few days.

In the US, in the UK and the EU - the proposed shift from internal combustion cars to electric vehicles is starting to become a major factor in a big political shift that's going on. What's driving it (pun not intended!), and just how far is it going to go in rocking our old political assumptions? Let's have a look.

This week, Rishi Sunak just announced pushing back of a few net zero targets - but much more significantly signalled a shift in campaign positioning that has thrust the issue to the centre of the conflict between the two main parties in advance of the general election. Labour leader Keir Starmer now has to work out if this is a great opportunity, or a poison-laden trap. It's a more subtle question than the ideologues on either side think it is.

More mainstream voices are starting to be raised highlighting the likely outcome for where America is currently headed. One of them is Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor whose book 'Principles for dealing with a changing world order' identified the cycles that inevitably define the rise and fall of empires. Let's have a look at what he has to say.

Elon Musk is so often at the centre of every important issue or controversy - he is a techno-optimist, he is pro-free speech, he is desperate for man to colonise Mars - you name it. He is also powerful on the world stage. And somewhat unaccountable. Is that a problem? Let's discuss.

Two months in to Ukraine's counter-offensive, and so far - while there have been gains - they are well short of what people had hoped for. The implication is that this war is going to last years not months, notwithstanding the unexpected. How does that realisation begin to change the landscape - for Russia, for Ukraine, for the West?

Over time, how we understand an ongoing issue, and aim to act on it, will evolve and change. We've been in the same phase on climate change for several decades - but right now it seems as though we may be entering the transition to the next phase. In this podcast, we look at why that may be, but why it will reach America later than many other places.

Maybe companies should have values. But should they have the sort of values that are about holding powerful corporations to account, or the ones that turn powerful corporations into policeman over how we live our lives? There's nuance to be had, but a crucially important distinction not many commentators are making right now.

This week was the 75th anniversary of Britain's health service, which people have said to themselves for decades is "the envy of the world". Well, maybe once. But now it costs more money than most, for worse actual health outcomes. What went wrong - and does anyone dare even discuss it in public?

It wasn't a coup, but it looked like a coup. Putin wasn't bothered, but he certainly looked bothered. Really, it was just a protest. The sort of protest where you destroy military planes on the way. So just what HAS been going on in Russia this week, and what does it mean?

Boris Johnson has left the building - before launching a broadside against the Parliamentary Privileges Committee process just before it delivered its damning verdict. It found that he had lied repeatedly - which isn't much of a shock. The question is this. Was this the system upholding its commitment to integrity in public life? Or was it a politically biased hatchet job carrying out an act of sabotage against Johnson's hopes of a return? Indeed - could it be both at the same time? Let's...

This week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met the US President Joe Biden and amongst the various topics they discussed was Britain’s desire to carve out a role for itself on the discussion around Artificial Intelligence. In recent weeks, we’ve seen voices raised – including those of some of the pioneers in AI – warning about the potential existential danger to humanity posed by the technology, alongside the appreciation of the benefits it offers as well.

There has been a lot of talk this week about how the world may nose its way across the 1.5ºC line soon. It's been held up as a major landmark for so long - and generally with menaces attached. So is it truly on the cards? And how significant a line is it anyway?

Trump's Town Hall on CNN gave him his very best day of his 2024 election campaign, by far. How did it happen at all? And how much does it really change the equation for the next election, and indeed the next period of American political history?

A drone attack hits the Kremlin building. Once again, the world is left wondering "who dunnit?". Was it a false flag attack by a Russian leadership determined to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its allies? Or an attack by Kyiv, or even the United States - or a Russian partisan group? Let's look at the theories that are flying around - and at least discount the one that seems on its face to be a non-starter.

He's spoken to Vladimir Putin five times since the war started - but this was the first time he picked up the phone to Ukraine's Volodymir Zelensky. What does the call say about China's intended role in the Ukraine war - why might it signal hope for an end to the conflict - or, depending on your perspective - provoke fear in how China might use that end to its own advantage?

During the last week, a major summit that was supposed to advance climate onto the World Bank agenda hit an impasse. Meanwhile, China is rapidly gaining as the alternative lender to developing countries. The stakes are pretty big - it could just be the biggest problem that no-one's talking about.

A hugely significant leak of US intelligence has dominated the week ... and it's one unlike any that came before it. But what's really interesting, is what it says about the rapidly changing place of America in the world. And it's not good news.

Some reflections on the week that saw former president Donald Trump appearing in criminal court for the first - but surely not the last - time. Is this a shrewd political game? Or crass stupidity pushing the country closer to civil war?

China’s Xi Jinping to visit Putin in Moscow as China outflanks the US on the world stage. Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse – is the world economic system teetering on the edge of major meltdown? And Dutch farmers hit back against green policies with a major election win from nowhere.

Suggestions come from US intelligence that a pro-Ukraine group was responsible for the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. We learn that the UK government had an undisclosed position to reject the lab leak hypothesis to keep good relations with China. Massive farmers protests in Brussels underline how the EU’s. Farm to Fork sustainability policy is falling in the face of the Ukraine war. And in this week’s short thought, the horrifying realisation just how badly served today’s youngster have...

It’s retro news week, apparently. A massive leak of whatsapp text messages from the heart of government shows the unedifying reality of the UK’s response to Covid. The US energy department declares that it now believes a lab leak is the most likely cause of the Covid-19 pandemic. And, in this week’s short thought – do we believe in science or in magical thinking? I wish you’d make your mind up.

Last week, the former UK Labour prime minister Tony Blair, and the former would-be Conservative prime minister William Hague produced a joint report calling for a British technology revolution. Some of the response to this – particularly on the populist right – was that this was the face of technocracy. Partly that’s true – and partly it’s not. But the push towards technocracy is inbuilt to our current situation. Let's discuss.

The world marks the one year anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war with big speeches on all sides saying nothing new. China puts itself forward as a neutral peace broker in ways that may please neither Russia nor America. The US supreme court is offered the chance to break the internet with a single decision, but looks like declining the offer. And in this week’s short thought – the so-called scientists arguing for climate-focused rationing illustrate an important lesson.