Biden's big test at the Nato summit in Washington

President Joe Biden will have to demonstrate next week that he still has what it takes to be the leader of the western world whem Nato leaders meet in Washington to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the alliance. Of course it's not just a jolly, it's a proper summit when Ukraine will have top billing. But every leader of Nato, including the new British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, will be coming to Washington with one thought in mind and one only. Is Biden going to have a good summit or a disastrous summit? If he walks hesistantly into the conference hall, shakes hands and calls leaders by their wrong names, or falls over, or gives an address in a quiet, croaky voice, every single person in the room is going to be worried sick that the man who represents and leads all of them can still do the job. They don't want Donald Trump back but they do want a president who looks and sounds healthy and confident and on the ball. No doubt most of the alliance leaders will gather round and give their support, slap his back (not too hard, please) and wish him well in the election. But all of them will be worried. So instead of a celebration of 75 years since the founding Washington Treaty was signed to form the western alliance, there will be trepidation and anxiety.

Ukraine military is struggling and still short of ammo

The voice of pleading from Volodymir Zelensky has been a constant mantra for the West ever since Russia invaded in February 2022. He has always wanted more ammunition and weapons to fight back the Russian troops. Today, 29 months since the invasion, this is still the cry. It is extraordinary that after so long when there should be a well-oiled arms flow heading for Kyiv it mever seems to keep pace with what is happening on the battlefield. Zelensky is now saying the Russian troops are succeeding in pushing back Ukrainian units because they have a shortage of ammunition. The process of delivering arms is too slow, he says. Admittedly, there was the fatal gap in deliveries when the US Congress halted supplies. But that was some time ago and the deliveries should now be back to normal. So why the delays, if Zelesnky is right? Russia benefited hugely by the impasse in Congress and it seems Putin is still able to exploit the ammunition gaps by urging his troops to gon on the offensive. Someone in the Pentagon has to get the arms flow moving at an accelerated pace or else Ukraine will remain on the backfoot and there will never be a moment when they can persuade Moscow to go for a peace settlement that would be acceptable to Kyiv. Ukraine, not Russia, needs to make advances on the battlefield.

The fall of Liz Truss

Not that long ago Liz Truss was the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Before that she was foreign secretary. Now she has no political status whatsoever. What an incredible fall from grace. Last night she was ousted as MP in one of the safest Conservative constituencies in the country and has to start looking for a job. They say politics is cruel and one is always at the mercy of the electorate which, of course, is what democracy is all about. But from the highest political post in the land to ...nothing. That's a helluva drop in favour. In her 49 days as prime minister she was her own worst enemy, trying to do too much in too short time a timeframe to boost the country's economy. Her maths was all over the place and she didn't consult anyone, she ignored the markets and the Bank of England and just went ahead with cutting taxes everywhere, like a mad professor in a science laboratory. And the markets and the economy and Britain's credit rating in the world went steeply downwards in a flash. So after 49 days she was gone. Now she is no longer an MP and, I guess, we will never see her back again. What will she do next, what can she do next?

How is a new British prime minister going to deal with Trump?

It's election day in the United Kingdom and the polls say the Conservatives are going to be heavily defeated after 14 years in office which means the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who has very little hutzpah will be the next prime minister. If Donald Trump wins in November, how on earth is Prime Minister Starmer going to cope with the MAGA Man? Only Boris Johnson out of all the leaders Britain has had in the last few years, looked comfortable in Trump's presence, and Boris is gone. Starmer and Trump will be like the new boy meeting an overbearing headmaster. Starmer has never given the impression in all his time as leader of the Labour party that he is bursting with confidence and visionary ideas, so if he has Trump in the White House across the Atlantic, I can't imagine the so-called special relationship will survive, at least not politically. The intelligence services on either side of the Atlantic will carry on as normal. But Trump and Starmer are never going to be easy bedfellows. With any luck, all the furore over Joe Biden will die down and the 81-year-old president will win another four years. Starmer and Biden would have a much better chance of forming a decent relationship. I bet Starmer is holding his breath.

Biden vows to fight to the end

The Democratic establishment is coming out in force to try and persuade poor Joe Biden to step down and make way for someone younger. The New York Times is leading the field. Other papers are joining the NYT. I can't imagine what it's like in the White House right now. There must be an air of desperation. But Biden is having none of it. He has vowed to stay to the bitter end and fight all the way. No one is going to push him out. You have to admire him. He knows he has the backing of his wife, Jill, and I guess that's why he has decided to put a bold face on and confront all the siren voices. What he needs to do more than anything is make lots of public speeches and raise his voice so that everyone can hear what he is saying. No more mumbling. Shout from the rooftops if necessary. And, above all, the next television debate with Donald Trump must be so different everyone watching will wonder what all the fuss was about. Can he do that? Will he do that? Sensible people in the White House, such as John Kirby, his strategic communications adviser and a good guy, will I am sure be impressing on the president the need to go forward boldly and, preferably, ignore The New York Times editorial.

Immunity from prosecution might not help Trump become president

All the focus since the US Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump should enjoy immunity from prosecution for anything he did in his official capacity as president has been on the tremendous victory that has given him. He now won't face any of the outstanding trials till after the election and with the Supreme Court behind him, he has every chance of waltzing into the White House and becoming King of the universe, able to do what he wants. BUt there's an alternate argument I believe. With such potential powers in his hands, unlimited thanks to the new interpretation of the constitution by six of the nine judges on the Supreme Court, Trump could run amok, although I dismiss the ridiculous suggestion that he would be allowed to order the US Navy Seals to kill his political opponents. Nevertheless, the new powers might just frighten American citizens so much that they will no longer even consider voting for Trump. They will know in their hearts that that nice man Joe Biden wouldn't abuse his powers by exploiting the new Supreme Court interpretation. So, old he may be, but they might think it would be safer to keep him in the White House and prevent Trump from getting his hands on the reigns of power. So the Supreme Court might just have ruined Trump's chances of winning the election. What an extraordinary twist that would be, and definitely not what the six judges intended when they came to their outrageously wrong conclusion.

The US Supreme Court has fudged it. Surprise surprise!

The warning signs have been around for weeks. Instead of coming up with a precise, absolutely clear, historically sensible ruling that, like all fellow citizens, the president of the United States should never be above the law, six of the nine judges on the US Supreme Court have decided that immunity from prosecution can be justified where a president has been performing his official duties. As one dissenting judge put it, the president can now be "a king above the law". It's staggering but not surprising. The three dissenting judges said it was a bad day for democracy. Or to put it another way, it's a great day for Trump. Now the trials in which he is accused of interfering in the results of the 2020 election will nbe delayed while lower courts try to come to terms with the gobbledegook ruling and attempt to work out how it affects the crimes with which Trump has been charged. This can only happen in the US of A. I cannot for one moment imagine the judges on the UK Supreme Court ever saying that political leaders should enjoy immunity from prosecution if they try to interfere with a democratic process. Trump will see the ruling as a boost to his election prospects. Whatever happens next the ruling will mean there is only the tiniest chance the key trials will be held before the November election. So if he wins he will have all the leeyway he needs to postpone the trials for ever, or at least while he is in office. America's democracy has just been tarnished.