DEFENDING THE NATION

WHEN the clock struck midnight on Thursday, our increasingly turbulent global security took yet another tumble and we should all be worried, writes James Knuckey.

- By Conor Wilson and James Knuckey

One might be forgiven for missing the news about the expiration of the New START treaty. After all, Sir Keir Starmer found himself in the eye of the media storm as he clung onto his premiership for dear life over the Mandelson-Epstein scandal.

Concerningly, we've heard very little from our beleaguered government about the collapse of this deal which removes any caps on the world's two greatest nuclear powers the US and Russia for the first time in more than 50 years.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, signed by Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, was the last remaining nuclear weapons control agreement between the two nations. In the words of UN chief Antonio Guterres, the expiration of this pact "marks a grave moment for international peace and security".