The Arctic is "fast becoming an area of intense focus for geopolitical competition", said David Lammy during his recent visit to Norway and Iceland. The foreign secretary observed joint military exercises between the UK and Norway – a show of strength from Western allies in what is becoming an increasingly important strategic region.

Who owns the Arctic?
Although no country owns the Arctic itself, eight countries have territory that extends into the Arctic Circle: Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, the US, Finland, Sweden and Iceland. Those with Arctic coastlines can fish, drill and otherwise operate within their exclusive economic zones, which extend 200 nautical miles.

All eight are members of the Arctic Council, which acts as a forum for cooperation in the region, although Moscow has largely been sidelined since the invasion of Ukraine.

Why is the Arctic so important?
The Arctic is a frontier between Russia and Nato nations. The Bering Strait maritime border is the only direct boundary between Russia and the US – making control of the Arctic strategically important for both nations.

Beyond its military significance, the Arctic is sought after for its shipping routes and vast quantities of untapped natural resources, including oil and gas.

Why is interest in the region intensifying?
Over the next five years, the Arctic region is likely to warm 3.5 times faster than the rest of the world, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organization. That should result in more routes opening up for trade and military vessels, and more natural resources becoming accessible, as the ice melts. Russia and China, in particular, stand to gain: new Arctic passages could significantly cut down the distance their ships need to travel for international trade.

Klaus Dodds, geopolitics professor at Royal Holloway, told Sky News that less sea ice in the Arctic is likely to attract "heightened commercial and military activity by third parties that are not allies of the UK". With the US no longer a "reliable ally" for Nato powers, Russia will "continue to target critical infrastructure in the North Atlantic and European Arctic – all of which may be ever more accessible".

The sound of banjos, fiddles and tin whistles is all around as Irish trad music enjoys a roaring resurgence. It's resonating particularly "fiercely" with young people, said The Independent. One venue owner compared the phenomenon to Beatlemania, as "clamouring" fans of Irish folk flock to see their favourite trad acts.

'Changing the face of trad'
The success of Ryan Coogler's vampire film "Sinners", which features Irish ballads and reels aplenty, has helped put the genre in the spotlight. Irish indie folk band Kingfishr are topping the charts, and acts including The Mary Wallopers and Lankum are also helping to connect younger audiences with these traditional sounds.

The "stereotype" is of "lads in Aran jumpers and beards", Tara Brady of all-female trad group Cailíní Lua told The Irish World. We're "changing the face of trad" but "keeping the tradition there too".

Lisa Canny, from the 11-piece trad group BIIRD, told Image magazine that trad "needed a new image" to ensure that it "connects with everyone" and reaches audiences "in a contemporary way".

'Subconscious protest'
The popularity of Irish folk sounds could also be a "subconscious protest against the rise of AI and the forced homogenisation of our musical palettes", said The Independent. Young people have been "starved of communication, of human interaction", button accordionist and "trad legend" Máirtín O’Connor told the paper. Folk music is "very much music of human interaction, celebration and commiseration", and "quite the opposite" of "isolating technology".

For young people in Ireland, traditional music offers a "reaffirmed sense of national identity and pride", said Image. It's not that "we were lacking in patriotism before" but, for a time, we "found the outside world more alluring". Now, BIIRD's Lisa Canny told the magazine, "the focus has started to come back in".

Fundamentally, trad is popular because it's "very inclusive, egalitarian" and "everyone gets the chance to play it", Jason O'Rourke, who plays a 1920s vintage concertina, told the BBC. It's no wonder the genre has become a "global phenomenon".

Jack Lowden is "staggeringly good" as young alcoholic Luka in this revised version of "The Fifth Step" at London's @sohoplace, said Clive Davis in The Times.

"All jitters and tics and swear words", Luka is in a booze-soaked spiral and has turned to his sponsor, James, played by an "impressive" Martin Freeman, for help in making his way through a 12-step sobriety programme. The fifth step, we learn, is to admit your failings to God. This is no "conventional tale of overcoming adversity, but a morally ambiguous account of shifting power dynamics".

One of the play's key studies is the nature of masculinity itself, said Sarah Crompton in WhatsOnStage. Luka worries that he "might be an incel", while James is "far from the positive masculine role model he aspires to be", proving to be "aggressive and defensive". The pair are both revealed to be men whose lives are "out of control".

David Ireland's two-man show is "leaner and all the more compelling" than its original run at Edinburgh International Festival last summer, said Davis: "less is definitely more". It is "challenging material", laid bare by set designer Milla Clarke's "open stage that offers nowhere to hide", said Nick Curtis in London's The Standard.

"Rooted in Ireland's own experiences of drink-dependency, sobriety and the discovery of faith," the 85-minute play is a "vehicle for two actors at the top of their game". Keep watching until the end: the "absolutely magnificent" final "gag" is practically worth the ticket price alone.

Alien Invasions Are Expensive
Lara Williams on Bloomberg
"As long as humans are trading and traveling, plants and animals will be hitching lifts", writes Lara Williams. And though "critters" like beetles, mosquitoes and hornets are "tiny", they pack a mighty economic punch: new research suggests the financial "burden of invasive species is 1,646% higher than previously recorded". To protect ecosystems and human health, we must be "vigilant". After all, "management of invasive species seems to be cheaper than their damages".

Are beards a political statement?
Charles Moore in The Spectator
During a recent visit to rural Kyrgyzstan, I grew a beard because it was "too wearisome to heat up water" and "crouch before a makeshift mirror to shave", writes Charles Moore. I wouldn't "recommend the experience" – it "tickled" and I looked "villainous". Margaret Thatcher had a "morbid horror" of beards, associating them with "1960s leftism". But "it's different" these days: "a beard is almost compulsory if your conservatism is inspired by J.D. Vance".

I'm fed up with 'manslammers' on the pavement
Claire Cohen in The Times
Being "oblivious" of others on the pavement is a failing of "women as well as men", writes Claire Cohen, but "not women as much as men". There's a "certain strain of bloke" who "cannot, or will not, move to let an oncoming woman pass". I've been "elbowed" and "sworn at" by these men "who assume they can move seamlessly through the world" and "look shocked" if you dare to "stand your ground". Join me, ladies, and "reclaim some space".