What happened
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has issued one of the alliance’s starkest warnings in years, telling European leaders they must be ready for a confrontation with Russia “on the scale our grandparents endured”. His remarks follow weeks of heightened tension, including drone intrusions into Nato territory and President Vladimir Putin’s declaration that Russia is “ready for war right now”. Rutte (pictured above) argued that Moscow could move against the alliance within five years and Europe was dangerously unprepared.

Who said what
“We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way,” Rutte told an audience in Berlin, adding: “Conflict is at our door.”

Donald Trump “clearly thinks that it is the Europeans who are the problem”, said Rebekah Koffler in The Telegraph. The US president’s unreliability means that “it is time for Europe to wake up to a chilling truth”, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. “America has switched sides.”

What next?
Hybrid threats attributed to Russia – from airspace incursions to cyber attacks – continue to rise, fuelling calls for accelerated military investment and unity ahead of an unpredictable winter.

What happened
More than 600 items have been snatched from the archives of Bristol Museum. The objects taken included “military memorabilia, jewellery, natural history pieces and carved ivory”, with four persons of interest picked up on CCTV, according to the BBC.

Who said what
Detective Constable Dan Burgan said the theft of the items was a “significant loss” for the city of Bristol. The artefacts carry a significant “cultural value” and the collection “provides insight into a multi-layered part of British history”.

Philip Walker, head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, said he was “deeply saddened” by the robbery on 25 September. The haul – which contained a ship’s lantern, ivory Buddha and waist belt plate mount – provided an “invaluable record and insight into the lives of those involved in and affected by the British Empire”.

What next?
The police have released images and descriptions of the four figures captured on CCTV to whom they would like to speak. “Security at the facility has been tightened and members of our museum community have been informed,” said Walker.

Danes are sending their last Christmas cards through the post. PostNord, Denmark’s state-owned postal service, will stop delivering letters at the end of this year, bringing an end to the 400-year-old tradition.

The country’s 1,500 remaining red post boxes have been “vanishing” since June, said The Times. A “handful” will be saved and end up on display in museums. The news has “rattled” postal services around the world. Could this be a sign of things to come for Britain’s “beleaguered” Royal Mail?

PostNord has seen a “steep decline in letter volumes” in recent years, according to the BBC. Since 2000, the number has plummeted from 1.4 billion to 110 million last year.

The sharp downward trend is being driven by a shift towards digitalisation – Denmark is one of the world’s most tech-dominant nations, trailing only South Korea, according to the OECD’s 2023 Digital Government Index. A “digital by default” policy has been “embraced” by the Danish government, with all correspondence carried out electronically for more than a decade.

It’s hard not to imagine the UK postal system entering a “doom loop” as higher prices for a lesser service will “inevitably lead people to consider whether they actually need to send that card or whether an email greeting will suffice”, said James Moore in The Independent. Royal Mail would be wise to “watch and learn” from how things play out in Denmark. The volume of letters being sent in the UK has dropped from 20 billion in 2004-05 to 6.6 billion in 2023-24, but that’s still a lot of letters. “So you can breathe easy. For now.”