It is January 2025, and Ukraine is facing a military threat to its survival from Russia. While a stalemate has fallen on the battlefield, the political landscape is shifting. A new US administration has entered office with a dramatically different policy towards Ukraine, potentially forcing Ukraine to reconsider what peace might mean. In this new geopolitical world, how could Ukraine best ensure security in the short- and long-term?

In autumn 2022, in the midst of economic turmoil, the UK government had to decide whether to follow through with a long-planned major reform of the crisis-shaken English adult social care sector or delay its implementation, hoping the government’s financial situation would stabilise. With budgets in dire straits, local councils called for a delay, while advocacy groups like Age UK urged immediate action, warning not to kick the decision into the long grass, like successive governments had before them.

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On 11 May 2021, Estonia’s Ministry of Social Affairs unexpectedly announced that Covid-19 vaccinations would be opened to all Estonians over 16 years old – 500,000 people – in just one week’s time. Estonia’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Siim Sikkut worried that this large influx of users would crash the repurposed digital health portal. However, he did not have direct authority over the digital decisions of the social affairs ministry. What, if anything, could he do to prevent a crash?