Keir Starmer suffered a double blow yesterday with the resignation of defence secretary John Healey and armed forces minister Al Carns, both of whom accused the PM of failing to find sufficient funding to protect the UK. Starmer promoted Dan Jarvis, a former paratrooper who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, to replace Healey, and insisted his soon-to-be-released defence investment plan would “keep our nation secure”. SpaceX has raised $75bn in the world’s biggest IPO, propelling Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI firm into the ranks of America’s biggest listed companies. Trading on the Nasdaq will begin today after the company priced 555.6 million shares at $135 each, valuing it at $1.8trn. The iconic British painter David Hockney has died aged 88. One of the most influential artists of the modern era, the extroverted and flamboyant Yorkshireman contributed to the 1960s pop art movement before achieving global fame for his self-portraits and swimming pool paintings.

The timing of John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary yesterday – with the Iran conflict unresolved, and on the eve of a pivotal by-election and a critical Nato summit – is “extraordinary in itself”, says Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. But it’s his “bayonet of a resignation letter” that threatens to finish off Keir Starmer’s premiership. Despite accepting the need for more defence spending, Healey wrote to the PM, “you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling” to find the necessary funds. In other words, when Rachel Reeves says “no”, Starmer is such a lame duck that he cannot overrule her. “So what, exactly, is the point of him?”

The PM hosted 15 ministers in the Cabinet Room on Monday, says Patrick Maguire in The Times, and made the case that a leadership contest would be bad for both country and party. Just one of the 15 backed him. As another attendee put it: “We needed to know what his f***ing strategy is.” So here, for what it’s worth, is his strategy: “to tell his challengers to f*** off”. Starmer hasn’t said it in such indelicate terms, but that’s the subtext of his meetings this week. The PM believes, “sincerely and passionately”, that he has proved his doubters wrong by raising the revenue to invest in public services, cut NHS waiting lists and, yes, increase defence spending. His allies argue that Andy Burnham hasn’t explained what he’ll do in office, and think Starmer will “expose his contradictions” in a leadership contest. Ultimately, the PM sees his mandate – and he does see it as his mandate – as a contract to achieve two things: the change he believes he is starting to deliver, and an end to political instability. Many will say that sounds “deluded”. But be in no doubt: Starmer will not go quietly.

Investors used to talk about the FAANGs, says Julie Bort in TechCrunch: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. With SpaceX breaking records with its IPO – and Anthropic and OpenAI not far behind – it’s time for a new acronym for the AI era. The best effort so far, proposed by X users @krishdotdev and @lilscoot, groups together Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI and SpaceX: MANGOS.

When John Basinger retired from teaching in Connecticut in 1993, he set himself a formidable task, says The New York Times: learning Paradise Lost off by heart. This was some undertaking: John Milton’s poem about the fall of man consists of 10,565 lines, or more than 60,000 words. He started in the gym, memorising seven new lines when he was on the exercise bike and then reviewing the previous 14 lines he had learned while doing weights. And after eight years of practice, he did it, reciting the entire work in a marathon three-day performance at a local theatre. “I wanted to do something of size and substance,” Basinger, who has died aged 92, said in a documentary. “Perhaps not unlike Milton himself.”

Iran has withstood more military pressure than the US ever expected, says Arash Azizi in The Atlantic. But two months into the ceasefire, its economy is in tatters. US and Israeli strikes have severely degraded the country’s industrial capacity, while the American blockade on the Strait of Hormuz has crippled businesses that rely on imports. One electronic goods seller has gone from importing nine million mobile phones a year to fewer than 50,000. These effects have been further compounded by the regime’s repeated shutdowns of the internet. Today, one US dollar sells for 1.75 million Iranian rials.

This “economic catastrophe” is wreaking havoc on people’s daily lives. Since the start of the war, Iran has lost at least one million jobs, if not two million, forcing some 300,000 eligible Iranians to sign up for unemployment insurance. Job-seeking websites are so inundated with new applications that they keep crashing. Inflation is running at almost 85%, and even higher for food: 266% for edible oils, 169% for meat, 161% for dairy products. Many consumer goods cost roughly what they might in the US, but the monthly minimum wage in Iran still sits at just $100, and that’s after a recent 60% increase. Across Tehran, billboards are advertising instalment plans to pay for basic goods. The government has offered little relief – extending tiny loans of $125 per worker to small companies, which does little to offset their costs – while downplaying the country’s economic vulnerability and talking up its military successes. But they can’t fool ordinary citizens any longer. Until the regime takes action, “its tattered economy remains its Achilles heel”.

To mark the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death, Lego has released a replica of his most famous building, says Tom Ravenscroft in Dezeen: the Sagrada Familia. At 12,060 pieces, it is the largest set ever created by the company, reaching a height of 62cm when fully built. It can also be split into sections, revealing the Barcelona cathedral’s interior, which will be lit by recreated stained glass. “This is not only the largest Lego set ever,” said Lego designer Rok Žgalin Kobe, “but a model of one of the most ambitious architectural works in the world.” Click here to pre-order yours for £649.99.

It’s JD Vance’s swanky new chicken coop, says Harriet Barber in The Telegraph. The high-end hutch, which was donated by a North Carolina company known for its “premium” poultry pens, has been designed to mirror the vice president’s Victorian-style residence at the US Naval Observatory in Washington. The structure will be home to Vance’s new hens, who will provide eggs for the Second Family – he has previously joked his two sons eat “about 14 eggs every single morning” – and their staff.