Chris Mason: Why a coffee is overshadowing the King's Speech It is quite something when two blokes having a cup of coffee can generate more headlines and conversation than the King coming to parliament for the main ceremonial event of the parliamentary calendar. Both these things are happening this morning. The prime minister has met the Health Secretary Wes Streeting in private - a meeting offered by Sir Keir Starmer to cabinet ministers after Tuesday's cabinet meeting and an offer Streeting took up. It was a very short meeting - under 20 minutes - and we may not know what happened in Number 10 immediately. And then, not long afterwards, the King will arrive in Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament, in which the sovereign reads out the government's planned new laws for the year and a bit ahead. This ceremonial occasion was scheduled for this week precisely because government figures anticipated a rough set of election results and a splash of political tumult afterwards.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the UK on Tuesday to agree a new defence partnership aimed at tackling cheap attack drones. Downing Street said the deal would bring together Ukrainian expertise and the UK's industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and other capabilities. The two leaders are also expected to discuss further support Ukraine against Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year. Their meeting comes as the US-Israeli war with Iran enters a third week, during which US President Donald Trump has criticised the UK and other countries over the extent of their response to the conflict. Under the partnership between the UK and Ukraine, closer co-operation in the defence industries will also be sought with third countries as part of efforts to bolster international security.

Starmer could have scrapped child benefit cap last year - why did he wait? I can't remember when I last heard Sir Keir Starmer sounding so passionate. The prime minister's critics regularly lambast him for what they see as robotic or emotion-free communication, but you could not accuse him of that as we spoke on a post-Budget visit to a community centre in Rugby, Warwickshire. I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his tone. I have repeatedly said that I want my government to drive down child poverty.

Look beyond the actions and theatre of the Trump White House to the macro trends of the 21st century. There is the migration of economic and political heft to the East. There is the migration of many, many people towards the West, digitally savvy about the relative riches here, climate change and conflict among the push factors for some too. There is the internet revolution upending business models and working patterns, inventing social media and concentrating vast wealth and influence among a clutch of global behemoths like Apple, Meta, Amazon and X. And there is the artificial intelligence revolution in the infancy of its influence.

A stuttering economy, spiralling government borrowing costs, plummeting approval ratings: little wonder perhaps senior ministers, not least the chancellor, aren't wasting many smiles these days. Remember too Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are the duo that best personify the Labour project of the 2020s; the party's revival and return, grounded in being trusted on the economy. And yet the markets are collectively passing a verdict on Starmer and Reeves's economic plan right now and it isn't exactly a ringing endorsement – and wobbly markets can prompt political wobbles. These shouldn't be overstated, but neither should they be ignored. What we're witnessing is the brutal slog of government playing out; an unforgiving backdrop of economic flatlining, which critics say ministers have made worse.

Three milestones are for England - more housebuilding and planning reform, speeding up how long it takes to get a routine NHS operation, and improving pre-school education. There will also be a greener energy target for the UK and for putting more police on the beat in England and Wales. "My government was elected to deliver change, and today marks the next step. People are tired of being promised the world, but short-term sticking plaster politics letting them down," Sir Keir will say. "My mission-led government will deliver." Insiders I talk too are pretty sanguine about the prospect of this being seen by critics as a re-launch.