Every morning when I look out of my bedroom window I see the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag flying from the Norman Tower. The terrible and largely senseless killings in Ukraine continue, as most of the world looks on in horror at events.

It was no great surprise that Putin ordered his troops to attack a neighbouring state which represented no threat to Russia, but the incompetence of the Russian Army was unexpected. Even before Western democratic states had dispatched military aid, the Ukrainians had put up stiff resistance. The Russian artillery has been extremely effective in the destruction of cities, but the army has sustained heavy losses of both men and fighting vehicles.  

The United Kingdom has been among nations giving munitions and equipment alongside the Czechs, Slovakians and Dutch. Sadly Germany, perhaps because of its economic links with Russia, has dragged its feet, as have the French and Italians.

It is tempting to see only good news for the West in the poor showing of the Russian ground forces, but it could tempt Putin into the use of nuclear weapons rather than admit the failure of his adventure.

On Thursday last week The Daily Telegraph reported Putin’s claim to have tested the “world’s deadliest weapon” which the Kremlin named as the Satan 2, a 200 tonne intercontinental missile which carries a dozen warheads and could be used to strike at Russia’s enemies around the world. 

Julian Lewis MP, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, commented that it all made little difference to the present situation in which both Russia and the West have long had the ability to annihilate each other. Indeed the United Kingdom’s fleet of Polaris submarines remains ready to unleash nuclear missiles on any aggressor.   

International trade links and cross border integration of both energy supplies and manufacturing should act as a disincentive to military adventures by democratic nations, but as contemporary events demonstrate, they can be a point of weakness against leaders such as Putin.

That is all the more reason for our Government in the UK to go ahead with fracking, nuclear and wind power here at home and increase trade with Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Why I miss Saint Edmund

Under the shadow of events in central Europe and in the run up to the local elections on 5 May,  I will be looking forward to the delayed celebration of the 1000th Anniversary of the foundation of the Bury St Edmunds Abbey.  These celebrations were to have been held in 2020, but were postponed by the Covid pandemic.

Last Saturday 23 April was St George’s Day. Not that anyone really noticed. Here in Bury St Edmunds there was no more than a Scouts parade. St George, who we share as a Patron Saint with a couple of Mediterranean countries, does not have any real connection with this country and his fame is based on a legend that he saved a young maiden from death in the claws of a dragon far from England. Our original patron saint was St Edmund, who, as King Edmund, was defeated in about 860 AD by an invading Danish army led by Ivarr. Edmund was captured and brought before Ivarr, who offered to spare him if he would renounce Christ and offer allegiance to the Danish leader. Edmund refused and was killed, with his corpse dismembered and scattered about the fields.

Edmund’s former subjects searched for and had found his remains except for the head and then heard his voice, shouting from a thick wood, “Here! Here!“. They found his speaking head guarded by a wolf which made off as they approached. Edmund was given a Christian burial, but there followed exhumation and a confused trail of burial sites. Some scholars believe that his remains now lay adjacent to the ruins of St Edmund’s Abbey from whence (according to folklore) he has emerged at times to perform great miracles.

Who would swap places with Boris?

Many of us, not least The Prime Minister Boris Johnson, could do with a miracle or two. It is not just that in the view of the Metropolitan Police he clearly broke the regulations which he had himself imposed on us all. It seems clear that he did so more than once.

I rather doubt that any potential Conservative successor as prime minister would want to be in the place of Boris right now. The local elections are less than a fortnight away and Boris Johnson, not a possible successor, should take the praise or blame for those results.

Nuisance protestors 

Those elections, in order to be valid, must all follow the rules laid down in law by Parliament. Just as we all have voting rights, we all have a right to make public protest. But those rights come with responsibilities to remain within the law. The Insulate Britain protestors who in court last week admitted to causing a public nuisance by blocking Junction 25 of the M25 were outside the law.  The protest was said to have caused  a blockage of almost 44,000 vehicles including an ambulance which was 55 minutes late on a chest pain emergency call out.

One of the protestors said in a statement that she was “truly sorry for the disruption caused” but that other people “are not really aware of the climate crisis because of the Government and the media.” Surely if that is what she thinks, she should use the processes of our political democracy, Parliament and the media, including the internet, not the M25, to make her protest.