For two years our news and lives have been dominated by Covid. Not so in the last week or so. Firstly the question was “Will he, won’t he?” as the Russian troop numbers on Ukraine’s border grew. We got the answer, followed by first reports of buildings being destroyed, civilians killed and injured and now huge numbers of women and children trying to escape across Ukraine’s western borders. What next? Who knows?

Today’s UK Daily Telegraph reports Boris Johnson saying that the War in Ukraine ‘is not going Vladimir Putin’s way’. The Ukrainians are certainly putting up a fight. Meanwhile, also quoting the DT, the war in Ukraine is “not going to be over quickly,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said. …. She added that “this could be a number of years, because what we do know is Russia has strong forces,” and said that “we need to be prepared for a very long haul“.

For the sake of all Ukrainians let us hope that an end to this conflict is found sooner rather than later. The alternative, history teaches us, is not one we want.