Let us imagine that Scotland gets its independence. It invites Mr Putin to develop a military relationship with it which involves stationing nuclear weapons on its territory just north of Hadrian’s wall aimed at London? How do you think the ‘English’ Government would react?

What is happening in Ukraine today is complicated but Ukraine’s membership of NATO is certainly enormously aggravating for Russia because it’s an obvious threat. In addition to the conflict with NATO there has been a civil war going on for the last decade or so between ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians.

President Zelenskyy got elected with a huge ‘peace’ vote in 2019 which addressed both these issues and pledged to implement an agreement to secure NATO neutrality and give some autonomy to the Donbas region. Under pressure from ultra-nationalists in Ukraine and unsupported by a negligent US Government, Zelenskyy dropped the mandate for peace that he was elected on.

In an act of reckless desperation Russia invaded Ukraine to try and impose a military solution. With weapons pouring in from NATO members, the war is destined to go on and on. If Russia wins, the Ukraine will be destroyed. If the US wins then there is every chance there will be nuclear war – and we in the UK will be targets.

The root cause of this conflict is the unwillingness on all sides to compromise. It is a failure of diplomacy and politics. Putin, Zelenskyy AND Biden are ALL to blame. The aim of the US is to reassert itself as the world superpower and it is using the conflict in Ukraine to do this.

The British Govt. should be primarily concerned with stopping the killing by getting both sides to agree to a ceasefire on the lines that Mr Zelenskyy was elected on and not inciting Ukraine to fight to the end because in the end there will be nothing left. The recent donation by Boris Johnson of one thousand million pounds (that is what a billion is) is a slap in the face for the prospects of peace and is inexcusable at a time of economic crisis.

The main challenge we face in Britain is the energy crisis in part brought about by our dependence on fossil fuels and the need to wean ourselves off them in order to tackle climate change. This has produced an economic crisis that will be hard enough to tackle without inciting more conflict. We should be working to stop this war now. It should never have started.

John Webster, Lydbrook