US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson conferring to build a Nato united front to deter Russia from invading Ukraine is a high-level diplomatic and military manoeuvre.
By following French President Emmanuel Macron to Moscow to deliver face-to-face appeals to Vladimir Putin, the German leader Olaf Scholz is reinforcing the desire of European nations as well as the USA, and of course Ukraine, to avoid a potentially bloody conflict.
Putin is a dangerous authoritarian nationalist threatening a neighbour, yet we must hope he retains a degree of rationality and recognises that invasion would not fulfil his goals and could backfire disastrously.
Giving Putin a way out that respects Ukraine’s independence may be repugnant to many, but it would be far preferable to an armed conflagration at the heart of Europe.
Ukraine has signalled a preparedness to sideline or abandon a desire to join Nato.
Sustaining talks, however strained, is better than the alternative.
Prime Sinister
The indefensible cover-up intensifies as Boris Johnson arrogantly declares he will keep secret his responses to the police questionnaire on No10 lockdown parties.
Voters deserve to know his excuses for attending boozy bashes when his Government was busy imposing draconian laws on ordinary people, punishing more than 100,000.
If the PM claims he’s stupid, clueless, accident-prone, unfortunate or above the law, the nation has a right to see it in black and white.
Johnson’s lies and reckless approach are why he is in a deep hole in the first place and why a law-abiding nation is absolutely furious.
Heir-borne?
Clarence House has announced that the Duchess of Cornwall now has Covid as well as her husband Prince Charles.
We wish them, along with the 41,684 newly infected people also announced yesterday, a full and speedy recovery.
