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'If Vladimir Putin wins Ukraine, he won’t stop there'
Please take time to reflect that Ukraine has been under siege from Russia for three years – Monday was that third anniversary.
To put that event into context, think back to World War II and reflect that at the same stage, Hitler had over-run France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Norway and down into the Balkans as well as Ukraine and parts of western Russia.
Many of our cities were in ruins, as were great European centres such as Rotterdam and Warsaw. The situation was desperate and the future depressing.
The first good news was in November 1942, more than three years in – when Montgomery’s Desert Rats finally blunted Rommel’s push for Egypt.
Ukraine has had its ‘Battle of Britain’ in those early days when the Russians got a very bloody nose, since when there has been grinding attritional warfare similar to the trenches of World War I. In the meantime, Ukraine’s cities also lie in ruins and the future looks bleak because the greatest ally has just switched sides.
Ukraine is fighting for the whole of Europe – if Vladimir Putin wins there, he won’t stop – that is the lesson of history, that victorious aggressors keep on going until they are stopped.
We, as a western alliance, will be at war with Russia if Putin is not stopped now.
Do you want your children, nephews and nieces or Godchildren to be fighting a war that you could have helped to prevent? I don’t, hence my unwavering support, both morally and financially, for Ukraine.
Please join Ukraine in this existential fight for survival of western values. Help to fund drones, medical aid, logistics capacity or even help to fund the ammunition Ukraine so desperately needs. We can all do something. Roger Morris, Mitcham
Will the West stand firm on Ukraine?
‘Our leaders must stick to their support for Zelensky and his brave people’
To paraphrase Shakespeare, it looks as though, with regard to Ukraine, ‘confusion has now made something of a masterpiece’.
Given the contradictory happenings with regard to that beleaguered country in the past few days, the person in the street may wonder where all this is going.
What is important is that our own leader, Sir Keir Starmer, along with those of France and Germany, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, stick to their support for Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and his brave people. Andrew McLuskey, Middlesex
No, we don’t need to ‘understand’ Putin
‘Ukraine did not attack Russia. Russia forces, ordered by Putin, invaded’
On Ukraine and Russia, Helen (MetroTalk, Wed) says to have peace, ‘we have to understand and accommodate all sides of the argument’.
She says Russia feels it has ‘legitimate grievances’ and that Nato is ‘a threat to Russia’s cities’ in Moscow’s eyes. This is nonsense and just repeating Putin’s lies.
Let’s be clear – Ukraine did not attack Russia. Russian forces, ordered by Putin, invaded Ukraine. Russian soldiers have committed rape and torture of civilians.
The ‘grievances’ that Russia does have – that it has lost territory from Germany to eastern European countries – is a good thing because people in eastern Europe now live in peace and democracy, unlike people in Russia. Anyone who opposes Putin is murdered.
In 1939, we stood up to another psychopathic bully. His name was Hitler. It’s appalling to see a US president siding with Putin.
We should not attempt to ‘understand’ Putin’s ‘motives’ – he is a threat to all of us and he should be strongly opposed. Matthew, Folkestone
Trump and Starmer’s handshakes are a whole spectacle
‘Trump stares for a sinister five seconds, while Starmer shoots out his hand like a surprise.’
Has anyone noticed the amusing ways Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer shake hands with others? Trump leans forward and stares at his captives for five sinister seconds before releasing them and turning away sharply.
Starmer has a different approach. He cautiously steps forward, pauses, then shoots out his hand quicker than expected.
And when about to be photographed with another political leader, it’s they who extend a hand first, which Starmer is usually slow to grasp – before the pair turn on their favourite smiles. Terry, Nottingham
Want better public services? Tax rises are the answer
‘Until people accept tax rises, our services will fall apart.’
Sharon (MetroTalk, Mon) is right to say that taxes need to be raised to pay for a good NHS, among another things – but the revenue would need to be managed and spent wisely.
Unfortunately, most British people will continue to vote for greedy capitalist governments that prefer tax cuts, hence always emptying the public purse.
And that’s the reason we will never get out of the mess we’re in. Until people realise tax rises are necessary, our services will fall apart – and that will be the excuse they’ll use to eventually privatise them. Marion, Glasgow
Could Labour’s surveillance plans cost them the next election?
‘What we put in private messages is none of their damn business’
If the current Labour government screw things up, they will likely deliver us into the clutches of a far-right regime.
So why are they throwing away thousands of votes – mine included – by threatening to spy on our text messages and throwing away our intellectual property? By the first, I mean Apple agreeing to discontinue end-to-end encryption on certain iPhone features under pressure from the government.
And by the second, plans by No.10 to weaken copyright law so tech firms can train AI on published text and data.
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This would be a catastrophic blunder. Labour need to get it into their heads that criminals will evade their spying anyway and what the rest of us put in our private messages is none of their damn business.
They have a duty to win the next election to stave off the far right and prevent hell being unleashed upon us.
Labour’s baffling control-freakery is a betrayal of us all.
They must scrap this insane demand for all our sakes – and protect our intellectual property. Barry Tighe, London
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