Mention has often been made in this space previously of the fact that when this writer was growing up, we only had RTE 1 and 2 on the television at home. Now read on…
Thus, it was only when going with Anna and her now husband Kieran to the home of his parents, Denis and the late Lily, that a whole new world of programming was opened up to me. Including but not limited to Grandstand, Match Of The Day, Big Break, Noel Edmonds’ House Party and my absolute favourite of them all, Dad’s Army.
Being honest, as the years have gone on, the latter has become something of an obsession. Partly because the humour is timeless and even after all these years guarantees endless laughter while in progress. At a very personal though, it can often be the vital – or only – component guiding these wheels through what I like to call a boggy ground day. Outside of what should be the obvious factors at this stage.
A boggy ground is exactly what it sounds like. Heavy going over which one must thread very carefully. You want to keep going but at the same time are fully aware that one wrong move in any direction could leave you buried to the axels and drastically in need of immediate rescue. Which is where Captain Mainwaring and his motley crew come in.
Uplifting as it always is to hear the advice that whatever else you do “Don’t Panic” or the proclamation the “We’re Doomed” or the observation that Pike really was a “Stupid Boy” , in this day and age nobody could have expected the events which David Croft and Jimmy Perry fictionalised so brilliantly to occur again before our very eyes.
Yet here we are. The scary thing is, it’s not all that big of a shock. Primarily because Vladimir Putin is part insane, part clone of a certain former German ‘leader’. Consider that the megalomaniac has been in power for 22 years. When, as far as this corner can decipher two terms of four years each was all he was entitled to. Until, that is, he changed the law to suit himself. And even while he was waiting for that nefarious farce to go through he ended up Prime Minister.
His meddling and dodgy dealings didn’t end there however. The official line, of course, was that there was no meddling with votes which culminated in the election of Donald Trump as US President. Keep in mind, though, the inquiry about that was carried out in a manner which was akin to asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.
In sporting commentary parlance, there’s a phrase doing the rounds at the moment “You love to see it”, however, scurrilous doings at the behest of Vlad the bad could be filed under a new heading – things you didn’t think you’d see. Though perhaps the world at large should have seen this coming. Say what you like about sleepy Joe Biden, but he was more clued into to the reality of what was coming down the tracks than many others who should’ve been.
While nowhere near an expert or to be totally honest that well versed that well versed on the situation, my understanding of the circumstances which led to what has the potential to morph into World War III is that the Russian lunatic wanted to keep the Ukrainian people on side for what, you suspect, is an even bigger bout of lunacy he is planning.
However, going back as far as 2014, the brave Ukrainian people asserted their right to freedom and sovreignty in what was from memory termed a quiet revolution. Have absolutely no doubt capture of exactly that is what the war starter is after in this case.
You know fine well that he and his ilk won’t have liked the break up of the Soviet Union and the ‘Westernising’ of the region, as they saw it, by leaders who were, as time has proven, open minded for their time, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. To the extent that, you suspect, Putin’s long term aim is to quash Ukrainian independence.
While it seems highly unlikely Putin would be able – in the long run – to pull off such a dastardly deed, you can wager your last euro if he did, there’s no way he’d stop at that. But then, as much as one part of me just said he wouldn’t be able to get away with it, another bit is pondering just how much of a safety net there actually is?
Whatever about their reasoning or evidence for doing so, if George W. Bush and Tony Blair hadn’t moved on Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, one shudders to think what the world would be like now.
Bush II may have been a jackass in his own way, but compared to Republican candidate who came after him and the current resident of the White House, at least he’d his head screwed on. If only loosely. Compounding matters even further is the fact that there’s an even bigger clown in Downing Street than Krusty!
Even people in the UK themselves have said Boris Johnson is the worst PM they could possibly have at a time like this. Add to that Angela Merkel being gone in Germany and Emmanuel Marcon being a bit of air head and the anti Putin side look a bit ramshackle.
Sooner rather than later, those who must will follow the lead of the Ukrainian people themselves. If seeing their Prime Minister out among his people defending their country wasn’t stark, moving and inspirational enough, the sight of the Klitschko boxing brothers signing on to aid their country should definitely stir others to instigate the necessary action.
Unfortunately, there would appear to be only one satisfactory solution to the current crisis. The one nobody wants. Perhaps with the ironic exception of the individual who unleashed the chaos.
As it is, only three days in, the spectre of conflict looming over the world has caused consternation in both the business and sporting worlds. Even at that we may not know the half of it.
Nobody will want to think about taking the ultimate step let alone see it happen. Balancing such fears, however, will be a realisation that doing nothing simply isn’t an option.
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