War is terrible. This is the start of terrible. The first three casualties of war:
1. The first casualty of war is the truth. It’s immediate and precedes the bombs. Don’t expect that loss of truth to be one-sided. I can give many examples. Stay watchful of our own leaders and media propaganda, as well as others’. Accurate perception is needed to find the best ways forward. While I value freedom, democracy and human rights dearly, don’t become a puppet of either extreme of rhetoric. Hawks of either colour are dangerous. They have their own agenda and don’t care about you.
2. The second casualty of war is those under fire or siege. It’s truly awful in Ukraine and the refugee crisis is massive and rippling out. This war could grow and widen terribly without good judgement on both sides.
3. The third casualty of war is ‘love thy neighbour’ – the demonisation of ordinary people on the other side. Let’s not allow that to happen. People are doing fantastic things to help. Also, ordinary Russians in Russia, Ukraine, or already living in the UK or anywhere, should be shown our values of decency and befriended, not vilified or attacked, even if we are on different sides and sanctions imposed. Otherwise we are no better than our enemy.