Perhaps it’s important, if not critical, to determine who has the most to lose? And who cares the most? In dealing with Putin’s Russia, it might be necessary to conclude that, if he gets what he wants, the rest of his countrymen don’t matter. If in doubt, try reading John Le Carre’s Our Game and Single and Single.

Those in The West generally have a different mentality. We don’t play by the same rules, that is, assuming the Russians play by any rules. As a young lady once said to me about her husband:  ‘The Golden Rule: I have the gold, I make the rules’.

So, Russia has the gas which it supplies to Western Europe. What else? And can those countries which buy the gas get their supplies elsewhere?

In short, damn the novichok, damn Putin and his cronies, let’s do what’s right in the interests of our people.