PC culture behind the West’s pathetic response to Russian invasion, says NICK FERRARI – Daily Express

As the Russians began shelling airfields, the West responded with strong words, utter condemnation and... more meetings.

As the week drew to a close it was clear that far from being checked, the Russian advance was to be escalated, with convoys of Ukrainians desperate to flee to some form of safety building up.

The West reacted with the promise of more sanctions, a call for Ukrainians to embrace their passionate spirit, an alliance to try to make Putin think again and of course, more meetings.

While Im not for a moment advocating all-out war, in front of an increasingly emboldened Russia the Western response has been pathetic and beyond lame.

The reasons for what could be the biggest capitulation of responsibility in Europe since Germany was criminally indulged in the 1930s and the Nazis allowed to weaponise in readiness for all-out war make for desperately depressing reading.

Regrettably, a perfect storm of events has conspired to show the West to have been weakened to its lowest point in living memory. As Russia has brazenly built up arms, munitions and deadly ambition, Western nations have stumbled from farce to folly and fiasco.

Surely nothing better demonstrates the embarrassingly supine position most nations of the West have been forced into or in some instances have adopted with unbridled glee than the toe-curlingly absurd order earlier this month for tens of thousands of troops serving in the British Army to take the day off so they could spend the time reflecting on inclusivity.

The command came from General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith who used a series of mini-films to show soldiers the importance of being a team.

Is this the level to which our once proud military has sunk? In the past home of warrior soldiers such as Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, Colonel Herbert H Jones from the Falklands conflict and the SAS heroes who stormed the Iranian embassy, it now appears to be being run by David Brent from The Office.

Can you imagine how that news went down in the Kremlin? If, God forbid, our troops have to face Russian tanks, just how important do you imagine those lessons in inclusivity will prove to be? Lets be straight: issues such as inclusivity and tackling unacceptable behaviour in the workplace have considerable merit.

But to be stressing about those, as well as debating transgender toilets and whether statues should be pulled down, as a hostile foe gears up for war is insane.

Just as the UK has defaulted on its responsibilities, so have other nations.

There can be no doubt that Putin will have watched the calamitously bungled evacuation of Kabul last year when the Taliban was allowed to seize power unchallenged and recognised the all too evident weaknesses.

Since then, the US has allowed itself to become even more inward looking and divided, led by a President with tumbling approval ratings. Its taken little time for Americans to turn against a leader who simply doesnt look up to the job.

And alarmingly, the picture is just as gloomy across Europe. Its impossible to imagine the EU allowing Putin to continue unchecked if Angela Merkel were still in power in Germany.

The Russian president wasted little time in moving after Merkel stood down last year. She had the sort of steel and will that could have at least caused Putin to pause.

In her absence, the perpetually pouting French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to seize the mantle of being the de facto leader of Europe, but has failed miserably. Unable to staunch growing unrest in his own country, its nigh on impossible to tell from day to day which Macron is going to turn up Napoleon or Neville Chamberlain.

As the West gets weaker and woker, Russia has been watching and waiting.

Its assassination of Litvinenko in London in 2006 and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 went largely unpunished. Its now clear a far more robust approach was required.

Much of this contemptible complacency can be put down to political correctness.

Now it looks as if were about to see just how incorrect that was.

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Were I to ask you how much you earn, Im pretty certain youd be able to recall the number pretty swiftly. So what on earth is going on with someone who should be as quick with figures as a race course bookie?

When canny Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle quizzed Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey about how much he earns, the rather monosyllabic money man said he didnt carry that number around in my head.

To assist him, the amount is a cool 575,000 this from the man who is urging the rest of us NOT to push for large pay increases for the benefit of the nations economy.

As he possesses the skills required in such a demanding job, hes 100 per cent deserving of his salary. However, a touch of humility wouldnt hurt either.

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TVs top twosome Ant and Dec have roared back to our screens with their rambunctious Saturday Night Takeaway show and our weekends will be brighter for it but their show last week bewilderingly seems to have provoked a bit of a rumpus.

Complete with giant wigs, fake breasts and half a ton of make-up, the duo dressed in drag to perform their new charity single at the end of the show.

This has now attracted a number of complaints with some even saying this was #womanface in the same way that white performers using make-up to portray black people can be referred to as blackface.

With whats going on in the world, it beggars belief anyone can be that offended by something so harmless.

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In an unremittingly grim week, once again it fell to the Duchess of Cambridge to lift our spirits by hurling herself down a childrens slide with the enthusiasm of a toddler using it for the first time. While Id never usually highlight a womans age, this tremendous advert for our nation is a 40-year-old mum-of-three who delightfully demonstrates the adage that age is nothing more than a number. As Kate used her first foreign visit since the pandemic to gain greater knowledge about early years development and education, her brother-in-law Prince Harry returned home from sitting in a VIP box to watch the Super Bowl.

For me, there is no doubt who scored the touchdown...

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You and I fund the BBCs news division to the tune of 350million, employing around 3,000 people.

Last week saw the exodus of some its biggest names to my home on LBC radio continued unabated.

What is happening where you live? Find out by adding your postcode or visit InYourArea

Last week also sawthe RTS Television Journalism Awards, the most prestigious in the business. The BBC were thumped by their perennial rival ITV, picking up just three of the 19 gongs available. So why are we forced to pay for such an inferior service?

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Bonus seasonat the banks and it seems some bankers may need wheelbarrows to get the cash home. At HSBC the bonus pool available totals 2.6billion, at Barclays 1.9billion and at NatWest 298million. Thats a lot of loot... any chance they could actually providesome open branches?

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Global shortages elsewhere have fortunately not deterred the makers in Chile of the Errazuriz Sauvignon Blanc from keeping the supplies coming, and at 9 at Tesco it represents tasty value.

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PC culture behind the West's pathetic response to Russian invasion, says NICK FERRARI - Daily Express