'Partygate' rumbles on in the Palace of Varieties. I have posted my views on my blog (www.andrewmurrison.co.uk). I have previously said I await Sue Gray's report into goings-on in Downing Street. What she's just delivered is practically useless because the Met say they've changed their mind and are now going to investigate. So, I now feel obliged to await the Met's response and Ms Gray's definitive report thereafter. I hope they come sooner rather than later and we can clear this up one way or the other and move on to things that have an impact on the lives of people I represent.
One of those things is the prospect of a nasty conflict in eastern Europe. My constituency contains a great deal of military hardware, a garrison and a large number of soldiers and their families. I have two children in the Armed Forces. This thing matters.
If Putin gets away with his imminent incursion further into Ukraine and if it goes well for him, he will push his luck as sure as night follows day. That probably means a direct test of NATO's resolve - an incursion into one of the Baltic states for example on the pretext of defending Russian speakers who Putin will say are being oppressed in some confected way. That means an attack on NATO itself and under Article V the rest of us are obliged by the treaty that has kept us safe since the Second World War to respond.
But what if there is no public appetite among member states for a potentially bloody war with a nuclear power? If NATO blinks people would say what's the point of it and it would probably fold. Putin's triumph would be absolute and his place as Russian ruler for life assured.
A more likely scenario of course is some sort of deniable ramped up militia-based operation. We will all know it's Putin's Russia pulling the strings but either side could more easily retrench or, indeed, save face. Into this mix pour an escalation in the offensive cyber Russia has been directing at its neighbours.
I approve of the UK government's robust but proportionate response to Putin's aggression so far. There is no enthusiasm for British boots on the ground in the states and satellites of the former USSR but we can do a great deal short of that to make it crystal clear to Putin and his lieutenants that his expansionist ambitions are perilously risky. Eventually the misrule of the man who recently launched the most outrageous attack on our cathedral city down the road will end as all nightmares do. Then, inshallah, the long suffering Russian people will be able to come back in from the cold.