From Vlad to worse
Few tears would be shed if Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin was toppled, but the world would tremble if he was replaced by the maniacal Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The attempted military coup by the leader of the Wagner mercenary force illustrates that Putin’s authoritarian rule is severely challenged, but the alternative could be worse.
Invading Ukraine is deservedly backfiring badly on humiliated Putin, who relied on former ally Prigozhin’s hired dogs of war to do much of the fighting in occupied territory.
That the fighters of Prigozhin’s private army were applauded as heroes in the southern Russian city of Rostov will have increased the alarm of the paranoid and reclusive Putin.
Prigozhin moving to Russia’s neighbour and ally Belarus, whose dictator Alexander Lukashenko was involved in the negotiations to end the confrontation, is a pause rather than an end to this conflict in Russia.
There is no good outcome, only bad.
What a nerve
Multi-millionaire Rishi Sunak adds insult to injury telling families to swallow soaring interest rates and the cost of living crisis.
In his ivory tower, the Prime Minister who never has to worry about paying his own family’s bills is tone deaf to the misery inflicted on the UK on the Tory Government’s watch.
It is not true that there is “no alternative” to Tory policies. These are political choices.
Opinion polls repeatedly show that Britons, by a large majority, would prefer to have Labour’s Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
It is not hard-up households but the Conservatives, the Treasury and the Bank of England who need to “hold their nerve” and stop accelerating the costs of loans.
Save dolphins
Keeping dolphins captive to perform for ticket-buying crowds is unacceptable.
We urge holidaymakers not to go to these unnatural shows, and help end this cruelty masquerading as entertainment.
