THERE is a sense of crisis and chaos in a series of European capitals, including London. Strangely, this has been sparked by the possibility of peace in Ukraine. Normally, this level of panic and confusion would be caused by the outbreak of war, so the current frenzy probably tells us something rather distasteful about the state of mainstream politics across Europe.

One key response has been a series of deranged boasts and plans for the Europeans to continue the war by other means. These are dangerous delusions and should be rejected completely.

Instead of preparing for more war and ramping up both militaristic rhetoric and military spending, European countries should be preparing for peace, for rebuilding Ukraine, and repairing practical relations. Others are. Already there is talk of the US lifting sanctions. Ordinarily, we could argue that a Labour government could take the lead in this, but that seems utterly futile under this leadership.