A FEW months back after Putin invaded Crimea I wrote in my Echo column that he reminded me of Hitler. A few readers took me to task, saying I'd gone a bit over the top.
I wonder if they still think that, now Putin-supported thugs have murdered 300 people on an international civilian airliner, in the biggest terrorist outrage in European history.
Our political leaders must now accept that Putin is, and has been for some time, a huge threat to global peace and security.
A heady mix of extreme Russian nationalism, nostalgia for the lost Soviet empire and oil and gas wealth makes him very dangerous.
He's also a bully and bullies need standing up to. Putin has run rings round the democratic world, first in Syria, with disastrous results and now in Ukraine, part of Europe.
Our response has been feeble, the sanctions too little too late. Cameron needs to stop fretting about hurting his chums in the City and Merkel about her gas supplies. They need to see the bigger picture. The appeasement must end. We need much tougher sanctions against the Putin regime before it's too late.
IT looks like the Government is trying to wriggle out of its promise to look at an additional railway line bypassing the vulnerable stretch at Dawlish.
Its initial "feasibility study" into options published last week so skewed the costs above the benefits that none of the alternatives was anywhere near offering "value for money".
But this is because the study did just what we're were assured it wouldn't.
It looked only at the narrow transport advantages of an alternative route, rather than it's much wider overall economic benefits to the Westcountry. It also failed to acknowledge the impact of the significant rise in sea levels that is happening already because of global warming.
One positive development is that MPs and Peers from all parties in the region have come together to form an official parliamentary group to press the case for a fairer deal for rail in the South West. We will not let matters rest here.
THERE was a very funny moment at the recent installation of the new Bishop of Exeter. It could have come straight out of the pages of Trollope's Barchester Chronicles.
At a crucial point in the ceremony the outgoing Bishop, Michael Langrish, was supposed to hand his staff – the big crook bishops carry – to the dean, head of the cathedral, who then hands it to the new bishop while reciting a prayer.
But Bishop Michael was clearly reluctant to let go of his crook and certainly didn't want to hand it over via a mere dean. So, to the confusion of the congregation, he handed it straight to the new bishop, Robert Atwell, and "stole" the dean's prayer and big moment.
But the dean and new bishop got their own back the following week – voting for and welcoming the historic decision to appoint women Bishops, something Bishop Langrish always opposed.
