Putin has always been known for the saying the fall of the Soviet union was the biggest tragedy of his life.

And this act of war on Ukraine is tragic but to anyone paying a smidge of attention, it was coming.

The invasion of Georgia, The annexation of Crimea, the Salisbury poisoning, the interfering of elections.

And what did the west do? Pander to Putin, do deals with him, elevated his power and Russian Oligarchs and enabled a dictator.

And the scary thing is that Putin’s completely false claims about Ukraine Nazism and peacekeeping operations are notions that he has probably convinced himself are true. This is what happens when people have absolute power, the longer they have it, the more their grip on reality subsides.

When it has come to dealings with Putin, moral principles, values of democracy and justice have all been superseded by money. For too long, money has trumped everything.

Speaking of Trump, he has been closely tied with the Russian Mafia for years! Dark money was allowed to run amok in the US elections. He has openly praised Putin and called him a genius for his move on Ukraine! What more evidence do you need to ensure that Trump can never run for office again? He is an aspiring autocrat himself and funnily enough has also weaponised misinformation ad infinitum. Heck the US can’t even fundamentally protect their own postal service and the right to vote. They can’t even investigate the capitol riot properly!

And Boris Johnson isn’t insane enough to be like Trump or Putin, but he is still a useless imbecile, a liability and someone who has also weaponised misinformation. Him and the self servicing racist parasite of a human being that is Nigel Farage have engineered a damaging Brexit that Russia so blatantly assisted with to weaken the EU and make their move. And when it comes to donors, the Tories haven’t though twice about the influence of money coming from Russian Oligarchs. What a joke of a democracy the UK has when our country is constantly lobbied by corporations and individuals who have no interest in any positive development and only pursue the interest of filling up their own pockets.

Germany is going to get hit hard by cutting off supplies to Russian gas but it feels like the only necessary step, but it is a wake up call to all Western countries to start accelerating self sufficiency and investment in Green and renewable energy. Lord knows the world and climate needs it let alone avoiding doing business with dictators. Dirty dealings are everywhere and countries need to clean themselves up.

So I am really pissed off. Putin and his cronies are responsibly for this tragedy and have been utterly consumed by evil and illusion. But I am also pissed off at the western world for being so complacent and more-so complicit, not taking the warning signs seriously and not addressing the issue before innocent people started losing their lives and homes. Democracy has continued to be undermined and is on a global decline whilst a small minority of rich elites do whatever the hell they like and everyday people suffer.

But I am also hopeful. Zellenskyy has spoken and acted with dignity and honour and he has managed to rally his citizens behind their cause. For the most part, sports and arts organisations have made their sanctions. Ukraine has also managed to garner the support of the Western world so much to the point where some of Putin’s closest foreign allies have spoken against him.

So Putin will lose this war and go down in infamy, and this happened as soon as he decided to invade Ukraine, but at what cost?

The cost is already too great, but at the heart of all of this is sovereignty and freedom against Tyranny.

This is what our ancestors fought and died for in World War 2, and everyone who has enabled this tyranny to go this far via corruption should hang their heads in shame. Liberal democracies are not perfect, but they will always be better than the tyranny of authoritarians and dictators and I urge everyone to reflect on the importance of this and stand up for these values and principles. Things can and should be better.

My heart and respect goes out to all affected by this war, all Ukrainians who have lost loved ones or have become refugees and the Russian citizens bravely protesting against this aggression.

I always admire Jamie Oliver for the impact he had on promoting healthy eating in schools. He may have been excoriated for cancelling turkey twizzlers but I’m with him, even when I wasn’t vegetarian, the notion of them grossed me out!

Although, I can’t help but think that we still haven’t really tackled the healthy eating issue. I dread to think what the diets of some kids are out there.

It’s a societal issue. Fast food and unhealthy food is cheap and more accessible than a lot of fresh healthy food and the culture pushes for convenience above anything else.

You’ve got to respect the Australian comedian Natswhatireckon for waging his war on jar sauce and packet foods during the pandemic, one man with the idea of pushing people to cook with fresh food and it made a positive change. He is also outright hilarious!

And I was taught home economic on a carousel in school and I only remember cooking a select amount of things. I’m grateful for those experiences but I can’t help but think opportunities for young people is limited.

These days, I cook more fresh things than ever and it feels healthy, but it’s also enriching in so many ways, it’s creative, it’s therapeutic, it’s a process that involves care, evaluation and you are in control of achieving tastes and flavours by your choices.

I love doing it and it’s an amazing past time in contrast to my current musical endeavours. Nothing beats eating something amazing that you’ve made and sharing that with others too.

I’d encourage everyone to learn to cook things from scratch. I’m a firm believer that it’ll promote a better sense of well-being in anyone who gives it a go and there are load of great websites out there. Even if it’s once or twice a week, it’ll make a difference.

To start, here is a link to one of my favourite vegetarian chilli recipes.

https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/

What kind of crazy messed up country do we live in where the House of Commons allows a plainly false and gross smear claim to pass whilst ousting Ian Blackford for saying the incontrovertible fact that Boris Johnson misled and lied to the government!?

This is why people have so little faith in government.

You tell the truth and become marginalised.

You lie and become protected.

It’s such an archaic law. Of course, you can’t call everyone a liar but when there is a precedent in as Trumpian a circumstance as this one, you’d think anyone would have every right to override that law.

Boris Johnsons had a party, got found out, said there was no party, then said he thought it was a work event…with wine. Following the Sue Gray report, how can you possibly claim you’d have to insist that any part of his claim are inadvertently misleading?

It’s intentionally misleading! As clear as day!

But then again we live in a post truth world where people think facts are fungible.

The House of Commons would rather uphold the illusion that they maintain integrity as opposed to operate with actual integrity.

And in his usual blustering, waffling defence against Starmer, Johnson decided to point out his failure to prosecute Saville in what could be the worst kind of whataboutism, far right conspiracy smear to have ever happened in parliament. How low is he willing to stoop?

Boris Johnson is a morally bankrupt pathological liar. This is blindingly obvious to anyone willing to pay a tiny amount of attention. He’s also a megalomaniac, impervious to the sense of public anger that is now aimed against him.

All he cares about is himself. And the Tories only care about themselves too. The cult mob mentality at PMQs is embarrassing, and finally, some ministers are breaking ranks. Not enough though, and the more that this has to be dragged out, the more of an insult it continues to be for the British Public.

I lived outside the U.K. long enough to know how much of a laughing stock we are. It’s gotten worse with each year.

America have gotten rid of their authoritarian monster for the time being.

It’s time to get rid of ours.