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I was just thinking of the dottiness of all this conflict in the world. I was brought up in the Cold War when Poles, Latvians etc were our “enemy” but are now our friends. One half of Germany was the “enemy” of the other half but now they are one united country.

Are the people of Russia or the people of Iran really born to be our enemies (or vice versa) by nature? Of course not.

I run a special needs Explorer group for disabled boys and girls aged 9 to 25 at Charlton Academy . We are restarting on 12th September 2022. After covid and a year and a half wait. I have been the Scout leader and founder of this group since January 8th 2000.

I had to go into central London twice last week during the commuter hours. I suppose that there were about two-thirds of the number of people who were there before the pandemic. It’s a much nicer travel experience and I really, really hope that “work from home” becomes a long term possibility for many. It’s good for everyone – including local communities.

This shouldn’t be classed as ‘a social contribution’, but in these difficult days, when out walking with my wife we passed an exhausted looking young mother (with pushchair). Rather than walking by, we stopped to talk with her about the difficulties of surviving on little sleep & the feeling of isolation that having a disturbed baby can bring. In a small way, I think that this helped. I hope so. [Ed: Having a daughter in that position I can assure you that it will have been a real social contribution on your part]

Volunteering combats depression. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and helps you develop a solid support system, which in turn makes you a happier and healthier person