1/ It’s seriously depressing to see how many people seem to regard the marking of 75 years since VE Day as jingoistic or naff or uncool or unworthy of their attention. More than 75 million died in that conflict, including six million Jews...

2./..slaughtered by industrial massacre in the death camps of Eastern Europe. We all have stories of lost relatives or family members who fought or were killed or maimed. The world had been saved from the worst tyranny in history....

3./ The liberal democratic and international rules-based order was built on the ashes of that struggle. Some will always misappropriate wartime memories for present political needs - but that should not dissuade us from commemorating an unalloyed good....

4. Sometimes it’s right just to respect things for what they are: three quarters of a century since an extraordinary victory, a moment for humility, memory and respect. That’s all it is. And that’s plenty. ENDS