Still Catching Up

Not only is there some doubt as to whether the humanity and restraint of Russia's conduct in Ukraine will match that of the master race in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya, but the fiend Putin has now committed the indiscretion of apologising for the recent Azerbaijani airliner crash without any trace of denial, victim-blaming, or a seven-year official inquiry headed by a legal expert from Missile Command. It's true that the apology included no admission of responsibility, thereby enabling a draft of history along the lines of Britain's participation-free abolition of the Atlantic slave trade; but the boorish haste with which the matter has been conducted means that - despite presiding over a spectacularly corrupt and inefficient state, and despite his illegal invasion of a sovereign country - Tsar Vladimir may still have some way to go before approaching full moral Britishness.