You will no doubt see many people today telling you what they think about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I'm just a councillor, my influence is very much local and therefore what I think about what's transpiring matters little.
What does matter is what I know to be right. That is how it is imperative that good people stand together against evil. That peace-loving people unite against aggression. That we must defend democracy and plurality in the face of extremism and discrimination. That most of all, you must always stand up to a bully.
Putin's Russia is intolerant and discriminatory towards its own people. It exhibits all the characteristics of a bully and is proving that in its aggression today.
It is a very dark day indeed for Europe. A sad, awful one. It's also a day when we need to prepare, once more, to stand up to a bullying European dictatorship.
My parents, as children, saw days like these. I very much hoped I and my children would never see them. But they are here and we need once more to stand up for our fundamental beliefs and freedoms.
