It has been a white Christmas in the frontlines. The snow has fallen on the Russian-Ukrainian lines, but the guns still roar and missiles still rain down.

The nuclear risk is likely to continue, albeit with less frequent rhetoric and less manoeuvre involving anything remotely nuclear. Diplomacy must play a major role

Putin is using nuclear blackmail knowing it is risky but this one threat can dismay developed European societies.

Last week, as you were eating your breakfast cereal or sipping your coffee, a couple of mysterious blasts took place hundreds of miles away that may yet again raise the prices of all those things you ate.