War and Peace, Abridged

And so ends the latest in history's long line of marches on Moscow. The snow must fall particularly heavily at this time of year.

This was the first such column to have been designed to suit social media and 24-hour rolling news. 24 hours ago, the Wagner Group was a rabble of Nazis that had been crushed by the Ukrainian Army, even though it was not and it had not. Two hours ago, it was a body of brave patriots that was capable of crushing the Russian Army, even though it was neither. But what is it now?

What of Alexander Lukashenko, who had taken flight, except that he had not, like the precarious puppet that he was, except that he was not? And what if Vladimir Putin now wanted Russia to have the Wagner Group's territory and interests in much of the world, especially Africa, as well as in Ukraine?

One thing is for certain. We must stay out of this. Where necessary, we must be able to work with whoever had won. Therefore, we must not get on the wrong side of anyone who might. Yet that is not the position of the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, or anyone who comes with any of them.

But when I tell you that there is going to be a hung Parliament, then you can take that to the bank. I spent the 2005 Parliament saying that it was psephologically impossible for the Heir to Blair's Conservative Party to win an overall majority. I predicted a hung Parliament on the day that the 2017 General Election was called, and I stuck to that, entirely alone, all the way up to the publication of the exit poll eight long weeks later. And I say again that on the day that Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, I predicted that a General Election between him and Keir Starmer would result in a hung Parliament.

To strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty, we need to hold the balance of power. Owing nothing to either main party, we must be open to the better offer. There does, however, need to be a better offer. Not a lesser evil, which in any case the Labour Party is not.