I don’t know if I just have a very strong gene for contrarian thinking. Or if years of working as a conservative in orthodox left institutions (ie universities, so make that really, really left-wing institutions) have shaped and inculcated me to be highly sceptical of all elite, establishment opinion. Either way, I don’t find remotely convincing the establishment consensus on the war in Ukraine, the ‘don’t deal with that marauding thug Putin’ perspective.