Rob Marland (March 11) follows Putin, President Xi and Basil Fawlty in not mentioning the war. Instead he takes aim at NATO, always for the left a proxy for hate of the Americans. Putin ignored diplomatic efforts by EU leaders to dissuade him from an attack, and those manifestly failed. The only course was to challenge Russian war aims to prevent them getting what they wanted by giving defensive weapons to Ukraine. Far from sabre-rattling on the sidelines, Britain has been proactively at the forefront of internationally-supported efforts to organise the most stringent sanctions ever imposed in history. Appeasement didn’t deter Hitler, just as it failed to deter Putin in his annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Mr Marland illogically conflates the tardy UK response to refugees with an entirely creditable challenge to a dictator who has wrought almost unimaginable misery within Europe.

Phil Gough

Chester Road, Watford