Sir, – Unlike visits to my doctor, may I make three points in one pass? First, I am a great admirer of my Dartmouth term mate David Childs; however I cannot share his abject pessimism about the UK’s future role (“Global England?” NR109/2). Of course we are a declining power, but we still command influence among other nations great and small. Although war must unfortunately be retained as a last resort, we must continue to do everything we can to strengthen the rules-based system we wish to see throughout the world. We need to face up to the bullies, and the lessons of appeasement must not be f…
