I am going to show my age now. I grew up watching Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men on the grainy black and white BBC when there was only one TV channel and I think only one 10 minute tiny children show per day entitled ‘Watch with Mother’. Now there is a plethora of shows for such an audience, some of which are very good indeed. A particular favourite of mine is ‘The Adventures of Abney and Teal’. Aidan my grandson also loves this show. He bursts out in loud peals of laughter as a pan of porridge disappears down a hole only to appear a few yards away. It is funny and also reassuringly old fashioned and retrospective.

Abney and Teal are rag dolls who live on an island in a lake in a park in a city. Abney & Teal share their environment with several friends; Neep, who burrows in the ground and looks like a turnip; Bop, a big seal who lives in the lake and drinks 'tea' and blows bubbles; the Poc-Pocs, a set of 7 identical-shaped but different-sized wooden objects; Toby Dog of course plays a Melodeon usually the same rather catchy folk tune. In this very safe and secure environment, these friends experience lots of zany adventures. If things start to go AWOL, Bop blows a big bubble which envelopes whatever dangerous situation which might be developing to return island life to calm and normality. Toby Dog plays his tune and we all share a sigh of relief. There is definitely a warm glow factor and why not when you are a four year old child or indeed a greying grandad.

We probably face more worrying times than we have done for many years. I remember training at school about how to hide under the desk in case of nuclear war. We would have a four minute warning of an attack so there was not a lot we could do: the fatuous advice that crouching under our desks might afford some salvation from destruction did at least create a good deal of hilarity amongst my classmates. This was at a time when Russian missiles were on the way to Cuba and Kennedy made it clear that if they did not turn back nuclear war would ensue. Never again in my lifetime have we faced such an immediate threat and thank God for that.

In this generation, our Island Nation feeling as secure and confident as Abney and Teal on their little island, voted to pull up the draw bridges and retreat into a world where we could control all that happened within our borders. It’s ironic that larger forces are now pulling us back into valuing our alliances with the wider world. Even our friends in Europe, who might at one stage have seen punishing this Island for its pulling out of the EU, are seeing that wider and more important principles are at stake. Whether inside or outside the legal EU, we need to stick together in very worrying times in terms of co-operation at many different levels.

The war in Syria and the tension with Russia over Salisbury are creating a powder keg which threatens to erupt. Trump has sacked his ‘moderates’ and now has a cohort of people around him who are not afraid of action. The rhetoric between Israel and Iran is toxic and Shia and Sunni forces fight out a proxy war in Yemen. Yet can the world stand back as chemical weapons are deployed in Salisbury and in Douma Syria? The calculation is that we could not and I believe a limited strike to try and limit chemical weapon capability was right. But the stakes in the poker game are being raised and who knows where it will end up.

Abney and Teal is a lovely children’s programme but sadly Aidan will have to face up to the realities of life as he grows older. The English Channel (or La Manche if you prefer) is a tiny stretch of water which insulates us from few threats. No man is an island as they say. As a legal practice we also take that to heart. We are not operating in a bubble but working in a wider context. That’s why we created the Jackson Lees Foundation; we need to relate to the wider world and make a positive difference to clients and in the world at large. What more can we do to try and make the world a better place? Much else really is beyond our control!