Hi Darren. Thanks for your ten claps! I don’t want to Spinal Tap your mind, but they go all the way up to fifty. They used to be an important measure of how much money an article would make — until Medium realised that ‘read time’ is a better indication of engagement. Pieces that were high quality but who nobody agreed with were getting pennies, while everyone who wrote ‘aren’t dogs brilliant’ could retire within days. I jest, but you get the picture.

I’m interested to know what you think will happen next — the degree is important here. I’ve just finished writing an article on whether there are Nazis in Ukraine (there are) and it’s sitting in my drafts folder at the moment awaiting editing and the final push. I think we may be entering a new era in war where mass communication could facilitate the creation of an ideological army. I have concerns, for example, that the far right in Ukraine (currently the goodies and being referred to as ‘brave volunteers’) may get some political clout off the back of this and form their own ideological army, drawing in a militia from around the world.

The nation state of Ukraine may not go to war with Russia if a cease fire is declared and common sense prevails, but I can see a band of mercenaries under the banner of something like a Black Sun taking it further. Accountability won’t be to one nation, it’ll be a mish-mash of ideologically possessed young men who only answer to each other and who have come from a global identity movement.

In short. We may have fucked up.