Evening Standard Comment: Diplomacy — alongside Western steadfastness — is vital over Ukraine

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has rightly won plaudits for his steadfast action during the fall of Kabul, as well as his efforts to corral a Western unity when it comes to a threatened Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, his assertion that there is “a whiff of Munich in the air”, in reference to the ill-fated 1938 peace agreement, was unwise.

As the number of Russian troops surrounding Ukraine has increased, so have the warnings that war is imminent. But diplomatic efforts — in conjunction with the credible threat of sanctions — are the key tools at the West’s disposal to avert the disaster of armed conflict in Europe.

Russia for its part could move its more than 100,000 military personnel away from the border. War would be catastrophic for ordinary Ukrainians and a further blow to the global rules-based order. Diplomacy — alongside Western steadfastness and strength — is vital.

Our beleaguered theatres have been through a lot lately, so, what could be a better fillip for the sector than James McAvoy — interviewed today in this paper — as Cyrano de Bergerac at the Harold Pinter? It gets five stars in our review.

Yet purists will register dismay at one aspect of the production: what, we ask, is Rostand’s Cyrano without an enormous proboscis? McAvoy’s nose is small and nicely proportioned.

Aside from that issue, this has to be the perfect Valentine’s night out. As McAvoy suggests, this is the production to make us fall back in love with theatre.