The longer war rages in Ukraine, the less the people will have to return to

The longer the war in Ukraine goes on, the greater the destruction, the greater the cruelty, and the less chance there will be that the refugees now flooding out of the country will have anything left to return to. History tells us that, very sadly, once a population is in flight from war or intense persecution, they and their children tend not to return when wars end and dictators are deposed.

Governments in Europe need now to turn their minds to what happens when the fighting is over, and what future there is for those “displaced” as the euphemism has it.

Whatever the answer to this crisis is, the 50 or so visas thus far granted by the British government is not it. This grudging and miserly allocation to Ukrainian asylum seekers is not an adequate response to the scale of the challenge that may soon become very real.