Christmas approaches again with talk of war, actual war and rumours of war. When it comes to ending conflict, I think the best we can hope for is patched-up compromises which hold the peace together until trouble breaks out again.

Peace projects such as the League of Nations and the United Nations are all well and good and certainly to be applauded, but they remain flawed by their own inbuilt limitations and the machinations of Great Powers. Nobody is going to hand over executive military control to a world body or government, so the unpleasant realities of nation state power politics remain with us.

Ultimately this boils down to human nature, flawed, subject to whims and changes, selfish and fearful, yet still able to imagine a utopian future where peace and justice rule. An illusion it is and little more. We should all work towards greater justice and friendly relations between peoples, but there is a limit to what can be achieved in a fallen world.