Novichokmate

Part of the problem in the aftermath of the Salisbury attack is the UK's government's attitude towards Russia which sees that country as being a wayward child, rather than one it can talk to as an adult - albeit against a background of genuine and justifiable - suspicion. Boris Johnson talked on the Andrew Marr show today of there being evidence from the last ten years of Russia producing the nerve agent Novichok. Sadly Marr didn't ask Johnson what the government had done about that. Why hadn't we heard about it before? A major breach of international treaties? And why has it taken nearly two weeks to call in the independent international analysts of the OPCW to test the samples of the nerve agent used in this attack? Why couldn't Johnson give Andrew Marr a categorical commitment to allow physical Russian involvement in the investigation? Was he afraid they would tamper with the evidence beneath our noses? Or learn how we protect our precious bodily fluids? (Yes, I watched Dr Strangelove again the other night.) The Russian ambassador told Andrew Marr that they had offered co-operation and had been rebuffed. There's myth-making on both sides, and it would serve us all better if at least one side started behaving rationally.