One of the sillier solipsisms in much British coverage of the Ukraine war is that everyone on the European continent is wet and wobbly and only we Brits in London are tough, purposeful and

know what needs to be done to destroy Putin. Actually it may be the other way round. Between our Platinum Queen now enjoying a secular canonisation and our Teflon Prime Minister whom nothing

can shame or even disturb, British journalism has never been so inward-looking, obsessed with our past, our history, our pageantry, and our House of Cards political soap operas. BBC Radio 4

ran ten minutes on its Six O’Clock News about the problems British fans faced in Paris, where Liverpool was defeated by Real Madrid. French police are even rougher on their own citizens but

actually milk at Waitrose, like most supermarkets, is marked with both measures — or stones, pounds and ounces in place of kilos and grams than there was coverage about the conflict in

Ukraine. Yet this is the biggest fight for European democracy and freedom since 1939-45. Royal Platinum Jubilees only come around once or twice in a millennium. With all the grim news ahead,

of 1970s style inflation, rising prices for all, a world food shortage, and already no sunflower oil to be found anywhere, who can begrudge Britain a party we can all share in to salute the

Queen’s 70 years on the throne? Boris Johnson probably wishes he could eradicate the word “party” from all the front pages and news bulletins. They show a somewhat navel-gazing nation, or

at least its news media, compared with Continental journalists’ obsession with Ukraine, not domestic news and internal politics. There are disagreements aplenty. The main German conservative

newspapers, _Die Welt_ and the _Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung_, monstered Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his shilly-shallying over delivering heavy weapons he had promised President Zelensky.

Sweden’s _Svenska Dagbladet_ also highlighted the non-delivery of promised German arms. By contrast, the leading Italian daily, _Repubblica_, showed a Russian strike on a Ukrainian artillery

post equipped with Italian howitzers sent to kill Russians. The Polish paper _Gazeta Wyborcza_, Eastern Europe’s equivalent of the _Guardian_, said the conflict should end by “crushing

Russian offensive capabilities for years, with all its consequences, and incorporating our Ukrainian neighbours into Western Europe”. The comment columns are full of arguments for and

against talking to Putin or trying to find a negotiated way out. Long retired global diplomatic panjandrums like Henry Kissinger can advise Zelensky to swap territory for peace, but as the

man who handed South Vietnam over to the cruelties and concentration camps of communist tyranny in Hanoi, Kissinger’s credibility is not what it was in continental Europe. But the consensus

seems to be holding that while some bellicose politicians in London, Washington and most European capitals are willing to fight to the last Ukrainian, the main leaders – Macron in France,

Scholz in Germany, the presidents of the EU Council and Commission — make clear that they will only move in agreement with President Zelensky. The new French Foreign Minister, Catherine

Colonna, who was transferred from being French Ambassador in London to run the Quai d’Orsay, went to Kyiv this week. She insisted that while the Russian bombardment of Ukrainian towns

continued, now was not the time for negotiations. Attention in France has switched to the death of a 32-year-old French journalist, Fréderic Leclerc-Imhoff, killed in a Russian bombing

attack on a humanitarian convoy trying to escape from East Ukraine. _Le Figaro_ reported an emotional tweet by President Macron about the death of the journalist, who “was in Ukraine to show

the realities of war”. “To all those engaged in the difficult mission of informing us I repeat the unconditional support of France,” Macron declared. The Greek daily _Katherimini_ front

paged the Turkish President Erdogan’s veto on Sweden and Finland joining Nato. The Scandinavians refuse to bow to his diktat that Helsinki and Stockholm must hand over Kurdish refugees as

the price of their national security. Most papers give space to the refusal of Hungary’s Europhobic nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, to cooperate with other European nations in sanctioning

oil deliveries from Russia. There is praise, especially in Poland, for the stand taken by Boris Johnson in support of Ukraine, but on the whole there is little coverage of what London thinks

or does in this conflict. Margaret Thatcher was a big European player in shaping Europe’s future in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse after 1989. But the Tory Party

defenestrated her as Tory MPs feared she would cost them the 1992 election – a fate that hangs suspended over Boris Johnson’s head. Tony Blair was the main EU leader in tackling the

genocidal killing of Serb death squads in Bosnia and Kosovo. He persuaded Bill Clinton to help bring the decade-long Balkans wars initiated by Slobodan Milosevic to an end. Today, however,

the declarations of a British prime minister from Brexit London have far less weight — in fact almost none at all, compared with the role played by a Margaret Thatcher or a Tony Blair. Some

of the London commentariat highlight what they see, often correctly, as the hesitations or weakness of EU leaders like Macron or Scholz. But the press in Europe is just as hard and harsh in

its criticism of wobbly leaders and needs no lecture from a Britain once again enjoying its moment of isolation from the affairs of Europe. European journalists are descending on London to

cover the Platinum Jubilee and are agog with fascination at the idea that once again the Tory Party may decapitate a prime minister without consulting voters. But each European nation is

having its own intense discussion on Ukraine. So far the support for Zelensky is clear and the desire to see Putin humbled is not weakening. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only

publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important contribution to make, one that’s needed now more than ever, and we need your help to continue publishing throughout

the pandemic. So please, make a donation._