Peter Rhodes on waders, warmongers and taking a guess at the future

Never one to let historical facts get in the way of bombast, Donald Trump introduced Germany's Chancellor Merz to the Oval Office with a breezy: “World War One began and ended here.” Er, not exactly. Back in 1914 the continent of Europe had more than enough home-grown imperialist headbangers to start a world war all by itself. Mind you, we did need some Americans to finish it. About four million.

After the humiliating attacks on his air bases, Putin must be deeply depressed over his wretched war which he expected to last three or four days and has now blazed for three years and three months. But supposing he prevailed and Ukraine surrendered. What then?

It is worth recalling that Ukraine is bigger than France. It has a population of 40 million, a thriving, hi-tech arms industry and hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened soldiers with a long history of guerilla warfare. How, exactly, do you overrun and occupy such a place? Putin knows he cannot afford to lose. But can he afford to win?

This summer's must-have item of male clothing is a pair of waders, as sported by Brad Pitt on the cover of GQ magazine. I beat him to it. Admittedly, mine are rubber and cost a few quid some years ago at an angling shop while Brad's are finest leather and will set you back £3,000. If you're aiming to get into deeper water in pursuit of trout or salmon, nothing helps quite like a pair of waders. But they have one serious drawback.

If the water goes over the top of your waders, you may well vanish without trace. So if Brad wants to be taken seriously he should do what proper anglers do and accessorise his waders with a nice, bright, self-inflating life-jacket. Just the thing to break the ice at parties.