As the song goes, "all my life, there’s trouble in America". But never trouble like this, and never trouble that’s turned the United States in the space of a few days from Europe’s ally to a state which pretty closely resembles our enemy.

"Enemy" is a hell of a word to deploy, but it’s a pretty hard notion to escape after this week’s shameful episode at the United Nations, when America sided with North Korea, Belarus and Russia. Washington voted down a resolution condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine.

America has made clear that we Europeans are on our own. If MAGA America won’t condemn Putin’s invasion, would it condemn attacks on Poland, the Baltic States, or Finland? Would it condemn an attack on Britain?

If we don’t ask those questions, then we aren’t paying attention. And anyone under 30, or with children or grandchildren under 30, really should be paying attention. It’s not folk like me – now in my fifties – who will fight any future war. It’s our children, for pity’s sake.

I’d much rather favour my homeland and the lives of my children’s generation over any misguided nostalgia for the days when we considered America an ally.

Maybe the word "enemy" is too strong for some, but certainly the word "friend" is equally misplaced. Find a new term which fits and I’ll happily accept it. Perhaps the millennial neologism "frenemy"?

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