Thank heavens that everything in the UK is going so well, that more than 50 MPs have so little to do that they can spend their time lobbying against a children’s cartoon about an unruly four-year-old and a put-upon bear because it is allegedly supporting Vladimir Putin’s war effort in Ukraine.

Masha and the Bear, one of the most popular children’s cartoon series around, recounts the misadventures of the mischievous Masha, and former circus bear Misha. Most of the seven-minute episodes revolve around her playing pranks or trying to do a good deed, only for it to go uproariously wrong.

Are we really to believe that a cartoon character’s wardrobe choices will brainwash a generation of British toddlers?

Are we really to believe that a cartoon character’s wardrobe choices will brainwash a generation of British toddlers?

It may not be the most elevated of television, and the tantrum-throwing Masha is hardly a good role model, but it is cute and it has a big heart. As it originates in Russia, though – even though the production company is no longer based there – it finds itself in the front lines of the new culture wars.

Often there are props and outfits to match, and in one of the more than 170 episodes she wears what looks like a Soviet army uniform, and in another a........

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