As Dr Alf knows, we have been here before when it comes to gas attacks,”Weapons of Mass Destruction” and triggers for justifying invasions, starting wars, police actions and retaliatory strikes. Assad is indeed a brutal dictator but ISIS or Al Nusra would be worse.

Until we know for sure that Assad used gas which is prohibited by international law dating back to 1920 despite its use by Churchill to deal with tribesmen and by the Italians in Abyssinia before World War II, we should be careful unless we want to start World War III.

Boris Johnson in his calls for sanctions against Russia, based on no evidence whatsoever was made to look foolish by his EU counterparts.

Donald Trump, probably egged on by his daughter, was persuaded to use 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against a Syrian airbase. When things escalate and shooting starts it will not be grizzled bloggers like Dr Alf and I who will be risking our lives in hails of machine gun fire, nor will it be people like Boris Johnson, Tillerson, Trump etc. That task will fall to young fighting men with what should be their lives ahead of them.

There needs to be serious pause for reflection on this matter and a genuine attempt to find the truth.

If Assad did order it, which is unlikely because he would have no interest in doing so, as he is winning on the ground anyway, then that is the time to go into a dark room with Putin and arrange for Assad to go into exile after a more acceptable leader is found. If he didn’t order the attack then whoever did needs to be caught and tried for war crimes.