Alison O'Connor: Ukraine is in agony — and the true horror is that this is all deliberate

As we continue to deal with the pandemic, here's another once-in-a-lifetime shock. One big difference being that the chaos, suffering, and death unleashed on Ukraine is entirely by design

Millions of people are fleeing their normal lives clutching what few belongings they can carry such as here at Irpin. Picture: Vadim Ghirda/AP

How far we have come from the toilet roll panic. Consider this: right now I am — in all seriousness — contemplating which section of our urban garden could be used to grow vegetables for next year. For the shortages.

There is a sense of unreality about what is going on in our world right now. We are all teetering in that heretofore unimagined space between what we’re hoping might be the last of a global pandemic (6m dead) and a possible world war. Who’d have thought it would be ours to ponder which was worse — a deadly virus that kept sweeping the world and forced us all into isolation, or this horrible invasion so close to home that is seeing so much human suffering.