Two things have happened this month which should serve as a wake-up call to all who think that our comfortable western lives will carry on much as they have done in recent decades.
The first incident of course is the use of a nerve agent on British soil by a foreign state, in this case Russia. The second is the confirmation that the term limit on the Chinese Presidency has been abolished so that President Xi can rule for the rest of his life.
Many people assumed that our western liberal democratic values: free and fair elections, free speech, the rule of law and human rights would gradually prevail until the whole world was dominated by such values ushering in the prospect of global peace.
These hopes were given a boost when the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed. Unfortunately, early progress towards democracy in the Great Bear faltered and Russia today is effectively a gangster state run by President Putin and his cronies.
As the Chinese economy started to open up over recent years many hoped that this would usher in a new era of freedom in that giant state. Sadly, that has not happened and for all of its economic progress in recent years, China is now in the vice-like grip of a single man, something we have not seen since the days of Mao.
If you add into the global mix the hard-line Islamic countries of the world, including many in the Middle East where Western values are side-lined, the picture is brutally clear. The incoming tide of liberalism has been halted and even reversed, with all kinds of potential consequences for our children and grandchildren.
Two things are therefore vital. The first is that we retain a coherent and close Western Alliance between free anddemocratic nations, like most European countries and the USA. Despite the current occupant of the White House, we dare not turn our back on that special relationship and strategic defence alliance. NATO must remain strong.
Secondly, in the UK, we simply have to keep our defences up, and spend whatever we need to spend on defending our people from future threats. The nature of threats is changing and therefore our defences must also change, hence the current review. Cyber-security, intelligence gathering and drone warfare will play an even more important part in the future.
Our government must remain steadfast in the face of new threats.