Our hero - Captain Tom Moore.

Our hero- Captain Tom Moore.

There can be no other name on our lips at the moment. He is a gentleman in a class of his own. Amid yet another day of pain, suffering and anguish one gentleman stepped up to the plate, finishing with flying colours, an all conquering hero of quite epic proportions. If he'd been an Olympian, we'd have been singing his praises for the next 50 years. But Captain Tom Moore, 100 in a couple of weeks time, will no doubt be modestly downplaying any acclaim, adulation or deeply moving publicity. He'd have shrugged off the global compliments, taken the bouquets with a warm smile and just insisted that he is just an ordinary human being carrying out the most charitable of deeds.

Now let's stop for a minute. Captain Tom Moore fought heroically and bravely during the Second World War and made the kind of sacrifices that have to be acknowledged. Yesterday Captain Moore completed 100 laps of his garden patio with an unstinting dedication to duty in a truly noble cause. He did it without asking. He did it without any prompting. He did it because he felt an obligation to do so. He walked up and down his garden and raised millions for a charity at a time when the whole world can only turn around, applaud raucously this most magnificent achievement because he knows how we feel and he knew what it was like over 75 years ago.

In an age where religious hatred, cultural divisions and materialistic greed threaten the very backbone of our society, Captain Tom Moore looked around at the horror and appalling death and thought he'd do something that was just a simple way of giving back something to society without any fanfares or trumpets. For the truth is that Captain Moore has a heart of gold, a humble and unassuming man who merely wanted to show how easy it was to take out your walker before slowly but surely strolling up and down his Garden of England and showing his personal appreciation for everything that the NHS represents.

For what seems like ages, we've been crying out for somebody to do something that would restore our faith in human nature. Last night the whole of Britain once again clapped for its carers, its nurses, surgeons, doctors, professors, laboratory research scientists, the people who make us tick quite literally and then clapped even harder when we began to realise that although we seem to be at breaking point the people at the front line are working tirelessly and uncomplainingly in an effort to bring this dreadful lockdown to an end.

It is at times like this that you become acutely aware of the fragility of human nature, the ever present frailty of the human condition, the realisation that we are all helpless, totally dependent on science and that our vulnerabilities have never been more well documented. The figures and statistics tell their own nightmarish story, the facts and details now nothing more than the most tragic chamber music. Over 13,000 have now lost their life and the number of cases that have just been revealed send the most gruesome shiver down your spine.

Of course tragedy and disaster are almost inseparable and everything from 9/11 to the London Underground terrorist outrages in 2005 once again heighten our awareness of human fallibility, human violence and shocking aggression. There is a sense here that we are now trapped in some ever increasing circle of crime, disease, war and a political hell hole. Every time a New Year comes around we hope that just for a while that things will improve and get better. But then there comes that rude awakening when a darkness falls over the day and things simply go downhill very quickly.

Still, let us return to Captain Tom Moore, a titan among men, a colossus, the best piece of news we've had for ages and surely that has to be a good thing. At the moment our 99 year old superman from Yorkshire is still clocking up the miles and millions of pounds for charity. We can only look on with both wonder and incredulity. There is something miraculous and wholesomely uplifting about men such as Captain Moore. Of course the clamours for his knighthood are getting louder by the day and some of us would give him that ultimate accolade for Captain Moore immediately. We raise a toast to you, salute you sir and long may you live. Thank you. We can never thank you enough. Three cheers and then yet another.