For the Second World War read the viral war.

For the Second World War read the viral war.

We all know of course that today 71 years ago the air raid sirens wailed plaintively, the citizens of the world took shelter, the bombs thundered and then exploded and what followed was six years of hell, death, torture, suffering on an unprecedented scale, broken hearts and once proud Victorian buildings were now smoking, burning to the ground. It was horrific, ugly, utterly heartbreaking and too much to take in. The long term damage would take ages to repair but the psychological repercussions could hardly be imagined for generations to come.

The outbreak of the Second World War remains the bloodiest of wounds inflicted on a helpless world. Even 71 years on, the mental and physical scars can still be painfully felt. In his gravest and most solemn of voices British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sadly admitted that although he'd tried to reason with Adolf Hitler the murderous dictator with ice in his veins and little in the way of remorse promised to wipe out the human population in double-quick time. Britain was now subsequently at war and the rest you all know about.

From 1939 to 1945 the world waged war with the tyrannical forces of the Nazi party and all of its collaborators including Hitler, Goebbels and Eichmann. What followed was seemingly irreparable destruction, anarchy and the complete disintegration of society, the end of the world as it seemed at the time. There seemed to be no way back for the human race once Hitler and his cronies got hold of power.

 There were explosions, fiery conflagrations that ripped apart both the social fabric of Britain and the world, leaving families homeless, wandering through desolate streets and then loitering around potentially deadly bomb sites. They said it should never happen again but now the world finds itself battling against a viral war with no apparent end in sight. The casualties have been too frighteningly high for any of us and the fatalities send cold shivers down the spine. The statistics now begin to look like the most horrendous post mortem of all time and none of us can understand the destructive impact of the global pandemic.

This morning we woke up to the news that the world is still struggling desperately to come to terms with the dire predicament it has now been faced with for almost five months now. Of course we've made the necessary adjustments and adaptations but here we are at the beginning of September and it still feels as though we haven't seen the back of this grotesque disease. Things aren't nearly as bad as they were at the end of April and the beginning of May but the seasons are now merging into one and it still seems that the nation should be celebrating the end of the coronavirus without quite being able to reach out and touch that moment for real.

Yesterday Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared another lockdown and a second spike while the school students who thought they could breathe again were thrown into a state of anti-climactic gloom. The message to all schoolkids is that you can return to your academic studies but not for the time being. It was hard to read into anything of any coherent sense in Mrs Sturgeon's wise words because privately even she looked clueless. But she is dealing with her day to day agenda intelligently and speaks a great deal more commonsense than the mandarins of Westminster.

Meanwhile across the transatlantic pond Donald Trump is still President of the United States America and maybe that says a lot more about Trump than any of us could possibly have believed when he first came into office. Trump still gives the overriding impression of a frustrated comedian earning his crust in the comedy clubs and bars of New York. But Woody Allen he isn't and Steve Martin would probably be deeply offended if you told him that Trump would love nothing better than a season of gigs.

You may have heard that our American friends will be holding their Presidential election in November which could mean anything. For now though Donald Trump will be out touring the cities and states of the USA drumming up support from anybody who cares to vote for him. The last couple of years or so at the White House have been eventful and often turbulent, if ever so slightly laughable. Trump has carried out most of his outlandish promises and more or less steered the country in some kind of direction but then there's the distinctive voice and that delivery.

Trump is a controversial rabble-rouser, a blunt and often outspoken figure who simply ignores the autocue and wallows quite happily in creepy sounding improvisation. For roughly a year or so Trump viciously attacked every media outlet in America he could possibly think of. It was character assassination on a massive scale. Firstly, all news was fake and malicious propaganda but then it got personal. How dare that journalist accuse the President of taking his eye off the ball, completely underestimating the intelligence of his own people by insisting that those people should go back to work regardless of deadly infections?

Then he vowed quite emphatically to build a wall which would stop those annoying Mexicans from flooding into the USA. Now a vast majority of Americans probably knew that part of the said wall had already had been built but Trump just thought he'd indulge in a brief burst of bluster and assertiveness. Surely there could be no harm in having a bit of fun with the world Press. But Trump was standing his ground and wouldn't be moved.

Still, here we are in the first week of September and if there are any Disney executives out there who think this whole episode of pre- election mind games would make one spectacular film or documentary then you may give us your suggestions now. Trump knows that he can't be beaten in November but the rest of the world is much more sceptical although you never know. Two months as opposed to a week in politics can seem an inordinately long time. In fact it may seem much longer than a piece of string. But you'll never stop the Trump oratory because he can just talk for his nation.

Trump's opponent is one Joe Biden, even older than Trump himself and a man who should really contemplate retirement fishing by a river or enjoying the company of his grandchildren. But Biden will keep going on ploughing forwards into an election, a delusional and perhaps embarrassing figure who should stop now and just write a historical novel rather than clinging onto the hope that he should be the next President of the United States.

So there you have it. We are now into week or month of however long this crisis has been going on for. We are settled, unperturbed, defiant, even gutsy and combative but the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah( New Year) looms hearteningly on the horizon. Autumn beckons and the sharp winds of winter are once again poised to make their presence felt. The beginning of the Second World War may now seem like some terrifying chapter in the history of the world but you'll never stop Donald Trump from speaking his mind whether we like it or not. As for the coronavirus pandemic. Well, even in the most difficult of times we have to keep believing. Keep on smiling everybody.