I should note, as it’s my corner of political geekery, that the Atlantic Bridge – a hawkish group, spearheaded by five Conservative high-ups – has updated its website. The curious can now sift through its “forum on key topics” – in reality a series of short, doughy pieces by Liam Fox and Amanda Bowman, the organisation’s CEO.

Bowman is a defender of torture and the invasion of Iraq. A particularly shrill one, indeed: to her, inquiries into the former will have a “chilling effect our protectors“, ensuring that they’ll “likely never again attempt “enhanced” interrogation“. Ye Gods! Moreover, inquiries into the latter will have an, er, “chilling effect” on our governors, dissuading them from taking “the type of energetic and principled defense that our civilization needs“. With such a person, our future Defence Secretary has taken the chance to inform us that we live in a “conflict-averse West” which “needs to maintain public support for…conflicts” (“sometimes required“, we’re told).

Happy readin’!