Peter Rhodes on dodgy stamps, sleazy old comedy and Captain Sir Tom Moore: The Movie

Impressed by the new postage stamps marking the 40th anniversary of Only Fools and Horses? No, me neither. Stamps are a national symbol and should have a certain dignity. Derek Edward Trotter, a fly-by-night chancer from Peckham who never knowingly paid his taxes, is simply the wrong sort of character to display in such a place alongside Her Majesty. The TV series was brilliant, the slapstick memorable. But the idea of putting Trotter on our stamps is not exactly la Crème de la Menthe.

At least Only Fools and Horses has aged well which is more than can be said for The Two Ronnies, currently getting a repeat showing on the Yesterday channel. Lord, did we really laugh at this stuff? Messrs Barker and Corbett were excellent in their head-to-head sketches (fork 'andles?) and many of their musical closing numbers were a joy. But some of their mini-dramas were not only embarrassingly unfunny but soft-porn sleazy. This week's offering, Done to Death, from 1972 had an excruciating scene where the Ronnies in turn tried to lift an unconscious, half-dressed woman, getting their hands everywhere. No laughs, lots of winces.

Piers Corbyn, the conspiracy-obsessed brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy, is in trouble over a leaflet comparing the Covid-19 vaccination programme with the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Corbyn is a hero to the sort of people who believe the vaccine contains microchips, enabling them to be tracked and monitored at all times. But who would waste time and money in a hi-tech attempt to trace such people? We already know exactly where they are. In a world of their own.

The Russians have always been brave people. The crowds now risking beatings and jail for demonstrating against Putin and in support of Alexei Navalny are the heirs to those peasants who braved the Cossack sabres when they challenged the Tsars and who marched into battle in 1914 with just one rifle between three. It is humbling to see them putting their bodies and their liberty on the line to denounce corruption in high places. We owe these folk a massive debt of honour from the Second World War and it's a tragedy that in the 21st century we slipped apart. Britain should be the best of friends with Russia – the Russian people, that is, not to be confused with the Kremlin.

Captain Sir Tom Moore was a man for the moment. No-one more epitomised the traditional British qualities of self-sacrifice, service to others, modesty and optimism than this veteran. In his 100th year he rallied the nation, stuck a V-sign up to the virus and won a knighthood. And then, his work done, he caught the disease and died. Somewhere in here there is a wonderful British film.

Incidentally, as any modest person knows, the “traditional British qualities” listed above are also claimed by every other nation on this planet.