Rhodes on ethics advisers and why isn't Russia running out of weapons?

Boris Johnson has (at the time of writing) lost two ethics advisers. To be honest, I wasn't even aware that such people existed. Do all politicians have them? Is Keir Starmer guided by a charisma adviser? Does Diane Abbott have a maths adviser, or Jacob Rees-Mogg a humility adviser?

Anyway, it would be good to see the job description in the advert for Boris's next ethics adviser: “Wanted – someone prepared to discuss ethics with a prime minister who thinks it's a county next to Kent.”

When the war in Ukraine started, some pundits predicted that Russia's clapped-out economy would fall apart and its army would run out of bombs and bullets. Instead, we see it delivering a massive daily deluge of munitions on Ukraine's battered towns and cities. Russia's supply of death-dealing equipment seems limitless. So what's going wrong? It is estimated that in the first 100 days of the war, Germany paid Russia 12 billion euros for oil and gas. With allies like these . . .

A few days ago a speedboat pulled up on a Devon beach. About a dozen migrants climbed out, headed up the beach and were driven away by two waiting people carriers. So how likely do you think it is that these mysterious people intended to go through any sort of asylum process? And how do you feel when the hand-wringers describe such folk as “vulnerable”? I suggested some time ago that the quiet little creeks, harbours and marinas of south-west England were perfect for people-smuggling. Especially when all the TV cameras are focused on the Straits of Dover, hundreds of miles away.

With the Rwanda plan in limbo under legal challenges, the Channel crossings will continue undeterred and before long, inevitably, more migrants will drown. And who will be to blame - a government trying desperately to disrupt such crossings, or the Prince of Wales and his coterie of holier-than-thou bishops who are resolutely opposed to Rwanda but have no sensible alternative?

I can't be bothered to read the official citations so can I assume that Tony Blair got his knighthood for services to world peace?

Japan is making online insults as mild as “idiot” punishable by up to a year in prison. If that catches on, bang goes my readers' section.