(image created by Chris Nichols from mash-up of web images)
As we approach the eve of the centenary, we recall that one hundred years ago today Britain, at least, was not yet at war.
Within 48 hours of now, 100 years ago, Lord Grey may well have said those famous words, "the lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life time" ....
And how easily war seems to come and come again.
Each time it comes, it brings moments of the most astonishing personal bravery
Each time it comes it calls up the spirit of nations together, of burdens shared, of courage, of stoicism
And each time it comes, it comes again, as certain as the tide
For all of our history, our experience, our supposed intelligence as a species, we seem incapable of spotting the incoming tide of war and we remain as unable, or unwilling, as ever to turn away from it.
As we approach this centenary let us by all means remember the fallen
But let us remember too that hard though war is, the harder struggle seems to be avoiding conflict with skill
Our ability to meet with difference and to create solutions without bloodshed, our ability to meet where meeting seems impossible, this seems to me to be the necessary frontier for our training, intelligence and efforts
If this centenary teaches us something let it teach us that war, though it may sometimes feel just, is rarely if ever right
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