内容摘要：Dr Andrew Farrant, British Geological Survey regional geologist for south-east England, suspects that is what has happened in Godstone and it is not a true sinkhole.

Dr Andrew Farrant, British Geological Survey regional geologist for south-east England, suspects that is what has happened in Godstone and it is not a true sinkhole.

Russia captured a deep stretch of Ukrainian territory, a "land-bridge" to link Donbas in the east with Crimea in the south.But its attempt to seize Kyiv was a humiliating fiasco for President Putin.

By the end of March 2022, the battle for the capital was lost and the Kremlin pulled its troops back.Nato recognised that Ukraine could fight. It revealed itself as an unexpectedly useful ally, worthy of more support, providing a welcome set of new options in the growing face-off with Putin’s Russia.Slowly, Ukraine was sent increasingly powerful weapons. Overcoming US President Joe Biden’s reservations remains a painful process. He feared a third world war if the US and Nato intervened with their own troops, or even if they supplied Ukraine with its most up-to-date military technology.

President Biden was persuaded to allow the supply of elderly American-built F-16 strike aircraft that were being retired by Nato air forces. They have not yet been deployed in combat, allowing Russia’s air force more space to attack.Most Western analysts think President Putin is bluffing when he rattles the nuclear sabre.

China, Russia’s essential ally, has made it clear it does not want any use of nuclear weapons. The last thing it needs is a nuclear arms race in East Asia.

In the Western camp, Japan and South Korea, if they felt threatened enough to change their policies, both have the technological capacity to make nuclear weapons.“It’s a regular occurrence,” explained Duncan Stewart-Ball, the FBU’s regional secretary for Wales.

He said some rural areas now frequently saw situations where their nearest fire station was unable to respond because of staffing problems, meaning waits of up to “half an hour” as crews travelled in from out of area.“We could in future see a situation where somebody is phoning 999 because their house is on fire and we could be turning around and saying ‘sorry, there is a delay',” he said.

“There are risks to the public. Lives are in danger.”Several serving on-call firefighters suggested the impact on family life and work were some of the main reasons for people giving up on-call firefighting - with one consequence being that some firefighters stayed on much later in life than they used to.