As engineers and architects know, a complex structure needs to be checked that it will be stable and stay up before worrying about how to build it.

The Royal Albert tubular bridge over the Tamar has carried trains for 175 years, and stood through storms and minor tremors. A "Trivial Pursuit" question: how was it built in 1859 without heavy lift cranes?

The chaos in the world today is caused by politicians aiming towards a target. Would the result be stable? In 2030, when we next worry about the benchmark in Global Warming, what will conditions be in Palestine, the Ukraine and Myanmar?

The death toll in Palestine exceeds 27,000, with more than 65,000 injured. A whole generation of Palestinians have learnt to hate Israel. Even the theoretical "two state" solution, would place Palestine next to an Israel armed to the teeth. Stories come from the USA where neighbourhoods with Palestinian background have been terrorised to keep off the streets. How does this lower anti-semitic feeling in the country?

Years back I worked with a small Chicago based company, whose President was Jewish, even acting as a Rabbi at week-ends. We had a good relationship, including a trip through Germany where I learnt that fish with visible fins and scale, such as trout, was exempt from Jewish food concerns! In international business, we had two Israeli companies wanting to work with us, but we didn't trust either of them and rejected both! A trivial but true anecdote, fixing a distinction between anti-semitism and Israeli nationalism.

The United States seems intent on supporting Israel, understandable after the initial Hamas atrocity, but increasingly questionable as the death toll from bombing escalates. One can suppose that a strong Jewish domestic lobby keeps American politicians siding with Israel, just as we do in the UK, not wishing to be anti-semitic. However, there does come a time to tell even one's closest friends that they are up the creek without a paddle. Even a "two state" solution has little chance until Palestinian politicians can trust their Israeli counterparts. The tensions continuing in Kashmir between India and Pakistan are an example.

Most worrying is a change of power in the United Sates which could leave the UK stranded between our traditional support for America while pulled in the other direction by our own sense of values. The same dilemma arises if a pro-Kremlin Republican party emerges in the USA trying to force a compromise over Ukraine's sovereign territory. Four million deaths from starvation in the 1933 Holodomor brought about by Soviet Russia are not easily forgotten in the Ukraine!

Many people find world news too depressing to follow. We each of us can add only our own minute contribution through democracy, even our MP's have only having a small effect. What matters is how we live our own lives.

Indigenous people in Australia don't believe in possessions, all they have is their story. This fits many beliefs, including Christianity. It is what we ourselves do that counts. None will leave a legacy like Brunel's bridge over the Tamar, whose spans were erected on pontoons, then jacked up while pillars were built a few rows of bricks at a time! We are each of us building our own "story", brick by brick!

In the many small things we do, we should be trying to make things better for our neighbours.