Not where one bully imposes his will on a weaker person. Not where its an easy task to obliterate and annihilate, not where words are used with hatred and aggression. In this terrible climate of might is right and I will take it if I want it and to hell with all the rest, it is not unreasonable to ask yourself where have all the brave people gone? Why is no one standing up to these horrors, these injustices, the tramplings of democratic processes and institutions?

Well I went to see a documentary film which filled me with utter despair for the state of the world and its players but also gave me hope that sometimes even one person’s actions are enough to remind us about what bravery is really about. Pavel Talankin is one brave man. He lives in the arse end of nowhere, an industrial town in the Ural mountains. It is famous only for its copper mine and the intense pollution.

Pavel is a videographer in a state school in Karabash. It is his job to record the moments when the school comes together in celebration and in perfomance. He has an open door policy for the students who clearly adore him.

After the Ukrainian war started in 2022 Pavel started filming some of the changes which he noticed taking place in the school – all of a sudden the school was holding patriotic days where they marched into the hall with the flag. History teachers recited the most unbelievable justifications for the war. The children were indoctrinated on a daily basis about their great Russia and the evils of Ukraine. He had to upload parts of these sessions onto a government website to show compliance with government directives which were being issued. The school even had a visit from the Wagner Group of mercenaries – to induce them to sign up.

He flees in 2024 – he has no choice but to leave having become such a critic of what is happening. David Borenstein helped him turn all the footage he filmed into a documentary called Mr Nobody against Putin. If you get a chance see it. It’s the Hitler youth waiting in the wings, its young people being led to their deaths, its autocratic and controlling systems and people abusing their populations. He knew at some point that his job had radically changed and his focus too. He needed to expose the truth.