As we do everything we can to support Ukraine, Britain has the chance to be a better country | Polly Toynbee

From the questioning of fossil fuels to greater support for refugees, the shock of this terrible war has already made us more human

Churchillian echoes from Volodymyr Zelenskiy stiffened the sinews and summoned up the blood of the House of Commons: We will fight in the forests, in the fields, the shores and in the streets." Each of us, distant spectators of unfolding catastrophe, tries to imagine those missiles pulverising our streets, willing Zelenskiy and his country to survive.

But, being human, even in our darkest hour we cleave to another wartime maxim attributed to Churchill: never let a good crisis go to waste. Look around in Britain and you can see all sides scurrying to make good use of this. You could call it cynical opportunism - or if you have a more benign view of human nature, it's a natural impulse to rescue some hope from Putin's hell.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist