Haters shout loudest, those with kind hearts get on with it quietly - Christa Ackroyd

And with the Prime Minister’s stark warning that we need to be ready to be on a war footing a reminder just how dangerous too.

If you think about it never in my lifetime have I felt nearer to war than listening to that speech. It is frightening. It is unsettling.

But I completely agree with the Prime Minister in so far as it is no good any of us pretending it is never going to happen. The world is a fragile place. And we must not bury our heads in the sand.

Though I cling onto the hope that humanity will prevail.

Yet I genuinely believe this week things started to turn. Firstly (and how did it take so long) the great American bromance is over.

Trump and Musk, surely the most imperfect of partnerships, is no more. The marriage of money and power which has threatened to derail all that is good in the world has ended.

A government run not by the will of the people for the people, but by two men with surely the biggest egos on the planet who thought it acceptable to arrest people on the streets without warrants, cut aid to starving children in countries less able to support themselves, threaten educational institutions, aim to stop any notion of diversity while one boasts how much his cronies have made after the economic crash and revival following the on off on again tariffs, does not deserve to govern, especially when one half of the union is not even democratically elected.

No wonder people are taking to the streets and facing riot police with rubber bullets and tear gas. This is not what the land of the free was built upon.

And yet seeing Trump and Musk displaying their playground politics gives me hope. Hope that they will be so busy fighting each other that they will have little time to continue their fight against democracy.

Even the on off on again bromance between Reform’s party chairman and Nigel Farage gives me reason to feel a little more resilient’.

If the fall out as it seems was about a newly elected Reform MP asking a question about banning the burka, it at least shows that one hand does not know what the other is doing and that they really are a one trick pony.

Now let’s see how they manage local government within the councils they have won control of. There is more than immigration to tackle. Though tackle it we must.

And then there is the U-turn by our own Government that almost three quarters of pensioners whose income is below £35,000 will now get the winter fuel payment. It was foolish at best to scrap it for those on around a third of that figure.

At worst it was out of touch with reality and cruel as I wrote at the time. And if they thought that those of a certain age would not be vocal about what the powers that be thought was an easy option they got it completely wrong.

As I reminded them in this column, those same pensioners were the original protestors of the sixties marching for equality, and peace. So we were never going to go quietly.

But no, it was a conversation with a young girl I had at my favourite event of the year which reminded me that there is still so much good in the world. This young girl was worried.

She was worried about her future. Worried about how she would find her place in the noisy divided world and the fact she may be drowned out. She was a gentle soul.

But as I reminded her the haters just shout the loudest while those who have a place in their hearts for others simply get on with it quietly. And I was able to prove it .

I met this lovely young woman at the Yorkshire Choice Awards which for nine years has recognised exactly those kinds of people. I am so proud of all it has become and even prouder to host it every year.

Every year it reminds me there is hope. And this year in front of an audience of 700 people it reset my doubts and fears as it always does, Out of adversity comes strength.

The wonderful chef-turned-butcher Tim Bilton winning start up business of the year having faced and is still facing stage four cancer yet still finding time to support the hospital which gave him revolutionary treatment and with it a future.

The fabulous widow of Leeds United legend Norman Hunter still grieving her husband who set about raising more than £100,000 in his honour.

The Overgate Hospice choir who sing while they raise funds to keep their services going and are on their way to half a million pounds.

Or the former soldier Matthew Colley who found himself homeless after a relationship break down and has now set up a business to help others to get on the first rung of the housing ladder, to equipment for children’s hospital wards and supporting food banks.

Then there is Nikki Gilmore a beautician from York who under went surgery for a brain tumour which led to a stroke who couldn’t understand why she was being recognised for walking across the Sahara dessert to raise awareness and cash.

And also the lady who sadly we have all seen, the consultant who looked after Rob Burrow and who first dreamed of a purpose built centre for those living with Motor Neurone Disease, Dr Agam Jung who told the audience that the five million pound project will open this year and that she believes we will find a cure. And you did all that by giving of your time and your hard earned money.

The list was endless. Good people doing good things.

And do you know something ninety percent of those who won or were nominated on the night I had never even heard of. Not because I don’t keep my ears firmly to the ground but because they all have one thing in common. They don’t shout about what they do, they just do it with complete selfless humility.

The following night the couple seriously injured in the Alton Towers roller crash held their ten year anniversary event in Barnsley. Leah lost a leg. Joe had serious injuries.

And I was lucky enough to be there to help them raise £20,000 for the air ambulance and the charities which helped them. Giving back is giving hope.

And so I say to you that which I said to that young girl I met this week.

Eventually the bullies will be found out. And kindness of deed, even kindness of word, is always the antidote until they are.

So keep smiling. As Abraham Lincoln, an America president who must be turning in his grave once said, ‘This too shall pass.’