I SEEM to be in a state of permanent anger these days. And there’s a lot to be angry about.

But I’m not angry that some children who may or may not have Eastern European heritage were being taught the Russian language at a school in Grappenhall.

For those of you who may have missed this sad tale first time round, in September 2013, Warrington Russian Language School Solnyshko opened its doors to older children after originally being set up in 2012 by a group of parents-enthusiasts as a Russian-speaking parent and toddler group.

According to the school’s website, the opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Warrington and other dignitaries.

The school, which hires St Wilfrid’s CE School for its Saturday morning lessons, has been expanding ever since and offers classes to children aged from three to 16 years and even prepares youngsters for the Russian language GCSE exam.

And here’s the key, it has staff and students from a variety of backgrounds all linked by the Russian language – Ukrainian, Russian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Moldavian, Estonian, Kazakh.

A spokesman for the school posted on Facebook that the organisation is registered on volunteer sites to help Ukrainian refugees, who are expected to arrive in large numbers in the UK in the next few weeks, adding: “Most kids and mothers will speak Russian as their first language. We are however, considering English lessons for them and possibly a few subjects in Ukrainian.”

But all it’s taken is one angry complaint to Warrington Borough Council to get the school shut down.

Mr or Mrs Blowhard of Grappenhall told the Guardian: “They should not be allowed to continue going on in the face of what is happening to the innocent Ukrainian people. All Russian classes – whether dancing or other academic classes – should be cancelled and not supported.

“This is a slap in the face to the Ukrainian people. I am sure there are a lot of local people who feel the same way.”

No, you don’t speak for me.

I, for one, don’t feel the same way and judging by the overwhelming response to the story on the Guardian’s website the vast majority of normal, decent, thoughtful people don’t think that way either.

Closing down the school because it is teaching the Russian language is the equivalent of blaming me for all the bad things the government has done (and there’s a lot of them) because I speak English.

But what makes me really angry isn’t that one cruel, wrong-headed, misguided, spiteful person has seen fit to complain about the school, it’s that the council has agreed and shut down the classes.

(I really hope that by the time you read this, the council and St Wilfrid’s governors have come to their senses and reversed this disgraceful decision. But even if they do, the damage has been done. It’s not a good look for a Christian Church of England school.)

Exactly who thought this was a good thing to do? Where was the critical thinking? Where was the due diligence? Where was the investigation into the ethos of the school; who it caters for; what it does and what it intends to do?

Instead, the council has demonstrated a thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction and has bowed to one (yes, just one) nasty complaint with a spokesman saying: “We were made aware of Russian classes taking place at St Wilfrid’s CE Primary School and have been in contact with them about it.

“We have agreed that the group is to be cancelled in respect of the current distressing situation in Ukraine.”

‘We were made aware’? For goodness sake, the Mayor opened it.

If people want to get angry about undue Russian influence, can I suggest they look elsewhere? Take, for example, the £2million given by Russian oligarchs and businesses to the Tories since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister.

Or how about Baron Lebedev, son of Alexander Lebedev, a Russian banker and former officer of the First Chief Directorate of the USSR's KGB.

In 2020, Boris Johnson conferred a Life Peer on Lebedev, naming him ‘Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation’.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, the head of MI6 held security concerns over the Russian oligarch as long as a decade ago.

As I said, I’m angry.