In the next two weeks, there will be many events in our constituency to commemorate the lives of people who've died as a result of war and violent conflict.

I look forward to standing amongst and alongside many local residents at the Remembrance Sunday event at Kenilworth war memorial and I thank the local Royal British Legion branches and town and district councils across our constituency for their work in organising these events.

This year, given the dreadful events in Ukraine and the Middle East, this period of Remembrance will have extra meaning.

Firstly, we shouldn't always be afraid of conflict.

It's part of being human that, for a whole host of reasons, people disagree with each other.

It's in the peaceful resolution of such conflict, in how we have dialogue with people who we think are not like us, that as individuals, communities and nations we make progress.

It's when conflict becomes violent, and when it does so it's almost always a failure of our civic and institutional leaderships, that existential problems occur.

Secondly, we should remember that words matter.

The vast majority of people who die in wars and violent conflict do not give their lives in glorious sacrifice, but rather they have them taken cruelly away.

Finally, whether it's with the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East that may yet spread into global conflict, or with the world wars of the last century, remembrance alone has limited value.

If we are to break free from the burden of awful historical injustices and suffering, what really matters are the minutiae of often mundane actions that we commit ourselves to that will build and sustain peace with ourselves, with each other and with our environment.

Waging peace is always far more expensive, time-consuming and complex than waging war and violent conflict.

In the 21st century, when cyberwarfare is now as big a threat to our infrastructure and democratic way of life as traditional modes of combat, in our remembrance and reflections we need to rethink what it means to live peaceful and secure lives.

The heroes who, day in day out, work for peace in our communities and between nations are often attacked by both sides.

Instead, they should be celebrated, and their work properly funded.

There is always a choice, and working for peace is the best way to provide a future for our children and grandchildren.