Russian expansionist ambitions could quickly become "an obvious existential threat to our whole being", the most senior British military officer in Nato has said in a strongly worded speech.
Above all, secularism means keeping open the possibility that there may not be satisfactory answers to difficult questions, be they scientific, political or existential, that humanity cannot help but ask.
I cannot believe how little all other parties talk about this existential threat to all of us.
An interesting little study published this week by the consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the qualities needed in transformational leaders – the sort of strategists capable of rethinking an organisation riddled with cultural and existential problems, like banking after the crash or traditional industries threatened by upstart new rivals – are most commonly found in women over 55.
It has taken on the character of an existential battle between two incompatible worldviews.
It is if I say it is, for I define my existential self.
The party faces an "existential threat" if it fails to increase its appeal dramatically, he tells me.
As austerity sweeps Europe, artistic and cultural institutions have been among the first to face cuts, with theatres, opera houses, orchestras, galleries and educational programmes all facing existential threats as their budgets and public subsidies are slashed.
Meanwhile, the existential problems of how Britain pays its way in the world, and how its people earn a decent living, without depending on credit or welfare, go ignored.
For when it comes to the existential question of the state, unionists will always vote to keep themselves unionists.
He said: "While the threat from Russia, together with the risk it brings of a miscalculation resulting in a slide into strategic conflict, however unlikely we see that as being right now, represents an obvious existential threat to our whole being, we of course face threats from Isis and other instabilities to our way of life and the security of our loved ones".
