COULD the world really be on the brink of a nuclear war – and all down to a tinpot dictator with delusions of power and a somewhat robust approach to sorting out family differences?

Tempting though it is to dismiss the ludicrous posturings of North Korea’s bonkers-looking (and bonkers-behaving) Kim Jong-un, the fact is that this pariah state has managed to amass a must-be-taken-seriously stockpile of nuclear weapons; and, more than five decades after the Cuban missile crisis, the western world finds itself embroiled in the Korean missiles crisis.

Brinkmanship will of course play a huge role in this crisis – a not altogether comforting thought, given that on one side of the crisis we have a strange-looking, short-tempered and clearly irrational little fella with a weird hairdo and virtually no real grasp of geopolitics, and on the other we have Kim Jong-un.

For the past few years, the world has viewed the secretive and hermit-like state of North Korea with an almost amused, detached sense of bewilderment. The bizarre (although undeniably impressive) military parades; the brainwashed masses worshipping a feet-of-clay leader who, along with his forefathers, has brought them to isolation and near-starvation; and the ridiculous self-aggrandising lies told by the “dear leaders”. The Jung un has some way to go before his boasts can compare to those of his father Kim Jung-il, who claimed to have shot a 38 below par (including 11 holes in one) on his first time on a golf course, to have invented the hamburger and to have learnt to walk at three weeks old. But give him time, he’s young enough yet to invent the internet or supersonic flight.

Unfortunately, history shows that delusional despots are not simply cartoonish characters with bad hair and little grasp on reality. They are often both of those things - but, as history also shows, they are also very, very dangerous. And no matter how immature and ridiculous-looking Kim Jong-un may be, it doesn’t make him any less of a threat to global stability. If anything, it makes him more of one.

How the rest of the world reacts to Kim’s ramping up of nuclear tensions remains to be seen. But with someone like Donald Trump in the White House, anything could happen.

Barack Obama must take some of the blame for the current situation. His policy of strategic patience with North Korea has done little to defuse an already volatile situation in that part of the world. He has left it to a man like Trump - with no military or diplomatic experience - to wade in, as North Korea continues its blustering show of nuclear strength.

While North Korea is arepressive regime which allows its people to go short of food and human rights, it is not the poverty stricken state that many people assume. The country that appears to be so impoverished is rich in natural mineral resources, which it exports to countries such as China and Russia, providing the money to pay for its nuclear programme.

That nuclear programme, which has continued unchecked for years, now brings us to a perilous international situation, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes if it believes the US is preparing for military action.

Should we be concerned, here in Britain, watching the crisis unfold so many miles away? Hell, yes. I for one take little comfort from the fact that the US defence secretary rejoices in the name General James “Mad Dog” Martin. Nor am I impressed when the US Air Force chief of staff General David Goldfein tweets a picture of US warships heading to the Korean Peninsula with the words: “Fight’s on!”

The world is closer to a nuclear confrontation than it has ever been. Suddenly Kim Jong-un and his bad hair has ceased to be a laughing matter. I’m not saying it’s time to start stockpiling bottles of mineral water and tins of baked beans, but...