The notion that this has been a uniquely terrible year is now well established. A lot of famous people died (which has obviously never happened before in human history) and the failure of pollsters to identify the populist tsunami on the horizon meant that when the waves hit, in the form of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, there was astonishment and panic among those who had assumed neither outcome was possible.

The shock has induced at the year’s end something close to despair among the most despondent Remainers, whose warnings about the horrors of Brexit, the impossibility of negotiations and the general inability of Britain to do anything have taken on an almost millenarian tone in recent weeks. One does not need to