Britain – and much of the rest of the world – is about to enter Christmas and the new year in poor shape. Trouble is brewing between Russia and its neighbours, between China and its neighbours, between Iran and its neighbours, and almost everywhere else. Domestically, a sudden surge in Covid cases, due largely to the appearance of a new and more vigorous variant but also to lack of government preparedness, is contorting political institutions and conventions towards breaking point. Scarcely anywhere in the democratic world has political leadership risen sufficiently to these challenges. The United Kingdom’s prime minister Boris Johnson is besieged from all sides, not least from his own. And it is largely his own fault.

But with only an imperfect human race to draw from, imperfect leadership is inevitable. Those who rise to the top are likely to be more narcissistic, even more sociopathic, than average, because they need such character traits to drive them to attempt the ascent. And if this describes the world in 2021 as it enters 2022, it is a description that would be just as apt 2,000 years ago. God, seeing the mess humankind was making of itself, then as now, chose to intervene in human affairs. But not by sending a political manifesto or an army of avenging angels. He sent a baby, and left the world to figure out the meaning.