Well, I wrote last month that democracy “could be a messy business and shipping was going to have to live with unusually unpredictable politics” on both sides of the Atlantic.

This followed the rise and rise of maverick leadership hopefuls Boris Johnson in Britain and Donald Trump in the US, both peddling populist soundtracks.

But did I really expect Britain to vote in a referendum to leave the European Union (EU), a flawed but ultimately benign organisation, after 40 years? No.

Neither