Watching Obama’s emotional farewell address to the nation live on TV I was struck by the warmth and honesty of his speech. Whatever we think of the successes and failures of his presidency (and there have been failures) he seems like a thoroughly decent human being. As to what comes next, well, that’s sure to be an interesting leap in the dark, to say the least.

As Obama left the stage he walked through the crowd for one final goodbye, pressing the flesh and hugging his supporters. The air was thick with iPhones held aloft and most telling of all, the departing President was surrounded by a phalanx of beefy secret servicemen, eyes frantically scanning the hands and faces of the crowd, looking for the slightest hint of someone pulling a gun or other weapon. For some reason I found this profoundly depressing and disturbing. Is this what we’ve come to?

Brexit, Trump, Corbyn, ISIS, Bowie and the rest. As Joe Brown told us as early as 1962, what a crazy world we’re living in