Does anyone seriously think that a White House that presided over the Afghanistan rout will do anything beyond negotiate, or slap on some ineffective sanctions? Not Tehran, or Israel for that matter. So here’s a safe prediction for 2022: If Iran quakes in its boots, it won’t be out of fear of retribution. And that, Roosevelt would say if he rose from the grave to comment on his successor’s policies, is a recipe for trouble.

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Zero, as in zero-Covid, is so last year, to judge by Australian prime minister Scott Morrison. Despite the surge of Omicron cases, the premier of what was recently a notorious lockdown state declared that “the days of lockdown are over” because the link between infection and serious illness has been broken by vaccines. It’s a brave new world.

Chinese Mussar

Readers of the Current will be aware that it’s not generally the address for uplifting, inspiring nuggets. But in an otherwise bleak season, the story of the Chinese man reunited with his lost mother is a heartwarming example of hope.

Li Jingwei was just four years old when he was kidnapped from his home in southwest China and sold by child traffickers to a family 1,100 miles away.