“What on earth is going on?”. That frank admission of bafflement was wrung from commentators who normally pose as experts and interpreters of public affairs by the bewildering succession of events at the beginning of this year. A totemic, though by no means isolated, example was furnished by Elon Musk who, only a short time before, had posed with Nigel Farage for a photograph at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, but who now denounced Farage as not up to the job of leading Reform UK.