Even before that massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday, the situation in the country was dire. Lebanon, once dubbed the Switzerland of the Middle East, has been on a constant downward trajectory since the 1970s.

Boris Johnson’s first year as UK prime minister has been split into two phases; first, a minority government propped up by Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, and then an administration with an 80-seat majority thanks to a landslide victory in the December election.