From above, it can’t look pretty. An alien looking down on this planet from outer space might be forgiven for thinking “that’s a fine mess they’re making of things down there” and for deciding quickly to continue on his intergalactic journey. If he could be persuaded just to dally a little bit longer, he might see some green shoots, some synergies, some relationships, some cause for optimism between the various entities on Earth, however defined, and he might come to understand that there’s a natural order of some people who have, some people who don’t have, and some people who don’t have now but who will have in the future. And then he might think, “actually, that’s quite an interesting melting pot they’ve got down there,” a mutual global societal interdependence — even if the people don’t always realise it — that one day will be turned on its head. Oh, they’re still divided into countries, the alien might think, how feudal, how quaint. “If onl