Copeland was a disaster, Stoke an apocalypse too narrowly averted for comfort. Both byelections pose existential questions for a Labour leader whose name was offered on doorsteps as reason for not voting Labour. But Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t here today to talk about holding himself accountable for failure, he was here to talk about holding the Tories accountable for Brexit. He has his script, and he’s sticking to it. Boy, is he sticking to it.

Shortly before leaving America for Britain, after 12 years as a correspondent, the relative of one of my son’s friends politely declined my invitation to visit us in London.

On December 31, 1999, as television networks spanned the globe to cover the celebrations ringing in the new millennium,