It is difficult to make a natural born buffoon sound even more buffoonish, but Mr Baldwin carries it off in his portrayal of Trump. The bit about Trump confusing a photo of himself with a plate of mashed potatoes is SNL at its Dadaish best.

The French Left was once the top left in the world, laden with intellectual giants (Sartre, de Beauvoir, Foucault, Althusser, etc.), who brought theoretical sophistication and panache to the grubby world of politics. Its apparent demise is shocking.

Italy is in need of a new political Barbarossa.

At least the populist menace was thwarted at the Austrian border.