Since being elected, Macron – the poster-boy of European liberalism – has seen his popularity steadily decline as his facade of respectability crumbles away. A majority of French voters are now “dissatisfied” with the President’s performance, with approval ratings lower than for any incoming president, after four months, since 1995.

This year has seen a ratcheting up of tensions between the US administration and North Korean regimes, with sabre-rattling and bellicose rhetoric on both sides. It is clear, however, that Donald Trump’s words and actions are intended not as help for the Korean masses, but as a desperate attempt to display a veneer of strength.

Like Katrina and Sandy before it, Hurricane Harvey in the USA has once again revealed the rotten results of capitalism’s prioritisation of profits over people. What Harvey shows is that the system cannot effectively deal with catastrophe. In fact, capitalism itself is the catastrophe.