O, what a year. Oil prices swung from record highs to multi-year lows. Overpaid bank chiefs and car bosses descended on Washington to beg Congress for bail-outs, while in Russia, oligarchs got lifelines of their own. A year that began with the world swept up in Obama-mania has ended with president-elect Barack Obama and his team at action stations, preparing themselves for government amid what looks to be the worst downturn in decades.

The sharp escalation of the financial crisis in the waning weeks of the campaign has left little time for reflection on Mr Obama’s achievement. The world rightly cheered as America, for the first time, sent a black man to the White House, but it is worth remembering that the Democrat’s victory in November was arguably as much an expression of voter disgust with President George W. Bush and the Republican party as it was a reflection of the president-elect’s political skills.