That came hours after discussing another article comparing the political talk in the UK to the rhetoric of Joseph Goebbels. And look at today's headlines: "Turkey begins offensive against US Ally in Syria"; "Fed worried about rising economic risks from trade war"; "EU offers ultimatum to Johnson on Brexit plan"; "India and China face off over Himalayan flashpoint"; and "Two Killed in Germany Shooting After Failed Attack on Synagogue."

I published an in-depth report early in the year all about political populism. The key message was we are seeing echoes of the 1920s and 1930s in today's politics because we echo the economics of the 1920s and 1930s. We had a debt-driven Gilded Age boom prior to 2008 analogous to the Roaring 20s – and then a colossal bust, analogous to 1929. Since then we have failed to work out how to deal with the debt overhang, or to co-ordinate a global recovery between countries (so all boats rise) and within countries (so all boats rise, not just yachts). We haven't worked out how to ensure capital circulates sustainably internationally or domestically.

As a response, the "will of the people", "us vs. them", 'walls over bridges' are back: and, most worrying, now as then, for sound underlying reasons. People didn't just slip into madness in the 1930s: as Arendt makes clear, if "normality" offers you are a raw deal, you will opt for an alternative. What is being sold via today's populism may not be a solution: yet neither is the status quo ante. Indeed, we repeat our errors. For example, take the Fed, its history and its present.