“The most knowing laughter came at King George’s caution to the newly independent colonies: ‘Oceans rise / Empires fall / It’s much harder when it’s all your call / All alone, across the sea / When your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me.’ Was this a prophecy of Donald Trump’s spiralling isolationism – the travel ban, the broken accords, the looming wall – or an admonition to Brexit leaders fumbling?”