George W Bush once famously said, or mis-said: “They misunderestimated me”. Bushisms are easy to mock, but I agree with the novelist Philip Hensher that this time Dubya actually gave us a useful new word: meaning to mistakenly underestimate.

In that sense, perhaps no one in modern times has been so badly misunderestimated as Kim Jong Un. We all – me included – read him dead wrong, as recent events have amply proved.

If there is any justice, Time magazine should name Kim as their Person of the Year. Who else dominated 2018 with such flair and panache? I