I don’t know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better.

The author of that statement will, come January, be US Vice President. That will put him into a conveniently self-described blameless position, but one in which as an individual he has great scope to actually, genuinely, make things better.

A few years ago, when Hillbilly Elegy was released it seemed to me that JD Vance had an understanding of the problems faced by many - but far from all - Americans. More recent rhetoric through this campaign has severely dampened my optimism, but perhaps now that campaigning is finished his focus will shift from soundbites to attempting to solve the hard problems.

We need this presidency to be surrounded by sensible voices. Is there one here?