Six weeks after Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves made the announcement to means test winter fuel payments to the elderly, it’s the scandal that won’t go away.

The USA, the EU and the UK will continue to be powerful players, but their influence on developing countries and their dominance of the global financial system, seems set to wane as BRICS forges a more multipolar world over the longer term.

Russia (with Belarus) is the only country ever to have been banned for its role in a regional conflict, making it the exception to the rule.