For all their air of tweedy conservatism, the quintessentially modern political phenomenon might be Ukip In our dealings with the wider world, Marquand puts a neglect of history and past experience at the heart of two ongoing calamities: an increasingly troubled relationship with the rest of Europe, and all those misadventures in the Middle East.
The past five years have not been about the big public calamities that usually make up economic crisis.
Kaberuka has said climate change is one of the "greatest calamities" Africa faces, but he is encouraged by successful solar projects in Morocco and windfarms in Kenya.
Then came serial calamities: the smoking ban in 2007, the recession a year later and a relentless rise in beer duty.
Besides the Japanese and Thai calamities, New Zealand suffered an earthquake, Australia and China floods, and America a cocktail of hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and floods.
But in the long run Mr Edwards turned out to be right, with last year's financial calamities his apparent vindication.
Instead of arbitrary statutory requirements governing how much money must be squirreled away to guard against unexpected calamities, a company's assets and liabilities will be priced according to their market value.
He needs to make sure that America is better prepared for future calamities.
Nobody knows what financial calamities lurk under the surface or by how much credit will shrink.
The capital, he declared, might have to move if measures to curb its sandstorms failed.Since then officials have claimed some success in reducing the frequency of these lung-clogging calamities.
But there are known, rather than postulated, environmental calamities happening as you read this.
