Europe on the cusp of change

Is the world changing? It seems important to ask. Of course, in a sense, the world is always changing; each generation raises, or lowers, its expectations and adapts to it. But there are times when the change is faster and on a wider front, when collectively we make a course correction - or one is thrust upon us - when we rattle ‘over the points of history' to use Alan Bennett's memorable phrase.

We don't always notice such changes immediately: the more profound they are the longer th...