There were always plenty of newspapers in the house. The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail were all regular fixtures on the coffee table. I used to enjoy reading The Times editorial pages and the Daily Mail sports pages.

As a cub reporter, I devoured books about journalism.

We British play an important role in Europe, even if we have a traditional and historical ambivalence towards the continent.

We have Trumpist (ph) tendencies in Europe. Look up Marine Le Pen in France. Look at the Five Star Movement headed by a clown by profession, Beppe Grillo, in Italy.

Thanks to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, a far wider range of people take part in gathering, filtering and distributing news.

My father was a journalist for 50 years in Leeds and Fleet Street. I thought about a career in business to show I could do something different, but the reaction among prospective employers was, shall we say, underwhelming.

My own special relationship with America began at an early age. My father, a fellow journalist, named me after Franklin Delano Roosevelt.