Our children both live and work in Amsterdam, and so we have spent a fair amount of time there over the past five years or so. It is a truly fabulous place - the polity thrives without the nastiness and dysfunction we see almost everywhere else. Europe has spent the better part of 70 years constructing what many would regard as the most successful social experiment in modern history. Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedInUniversal healthcare became an expectation rather than an aspiration. Even today, when democratic institutions appear to be under pressure across much of the developed world, Europe (especially Northern Europe) continues to dominate almost every international ranking of governance, transparency, civil liberties and quality of life.