So in the end – with a couple of alarming wobbles – the centre held. As polls predicted, the mainstream pro-EU alliance of centre-right, centre-left, liberal and Green parties in the European parliament hung, quite comfortably, on to its majority. Europe’s national conservative and far-right forces made major gains, ending up with just under a quarter of MEPs in the 720-seat assembly – their highest tally ever. But they did not do uniformly well, and in some places fared worse than forecast. Where they did do well, they did very well, most notably in France, where Emmanuel Macron’s humbling 15%-32%...