The week between Christmas and New Year’s used to be one of my favorites. It was my end-of-year respite at work. I looked forward to quiet days in my office, with few phone calls, no visitors and a relaxed dress code. Time to clean my desk, pack up books I’d bought but never got around to reading (and never would) and throw out the stack of studies and policy papers that might have made good columns but had grown stale.

Not anymore.