Elwood is written to be so watchful that it’s hard to feel like you know the character at all — he’s almost too universal.

The Holyrood government had already planned to introduce a replacement universal benefit north of the border, but said the financial implications of Labour’s decision had forced it to delay this until late 2025.

“The book touches on many universals, one of which is the ever-present problem of tyranny,” Rivera says.

“You don’t have to be British to enjoy James Bond. Being British makes him very specific, and it makes him more universal. It makes you wish you were British,” Rodriguez told The Times in 2023.

But as I was writing it, it wasn’t that difficult to find what was universal about the relationship and the psychology between these two very complicated characters.