My favourite political speech

Photo: Stanley Tretick / Wikimedia Commons

I’m finding it hard to get enthused about the US presidential election. Not because I don’t ordinarily have an interest in politics on the other side of the pond; but because the quality of the candidates on this occasion just seems so dire.

As a Labour person in Britain, my natural affinity ought (I guess) to be with Kamala Harris. Except that she comes across as a flip-flopping lightweight devoid of serious political ideas (other than those designed to burnish her woke credentials, of course).

And Trump is … well, he’s Trump.

Wherever one looks, there seems a dearth of senior politicians with real statesmanlike gravitas and intelligence. I do wonder if this problem has become endemic across the West. We have certainly experienced it here in Britain, where the quality of our elected representatives seems to diminish with every general election. And I don’t think I’m being a dewy-eyed nostalgist when I say that.