You might think they had little to smile about. Covid-19 was inflicting its worst levels of disease and death since the epidemic began. The most powerful economy in the world was, in the words of several media commentators, ‘tanking’.

And yet, when Joe Biden stood up and finally acknowledged was to be the next President of the United States, backed by his family and the active and able Vice-President, Kamala Harris, I felt a pride quite disproportionate to my status as a British citizen and therefore outside the US election, looking in.

I, and many of my friends felt a closeness to the recent American political process in a way that had not happened before. Something tangible and dark was trying to end a world.

I have always been interested in the politics of the USA – my uncle lives in California and I have been a frequent…