Biden was like a glass of cool water on a hot day – still water, not sparkling, unfiltered, unflavoured

It was nearly 5 am when I went to bed today (August 21) and I blame the Democrats and Joe Biden.

I had to see whether he would give the “speech of his life” on the final day of the mostly virtual Democratic National Convention.

Many say he did.

To me he sounded just as he always has – no great orator but a decent man, who understood the importance of what he said. At this moment in time that is more reassuring than it is disappointing.

“I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness,” Mr Biden declared and it was possible to believe him because he spoke without rhetorical swagger. He was the very antithesis of the political and personal braggadocio he hopes to shunt out of the White House.

Mr Biden was like a glass of cool water on a hot day – still water, not sparkling, unfiltered, unflavoured. Many would hope he will quench the intense thirst in America (and abroad) for decency, kindness and high values in public life.