Biden got to grips with Covid. Trump didn't. I have never praised Biden. I have always been ambivalent to him as an individual. What I was, and still am, delighted about is the removal of Trump. Some may find it easy to forget just how bad he was, but not me. I would have been just as happy with a decent, responsible, experienced Republican as a Democrat. The prize was always no Trump.

The new administration has done well, considering the hill it has faced. It was always headed into stormy seas, but it has stabilised it. Now it faces a renewed crisis because of Putin, but has led the western response with clarity of purpose, speed of action and resolve.

Looking at any economy over a short period is always going to present a distorted picture. Economies take time to turn and events disrupt the best laid plans.

We will be much better able to judge the relative performance when able to see all the contexts in, maybe, 10 years from now.

That won't stop people like you making snide remarks. You don't like anything that has even a whiff of liberal thinking behind it, let alone genuinely socialist. You enjoy slinging the mud if it helps get rid of the anger. Meanwhile, the real work will go on regardless.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Your constant attacks on my integrity are insulting, tedious and completely misplaced. Wanting me to be a "liar" might suit your own world-view but, unfortunately for you, that doesn't make it true. There is but one fact here. Just one. Personal attacks of this kind clearly break the site rules. Again.

Those who actually remember (and if they want to, they can check for themselves) will know that my only reason for supporting Biden was that he was the vehicle to remove Trump. A safe pair of hands to be a bridge to a better future.

For sure, I said he was better than Trump. Just about anyone would have been. I said that at the time too. If I recall correctly, I said Mickey Mouse would be better.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

That you hold opinions that I find obnoxious, impractical, sometimes extremely selfish and often self-defeating, doesn't mean I call you a liar. It means I disagree with you and hold other opinions.

You seem to regard your opinions as facts. They aren't. They are just opinions. When you resort to ad hominems it not only breaks the site rules, it also demonstrates the weakness of your positions. When you attack the poster, and not the post, you have lost the argument.

Many people are indeed suffering now. Not just in the USA, but across the whole world, some much worse than others. Blaming Biden for the problems in the USA is the reasoning of a 5-year-old. It's completely naive. Unfortunately, you are far from alone. Many people have very short memories, and very high expectations. Politics being, as any student of it knows, is the art of the possible. Accepting that, and doing the best you can when your options are restricted by events, is the mark of the experienced and wise politician. Which Trump never was, and Biden is. Wise enough to surround himself with experience and not his family and yes men.

We may well see both houses back in the hands of the GOP and another period of stalemate before the Presidency changes hands again. Politics is like that. It blames incumbents for events. The important thing is to ensure the decline of Trump and his thinking. Or more correctly, his lack of thinking. A return to populism in the USA is the last thing the world needs. So long as we don't get a Trump puppet, it will be OK. They would have to pay some homage to keep the wheels on the road, but once in office could begin to diverge and restore sanity. We'll see.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

My real question is why on earth do you need to ask?

Of course, it's real. Anyone who has watched US politics over the last 50 years or so, and has a modicum of understanding of how it works, is likely to reach the same conclusions. Unless they have been brainwashed by the nonsense of the alt right and gullible to the appeal of personality populism. Which, regrettably, a lot too many seem to have been.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

It's quite sad that you think there is any irony, let alone it being "stark". That I express forceful opinions, positively, doesn't negate the fact that I know they are opinions, and not facts.

Contrast that with the approach of the poster I was responding to. I could explain in more detail, but it ought, I think, be obvious, and I don't want to descend to that level myself.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I am perfectly "chilled", don't concern yourself. Just put up some shelving and will soon walk my dog in some glorious countryside overlooking the Carrick Roads, all sparkling in the sunshine as the sailing season gets underway. Then I will play bowls at 5.30, hoping for an early finish, so I get to see most of tonights' game and us beating Newcastle. This is but a mere brief interlude whilst I have a cup of tea!

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.