Joe Biden has more in common with EU than Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson watches Joe Biden's inauguration speech - Credit: Pippa Fowles / No10 Downing Stre

Readers hope lessons will be learned from Donald Trump’s time in the White House.

I have just read A Promised Land, the first part of Barack Obama’s autobiography. Time and time again, his refusal to countenance actions which do not reflect his values – those he set out very clearly during his election campaign – and the problems the USA faces with it’s divisive, two-party system stand out from what is essentially a fairly dry chronological account of his political career. Whether you agree with him or not, you could never accuse him of not being values-driven, or constantly having in mind the promises he had made to the American people, including the deprived and discriminated against, or having a high level of moral fibre.

Unsurprisingly, amongst European leaders, his greatest admiration was for Angela Merkel.

Then came Trump – the exact opposite, and a sore loser to boot. Just contrast the gracious transfer of power in 2016 with Trump’s childish and highly dangerous leading up to Biden’s inauguration.

Spiteful and inciteful rather than insightful.

I have no doubt that Joe Biden is grounded in very similar values and principles to Obama – they worked closely together for years. He is very supportive of the EU, for many reasons.

The EU collectively has far more in common with Biden than Biden has with Johnson. Biden has more to gain from working closely with the EU, whatever the manufactured mood music.
Anne Green

America’s recent election descended into farce and left democracy struggling to breathe. In order to stop a repeat performance in four years time, the method of counting must be overhauled.

The current system turned each count into a horse race, by releasing information on the numbers as they were being counted. Donald Trump merely chose his moment in each state and asserted victory, yet not all the votes had been counted.

Each state must lock down and only release the final tally and result when all votes have been counted. Thus the fairness would be ensured and not open to speculation. I think that would be the only way to restore faith in the count and democracy itself.

We must not give people who only value the truth when it suits them any wiggle room to lie and defraud voters.
S. Kneath

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