America

The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president, and Kamala Harris as vice-president, of the United States took place today: 14 days after the storming of the Capitol building by a supporters of the previous holder of the office. It’s a strange time in American politics but, thankfully, the day passed without significant incident.

I can’t tell you when the swearing-in, or any similar ceremony, happens in any other country. I know that power passes to the next President at noon on January 20th every four years. I don’t know when the baton is passed in British politics. I know it has something to do with a party leader - the one with most seats - making a visit to Buckingham Palace and being invited to form a government. But I don’t know that, in the UK, we have a moment in time in the same way. When is the moment that power is passed from one leader to another or is there some in-between state?

Of course, I could look it up. But it seems very telling that I think I understand the transfer of power in a foreign country better than in my own.

In the US we know who has ‘the codes’ at 11am on January 20th. And who has them at Noon.

(The picture, it’s a trivet that sits in a kitchen drawer, occasionally used and was a gift from a friend who moved to the US many year ago).