Séamas O'Reilly: Should Joe Biden just do a Zoom call next time?

"Confusing the All Blacks with the Black and Tans was, let’s be honest, a masterstroke - as was his choice to greet the fine spread in a Dundalk deli with the exclamation “I don’t know why my ancestors left!""

US President Joe Biden at Dublin Castle for the official dinner where he was greeted by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Pic: Julien Behal

I remember former US President Bill Clinton’s visit to my hometown, Derry, in 1995. The trip likely involved significant contributions to politics, but I remember it for the surreal sight of him turning on the city’s Christmas lights.

He did so happily. So happily, in fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking it had been his longest-held ambition, and indeed his only reason for making the trip, or even getting into politics in the first place.