The inauguration of a new president

01/26/21 • 50 min

This week they discuss the inauguration of President Biden. Being of a certain age themselves, they take heart from the empowerment of a 78 year old man. They are but spring chickens by comparison.

Nonetheless their experience reaches down the years and they fish anecdotes and facts out of their collective memory to discuss the media and politics as it concerns America.

Biden's campaign was 'pitch perfect' says David and he is sure he is already thinking about the Mid-Terms, being a shrewd political operator with fifty years' experience. He knows he needs to court Trump supporters if he is to have any change of a meaningful and effective presidency.

His presidency has to be capable of being summed up in a short soundbite containing no more than two clear thoughts, says Nigel. "The country was broken and I fixed it" maybe.

Is it true either in the US or in Britain that one party always leaves the economy in a mess while the other always puts it back in good shape before being voted out of power? asks Mihir.

And what was the speech that Biden nicked from Neil Kinnock? Nigel sat through many a Labour Party Conference speech by "the Welsh windbag" and remembers being surprised to hear a purple passage being recycled by an American senator.

The power of political editors ... giving a byline to some young hopeful when you don't want your name on a story ... it's all in this week's podcast by the Three Old Hacks.

Get in contact with the podcast by emailing [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!

This week they discuss the inauguration of President Biden. Being of a certain age themselves, they take heart from the empowerment of a 78 year old man. They are but spring chickens by comparison.

Nonetheless their experience reaches down the years and they fish anecdotes and facts out of their collective memory to discuss the media and politics as it concerns America.

His presidency has to be capable of being summed up in a short soundbite containing no more than two clear thoughts, says Nigel. "The country was broken and I fixed it" maybe.

Is it true either in the US or in Britain that one party always leaves the economy in a mess while the other always puts it back in good shape before being voted out of power? asks Mihir.

The power of political editors ... giving a byline to some young hopeful when you don't want your name on a story ... it's all in this week's podcast by the Three Old Hacks.

Get in contact with the podcast by emailing [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!

Previous Episode

Assault on the US Capitol

Five people died in the assault on the US Capitol. Trump has been banned from Twitter for inciting his supporters. The Democratic Party is moving to impeach him for a second time. The Three Old Hacks consider the implications of this extraordinary event and how it was covered, as it happened live on TV, by the media.

Adept at reporting in war zones across the globe, was the American media caught flat footed when it came to reporting a crisis in their own capital? Were the media complicit in enabling Trump to become the demagogue he’s become? How were the Capitol police so easily overwhelmed?

Mihir recalls being in the US Congress back in 2000 when Al Gore the defeated vice President presided over a smooth transition of power to his victorious rival George Bush. David and Nigel recall the times the House of Commons has been invaded and how the British police dealt with it.

Was it a protest or was it an attempted coup?

Get in contact with the podcast by emailing [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!

Next Episode

The Quality of Leadership

Political leadership ain’t what it used to be. That’s the theme of this week’s Three Old Hacks,

We all think the summers were warmer (demonstrably not!) and life was rosier when we were young, but the Three Old Hacks put forward a pretty strong case that politicians in Britain are not of the same calibre as those who have gone before them.

Boris Johnson says we are facing the biggest challenge since the Second World War with the pandemic, but where is the Recovery Plan to get us out of the hole it has dumped us in? Where’s the Beveridge report and the Bretton Woods of the 2020s?

Sports journalist Mihir Bose, Economics editor of the Sunday Times David Smith and political commentator Nigel Dudley also miss the characters of their early days learning their craft together as professional journalists.

Remember George Brown, who served as Foreign Secretary in the Labour Government of the 1960s? And the exchange with the Bishop of Lima? ‘No I won’t dance with you. This is not a waltz but the Peruvian national anthem and you sir are drunk!’ or words to that effect.

Listen to this week’s podcast from the Three Old Hacks.

Get in contact with the podcast by emailing [email protected], we’d love to hear from you!