While it is, of course, undoubtedly true that a new broom sweeps cleanest, it can only do as well as the sweeper.

And so it is with newly-appointed President Joe Biden. He’s signed a plethora of executive orders and other documents as he used his early days in office to, figuratively at least, clean up the mess Trump made in the last four years.

But is it enough? No, not yet. And, really, how can anyone expect Biden to undo four years of atrocious decisions in less than a month? It is just not possible. However, there is one area where he could do a lot more.

Immigration

Whether through accident or design, the new president has failed to do enough to overturn his predecessor’s Orwellian orders regarding immigration. While he has ordered a relaxation of Trump’s heartless policies and called for a review of every order made in the last four years, it seems clear to me that the White House can and should do more. And, even more importantly, do it now.

He alone needs to get a grip on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that has apparently gone rogue and is ignoring Biden’s demands for a review, as well as violating new guidelines.

After Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations was blocked by a court, those in charge of ICE have tried to restart deportation flights – in direct contravention of guidelines introduced by the Department of Homeland Security, of which it is a part.

According to a White House spokesperson: “President Biden has been very clear about restoring compassion and order to our immigration system, and correcting the divisive, inhumane and immoral policies of the past four years, which is our focus in the coming weeks and months.”

Well, yes he has. Very clear. Though, apparently not clear enough to rein in ICE, a federal agency that is supposed to act on the authority of the government.

ICE also made an effort to deport families seeking asylum who were being held in facilities in Texas, which saw more than 100 advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, strongly oppose the decision.

One example of someone caught in the middle is a family in the Ivory Coast who reportedly won a diversity visa lottery, supposedly designed to increase the diversity of immigrants to the U.S.

Just how anyone has the gall to turn that into a lottery, nothing more than a lucky dip, I find both offensive and immoral.

Be that as it may, despite winning, their American dream looks as elusive as ever. And that, shamefully is down to two presidents. First, Trump brought in an immigration ban that is due to stay in place until it runs out at the end of March. Second, Biden has left the ban in place.

And, if those media reports are correct, it means the family - and other families affected - can kiss their visas goodbye.

Such things should never happen. It is now time for Biden to take swift and decisive action to put matters right.

Impeachment

I cannot possibly ignore the fact that we have just come to the end of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection.

His actions over the course of his presidency culminated on 6 January with the lawless attack on the Capitol, which led to several deaths.

I was glued to live coverage of the trial in the U.S. senate and struck by the forceful and convincing arguments, backed up by video evidence, of the prosecutors.

They presented the horrific facts well - sometimes with the understandable emotions of someone who had been there at the time, in realistic in fear of losing their lives.

The two lawyers representing Trump, on the other hand, produced a defence that was hardly worthy of the word. It was pitiful and did little or nothing to answer the charge, much less refute it. Instead, they relied on claims that the trial wasn’t constitutional and accused the Democrats of delaying the trial process when, in fact, that was caused by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

To any right-minded, independent, non-partisan juror, based purely on the evidence presented at the trial, there could be only one verdict: guilty.

But, unfortunately, the jury was not impartial. It was an equal 50-50 split of Democrats and Republicans, and a two-thirds majority, 67 votes, is needed to convict.

Regretfully, the vote ignored the facts as well as the evidence given at the trial, and was drawn largely along party lines.

Yes, seven Republicans voted honestly to convict but that was ten fewer than needed. The final vote was 57-43 in favour of conviction, far short of the 67 needed.

I am sorry but in no way surprised at the results of the trial. That is what I expected.

The magic 67 deserved to be reached. I saw the evidence. Trump urged his thug army to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. In the same speech he called on them to “fight like hell”.

Remember, the majority of senators said he was guilty.

Pro-Trump senators effectively stole the trial vote.