Hello, my name is David Runseman and this is Talking Policy.

We are now two days out from the inauguration of Donald Trump.

We want to talk about presidential inaugurations but not spend too much time talking about Trump because we will have plenty of time to do that in the future.

I think the thing about it also is that you really get away with an underwhelming speech and a venue like that because the pageantry is so bad.

So what we have been doing this week and I should say I always forget to do this. I am joined by Helen, Marha, Aaron and Chris Brook. Welcome back, who is to be distinguished from Chris Bickerton.

We had on last week and I forgot to announce.

What exactly is good?

Yeah, I have heard.

But I also sort of like am trying to get here today to anniversary of House of House for our world.

We have been looking at past inaugurations trying to work out which are our favourites.

Some of our favourites I should warn you are the well-known ones but not all of them. They are one or two surprises here.

But also just to try and get a sense because it is an amazing thing. I don't want to say sentimental about this.

It is an amazing thing to read these. We haven't read all of them.

But to read this sequence of speeches, they have never missed one in the same way that America has never missed an election.

Right back to the beginning, every time a president was due to get up and deliver one of these, it has happened.

Even in war, even when previous ones have just been assassinated, they still do it.

And they are all kind of the same. Some of them are really long.

Harrison, I think, was so long he got pneumonia and it killed him.

30 days afterwards.

Right.

Some of them are really short, including perhaps the best of all, which will come to the end.

Although actually I think the shortest is Roosevelt in 45, January 45, where he just kind of says we just need to get on with this war.

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