As is my annual custom, I have by now absorbed a few fragments of the gloriously gargantuan Edinburgh Festivals – International, Book and Fringe.

One play, An American Love Letter to Edinburgh, prompted thoughts of contemporary Transatlantic relations, particularly in the light of Kamala Harris’s Democratic nomination and the contest with Donald Trump.

The play recounts how Benjamin Franklin, on a trip to the UK advocating for the US colonies, paid a visit to the Scottish capital, describing it as “six weeks of the densest happiness I have known in my life.”

In sharp contrast, it occurred to me once more that I have seldom witnessed such anxiety and disquiet as there is among our citizenry today.

That is, of course, mirrored in America. Indeed, the Harris acceptance speech, rich with the customary platitudes, was predicated upon offering unity to a bitterly divided nation.

Ms Harris has derived an uplift in fortunes simply by replacing the evidently ailing Joe Biden. She looks and sounds fresh. She pledges to support working-class aspiration. She promises to work for women, notably through protecting the right to abortion.

As for Donald Trump, he is currently struggling to find a narrative to tackle her. Much of his response to her acceptance speech centred around linking her to Biden, questioning why she had not acted in office on the pledges she was now making.

For now, that does not appear to be working. But he will find his rasping tongue. He will project platitudes of his own, probably derived from his hostility to migration and his claim that Ms Harris failed in that field.

Both candidates, naturally,........

© Herald Scotland