I hadn't quite realised what a pair of lungs Lady Gaga has

that was quite a performance

Is he really that doddery, though?  I don't know, if I didn't know, that I would put him at 76...

Anyway, even if he had to be wheeled out on a mobility scooter, and could only stand with a zimmer frame, and had to have his heart paddle shocked into beating, who gives a fvck - it could have been Trump standing there, and it's not, and right now that is literally all that matters.

And nobody else could have done what he did, nobody else would have swung enough of the voters who had been terrified into believing that a vote for a Democrat would be a vote for SOCIALISM!!!!!, COMMUNISM!!!!!!, none of the other Democrat contenders could have managed what he did, precisely because he is old and white and ostensibly harmless - and whether by choice or by virtue of his age, is pretty much guaranteed to only serve one term.

So, for today at least, he can dodder all he wants, he is the reason Trump is currently several hundred miles away, effectively neutered for a little bit, blubbing into his overly long tie, stamping his tiny feet, and wringing his tiny hands.  And for that we should all be grateful.

Lady Gaga was fab.  She looked like a giant upturned tulip and sang the shit out of the anthem, smashing the Trump out of it and beating it back into shape.  Her brooch said it all, then she sang it the extra mile. Fab.

J-low for me.

Gasp Brooks.

To be fair, I can't imagine many more nerve wracking gigs, particularly if - as he seemed to be - you are a bit emosh.  I guess it's not surprising his breathing went out of the window.

She was great 

I just listened to Whitney sing it at the Super Bowl 

I would give almost anything to be able to open and mouth and have that voice come out. She was just incredible 

Lady Gaga was good and yeah it will have annoyed all the right people without there being any way anyone could sensibly say it was disrespectful or whatever.

You can't compare her to Whitney Houston. You can't compare anyone to Whitney really. She was pretty much a a once in a generation voice. I am not a massive fan of her music really but you can't argue with her voice. 

Gaga was all about her and she seemed to miss a couple of notes.  

That said, as with most American 'ceremonial' the whole thing was toe-curlingly awful self-congratulation and faux pomp and circumstance.

One of the few decent things left about GB is that we can pull of a decent large-scale ceremonial public event without going completely over the top.  Think the Olympics, Royal Weddings, RAF 100 etc...

I just love that the Americans insist on adding showbiz to such occasions.  Can you imagine Boris taking up his seat in the Commons as new PM and a boy band singing the national anthem from the press gallery?

Next time we have a new PM, and they go to the Palace and get asked to form a government, I want to see Paloma Faith appear on the balcony and belt out the national anthem followed by Elton with "Can you feel the love tonight". If it is a Tory PM he could do "I guess that's why they call it the blues". Or Tom Jones could do "What's new pussycat?"

Make politics interesting again.

That was definitely one of J Lo's best performances (but she has never been a particularly good vocalist), and probably not one of Gaga's, but it was by no means "bad" (if you want to see a really surprising performance from her, check out her tribute to Stevie Wonder, I totally was not expecting that from her), and at least she resisted the temptation to turn it into some awful warbly w**kfest.  Yes, I'm looking at you, Fergie.