The US Supreme Court deserves better.

You didn't have to watch the satirical show on Saturday night on US TV to guage how a lot of people are viewing the Kavanaugh/Blasey Ford battle. But it was a brilliant take-off of the angry, sniffing judge, over-emphasising for comical effect his aggressive, denial denial performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Did anyone come away from that extraordinary series of outbursts and actually think to themselves: "Yes this is a great guy and should be on the Supreme Court for his measured intellect and brilliant mind, never mind the sniffing." Well, the Republicans, except for Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, clearly thought he was a good guy, thus agreeing with President Trump's description of him. Now I realise that members of the Supreme Court don't have to be really really nice people. That's not part of the job requirements. But they do need to be seen as upright model citizens who have earned the right to sit in judgement on their fellow Americans. Whatever their politics they also need to be unbiased, balanced and thoughtful. After that deluge of hatred and anger and sniffing, does Brett Kavanaugh meet those basic requirements? Trump loved him for his outrage, and said so in a tweet, but I can't imagine there were many who would agree with him. He came across as an unpleasant in-your-face sort of bloke, not remotely calm or compassionate or understanding. He may well pass the FBI test - he has passed it six times already - and he may well end up sitting on the Supreme Court. But he will remain a wholly divisive figure and that cannot be good for justice in the United States.