The quiet kid that overcame the school bully.

When I was a schoolboy, a high school kid, I was fairly mercilessly bullied. Not physically. Mentally.

It was a Catholic comprehensive, so drew in kids from all over the city and that meant some future prison candidates that I wasn’t equipped to cope with.

I was specky (“Hoi Specky!” “Joe 90”) suffered from acne (“Plookie faced twat”) chubby (“Fat bastard”. My mum said it was puppy fat and I’d grow out of it) intelligent (“professor”) and a weakling (at least compared to my tormentors who were tough, coming from really rough neighbourhoods in Edinburgh).

So I developed an aptitude for evasion. I got street smart, learned how to talk my way out of situations and gained a sixth sense for anticipating aggro and finding escape routes.

But it got to me. I was anxious and uptight. I found respite in studying hard, and did reasonably well.

But I had a dream. An escape valve. That I would become a dentist and exact my revenge on these horrible kids later in life when I was extracting their rotten molars.

It wasn’t to be, (I didn’t study that hard) but I made my own progress in my own way.

It was challenging.

So, I’ve felt for Joe Biden, “Sleepy Joe”, who’s been mercilessly ridiculed by the professional bully that’s Donald Trump: “I’ve achieved more in 47 months than he’s achieved in 47 years.” “Your son’s a junkie.” “You’re the mayor of Antifa.” “You’re the puppet of the commies.” “You’re a criminal, and so are your family.”

Like me, Joe had to put up with a lot of crap and take a ton of verbal blows. But he has quietly gone about his duties, believing that in the long run his core character would see him through this merciless tirade of abuse.

Joe had one thing to cling on too. Decency.

Joe knew he was right and the bully was wrong.

Joe knew that most folks would eventually see through this awful behaviour and side with the guy who was only trying to do his best, believing that integrity, truth and a consistent message that was founded on democratic principles was surely more acceptable to the majority than ego, narcissism, autocracy and, yup, bullying.

And yesterday Sleepy Joe got his tormentor where perhaps he metaphorically wanted.

In the dentist’s chair.

Drill whirring.

Anaesthetic run out, used up in his patient’s earlier self-administered self-centred medication.

He could go for the root canal and cause untold pain to his tormentor.

But he’ll spare his victim. Because Joe’s a good guy.

Well done Joe.