SPECIAL Counsel Robert K Hur’s report, in which he declined to prosecute Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents, also included a much-debated assessment of the president’s cognitive abilities.

“Mr Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

As an expert on memory, I can assure you that everyone forgets. In fact, most of the details of our lives – the people we meet, the things we do and the places we go – will inevitably be reduced to memories that capture only a small fraction of those experiences.