The P&J’s Westminster correspondent Lindsay Razaq swaps UK politics for the US Presidential election.
At a community centre in Northern Virginia, a group of Scottish country dancing enthusiasts gather for their weekly practice.
Many have Scottish ancestors and their passion for Scotland is immediately visible in the kilts on show.
Alexandria, a commutable metro ride from Washington DC, is very proud of its Scottish heritage.
It was founded by Scottish merchants and has a sister city in Dundee.
I’m also told some of the cobbled streets are made of stones brought over from Scotland in the 17th and 18th centuries.
So people are literally walking over little pieces of Scotland every day.
The class is run by the Northern Virginia branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
Among its members is Elizabeth Holtan, 29, who works for an international non-profit organisation in DC.
She fell in love with dancing four years ago and is now on the group’s board.
“It doesn’t just connect you to really welcoming people, it’s an international community,” she says.
“I have danced all over the UK and Europe.”
She has even ticked Orkney off her list, having visited just before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.
Her ancestors were farmers from Helmsdale in Sutherland who emigrated to the US in the early 1600s and then again in the early 1700s.
Unlike many people backing Hillary Clinton as the lesser of two evils, Ms Holtan is voting for the Democratic nominee because she thinks she is a good candidate.
“For me it’s not that she’s the best worst option,” she insists. “She’s great on women’s issues.
“She’s a little too defence heavy for my tastes but I think she did a good job as secretary of state. She has a great track record of negotiating with our allies.”
As for the e-mail controversy, she believes there are “far more important issues to focus on”.
Ms Holtan also reveals the campaign was stressing her out until she set up her browser to replace the words Donald Trump with “Mr Sparkles”.
“Where did the term public servant go?” she replies when asked about him.
Earlier in the campaign, Virginia was considered a battleground state, but Mrs Clinton is now widely expected to win with a comfortable margin.
And Mr Trump effectively conceded defeat a few weeks ago when he pulled his campaign out of its state headquarters in Alexandria.
Speaking to the dancers, it is clear why.
No one I talk to is a Trump supporter.
Jay Andrews, one of the class teachers, says he believes a Trump presidency would be “a disaster”.
Describing himself as an independent, the retired coastguard commander says he votes “the issues” rather than along any party lines.
But he adds: “It has been crazy, it has been insane. Most people don’t like the options.
“Trump’s half Scottish, but all of my Scottish friends have a strong dislike of him.”
The 77-year-old is also descended from Scots who came from the western Highlands, near what is now Fort William.
They stayed in the US after being shipwrecked off the coast of Maine, then Massachusetts, in 1635 when a hurricane hit.
He can even name the ship – the Angel Gabriel – which was transporting settlers and supplies to the so-called New World.
Henrietta Burke, 58, who has been dancing for eight years after first trying her hand as a teenager on Mull, is one of the regulars and calls the class the highlight of her week.
The registered Republican, who went to school in London, says she is “making a decision” to vote neither for Mr Trump nor Mrs Clinton.
She voted in the primaries but is not willing to support Mr Trump.
“I wish there had been a contest equal to the great country that America is,” she adds.
“But we have sunk to a new low. It’s really sad.”
