Blink and you might miss it

The tennis year is over after the finals of the Davis Cup in Bologna and the ATP finals in Turin. It’s been a triumphant few week for Italian tennis. Jannik Sinner continued his scorching run of indoor success by defeating Alcaraz 7-6(4) 7-5 in Turin, with Alcaraz’s compensation being to end the year ranked No.1. Alcaraz now leads their rivalry 10 matches to 6.

Yesterday, Italy, for the first time in its history won a third consecutive Davis Cup title defeating Spain, with neither Sinner nor Alcaraz playing due to injuries.

All players, many of whom have complained about overly taxing schedules, can now rest before contemplating the start of the 2026 season in Australia with the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open to commence its main draw on Sunday 18^th January.

In Australia, the Federal Parliament is also approaching its summer recess. The politicians and the tennis players will be making less racket and using their racquets far less in the weeks ahead.

For all the formal ending of the year’s political and sporting contests, there does not seem much time to pause and reflect. Indeed, extra energy seems required to consider the gyrations of the world.

Maybe this is the case because the certitudes of the world seem under siege if not undergoing wholesale change.  What seems fixed one week is suddenly torn asunder.

Take the Davis Cup. For decades the event ranked alongside the Grand Slams as one of the premier tennis events on the calendar, if not the sporting world. Staged over a year, its culmination was the climax of tense three day, best of five match, five set contests between nations to reach the final. Now, the Davis Cup finals are all conducted in a one week shoot out with nations advancing by winning two out of three matches.  Some of the heroic Davis Cup matches of decades past- think Trabert v Hoad, McEnroe v Wilander and Cash v Pernfors for starters-lasted longer than entire rounds in Bologna.

Blink and you might miss it.

Take politics. There was a time when changes of party leadership were monumental events. Now they seem so frequent that they have lost their capacity to stun or surprise. In Australia last week the Liberal Party Oppositions in the State parliaments of Victoria and New South Wales replaced their leaders.  The new leaders, both female Millennials, Jess Wilson and Kellie Sloane, are serving their first terms in Parliament.

Most expect Federal Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, to be replaced sooner rather than later in 2026.  Who would bet on Keir Starmer lasting his first term as Prime Minister?

In Australia,  Paul Keating and John Howard waited 22 and 11 years respectively to lead their  Federal Labor and Liberal parties.  Who says “all in good time” anymore? If the time is now, just do it to coin a phrase.

The southern hemisphere summer break is traditionally a time to linger over a series of five day Test matches in cricket. Last weekend the first Test of the storied Ashes contest between Australia and England was over in two days. It was the shortest Test Match since 1888. Blink and you might have missed it.

Cricket, once the barometer of staid standards, has now been overrun by modernity’s mojo. Australia’s captain flew in from his New York home to lead his team. England’s captain is daubed with tattoos. Test matches are interruptions between exaggerated and over-hyped one day matches. Players earn salaries that defy belief.  Blink and nearly all aspects of amateurism are gone.

In the world of politics, a day is now a long time, let alone a week.

Last week, President Trump and incoming New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, were hurling barbs at each other.

Suddenly, there is an Oval Office rapprochement and all is forgiven.  Blink and reset your perspective.

There is a peace deal on the table for Ukraine. Sign up by Thursday this week, President Zelensky or else. Blink and you might miss your chance.

The world’s economists must be no less challenged. Trump’s tariffs are on one week and removed the next. Blink and you miss major policy announcements.

In the blink of an eye our world can also deliver savage judgement on everyone, including those we thought inviolate.

Last week the hitherto darling of the English Royal Family, Princess Kate, was flung onto the jagged edges of social media’s censorious reef.

Recently recovered from chemotherapy, Kate delivered her first public speech in two years. Addressing business leaders at a Future Workforce Summit she encouraged businesses to balance “profitability and having a positive impact on the community.” Hardly “let them eat cake” rhetoric. Her speech, however, was quickly characterised as a “love over profits” address. Kate’s comments were savaged as tone deaf as millions of Britons struggle with the costs of living: “it is easy to priorities time and tenderness, when you don’t have to foot the bills,” was typical of reaction to the speech.

As many Britons wrestle with either finding a home or paying for the one they are trying to own, Kate’s message, on behalf of a family who has just provided free accommodation for the defenestrated and dishonoured former Prince Andrew, was judged to have widely missed the mark.

Blink and your reputation and image are changed forever.

The Australian government hopes that on December 10 the rapid, instant and dubious messages and imagery of social media will be blocked to those under 16. We await the unintended consequences of this pioneering and legislative social ban.

There is a month until Christmas. Blink and it will be time for New Year’s celebrations.

As the year hurtles to an end, will we have more than a fleeting moment to consider the effects of our rapidly changing societies?

If History has taught us one thing, it is that change does not necessarily equal progress.

Last month Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, known affectionately as ‘BOM’, released its new on-line forecasting website. One wonders why. Their existing site worked exceptionally well. The new site has been beset with controversy, especially when it was revealed that the cost of its implementation, originally thought to be $4 million, has been a staggering $96 million. Breathe and blink and try not to consider the latest addition to our national debt.

At my workplace we have been presented with a new recording system. It boasts an “intuitive interface,” whatever that means. But does it work so much better than its previous incarnation to justify replacing the old system? Probably not.

Rod Laver once quipped that winning a tennis match was easy: “all you have to do is hit the ball once more than your opponent.” Can’t argue with that. It seems, however, that the inescapable logic and truths of many aspects of our lives are being overtaken by a rapid desire to repattern quotidian existence. Blink, blink and blink and things are not what you assumed.

More than ever, we need time to think, think, think.