Has craziness become contagious?

Hold onto your hats! The bumpy ride continues! And it is a ride that has been centuries in the making!

We may see a Prince of England formally stripped of his birthright as Prince Andrew, long considered the late Queen’s favourite child, has become the least favoured of his people. Allegations of aggressive sexual conduct with 0inors are bad enough. Throw in continued association with a pimp of paedophile sexual activity. Add accommodation arrangements that are generous to the point of absurdity, and you have no option other than an ignominious exit.  

We have seen overnight a Pope praying with an English monarch for the first time in half a century. Over to you,  King Charles III, and  Pope Leo XIV- you have counter-reformed the Reformation under the grandeur of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling.  It took Nottingham Forest’s modern day Aristotle Onassis owner only thirty-seven days to sack his team’s new coach, Ange Postecoglou. In one day Charles and Leo may have overturned centuries of religious antagonism.

In France, the sense of vive la difference continues to become grander, if not absurd. Former President Sarkozy has been sent to a prison for five years , yet the French cannot provide a secure home for priceless jewels that were housed in the Louvre.

Sarkozy has been convicted of using illegal funds from  former Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi to fund a Presidential campaign.  Have we ever had a time when so many Presidents and Prime Ministers around the globe has been arraigned, accused, impeached and/or imprisoned? Think America, France, and South Korea for starters! Scotland’s former Chief Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is under investigation.

Australia’s hard-bitten “my job is to destroy the Tories” Prime Minister travels to Washington and is rapturous about his reception from President Trump, a man with whom Mr. Albanese probably shares no mutual convictions other than wariness of the Chinese,  and certainly has no ideological compatibility. On every pivotal issue, the “best of friends” have no common ground: tariffs, statehood for Palestine and international climate change agreements. Remember, it was a struggle for Albanese and his foreign Minister to express support for the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capability.

Speaking of receptions and destruction, the East Wing of the White House has been removed to make way for a Presidential ballroom. It will be dripping in gold leaf, gauche and gaudy- would we expect anything less or should that be more?

Equally bizarre is news of the apparent relationship between Canada’s former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and much younger fading pop diva, Katy Perry.  Well, if Justin’s Prime Ministerial father, Pierre, could find time to date Barbra Streisand, why not? Why do so many of those elected to represent the people end up behaving and believing that the unreal, superficial world in which they suddenly live is their entitlement and just reward? Imagine the commentary if Angela Merkel started cavorting with a Backstreet Boy?

The craziness of the tennis world is no less compelling. Unfortunately, it is fast developing an unedifying quality. Recently Carlos Alcaraz complained about the tiring nature of the tennis tour schedule. Even more recently Jannik Sinner withdrew from a tournament complaining of an injury that appeared to have ruled him out from tournament play for the foreseeable future.

Remarkably, Alcaraz shook off his languor and Sinner the effects of his injury to play in an exhibition match in Saudi Arabia which, as we know ,is the citadel of democracy and human rights. Sinner recorded a straight-sets victory, with Alcaraz’s anguish assuaged by a runners-up cheque for $2.3 million.

The Women’s game is also travelling down a morally dubious highway. Saudi Arabia, also well known for its emancipation of its women-  in recent years they have been allowed to obtain a driver’s licence and have been given the right to vote, but only in local council elections-will shortly host the end of year finals for game’s top ranked eight players. To run from 1-8 November the season ending tournament will be played at that well known international tennis venue,  the Indoor Arena of King Saud University in Riyadh.

We all recognise that Saudi Arabia is seeking to use sporting events to ameliorate its image in the eyes of the West.  Nevertheless, it is preposterous to believe that the Women’s Tennis Association could truly consider that a tournament designed, outside of the Grand Slams, to be the zenith of the tennis year could take place in a country where women are placed at its nadir.

The Men’s end of year finals will take place the following week from 9-16 November in Turin where, no doubt, the local crowd will be barracking for Janik Sinner to end the year with ‘bragging rights’. The  Italian tennis odyssey continues with the Davis Cup finals to be played at Bologna’s Exhibition Centre from 18-23 November.

In the same way we remember the rivalry  and passion of decades of sectarian division with a certain fascination, we recollect when the Davis Cup final- played over a best of five matches three day format- was an emphatic and truly important full stop to the year’s tennis calendar. Whilst we celebrate the dilution of sectarianism, we mourn the devaluation of the Davis Cup into a frenzied carnival of one week that has all but entirely stripped the event of its importance and legacy.

Amidst the flurry of current events, we must continue to search, no matter how difficult, for gravitas and enduring consequence.