"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"

President Trump recently turned 80. He believed his present to the world was peace in the Gulf. Yet, as I type the Strait of Hormuz has been closed again as fighting resumes in Lebanon. The concept of a permanent peace in the Middle-East risks becoming an oxymoron.  Trump’s hometown basketball team, the New York Knicks, delivered him another present by winning the NBA title for the first time since 1973, ironically also a year when the politics of oil dominated the world- then it was OPEC quadrupling the price of oil, this year the war in Iran. Trump was booed when introduced to the crowd at one of the finals, whilst former President Obama received a standing ovation. New York has always been a Democrat town.

Obama’s Presidential Centre was opened in his hometown of Chicago last week. Trump criticised its brutalist architectural style, labelling it “a garbage can.”

Of course, he has promised a more modest memorial in Miami on which the letters of his surname will be emblazoned on glass panels, resembling a Department store. Yet nothing Trump could build could match the tastelessness and vulgarity of his hosting a UFC Championship fight on the lawn of the White House. Who said no one went broke underestimating the taste of the American public? You just never thought the barometer of hideous and inappropriate would be set by the Commander-in-Chief. Almost as bizarre to think that the world has its first trillionaire in Elon Musk, someone who has felt the disdain and wrath of President Trump, following the public float, or should that be launch, of shares in his Starlink company.

Across the Atlantic in shades of Kevin Rudd’s overthrow in Australia in 2010, Keir Starmer having won Labour’s most significant election victory since World War Two is on the verge of resigning as England's Prime Minister. The heat is on and not just because of unseasonably high temperatures.  His Mancurian rival, Andy Burnham, having resoundingly won the Makerfield by-election, is doing as many commentators predicted he would by marching straight to Westminster with an agenda for leadership and more orthodox socialist policies.  Starmer’s resignation would see England have its seventh Prime Minister since 2016.

This is how unlikely politics has become around the world. Large parliamentary majorities are no longer impregnable guarantees of survival. In Australia, commentators are already talking about the possibility of Anthony Albanese retiring next year. A bungled Budget, which has seen the government renege on announcements made in early May, many of which broke promises made before last year’s election, combined with the rise of populist party, One Nation, has the Australian Prime Minister suddenly looking vulnerable.  

In Italy, thousands marched in Rome and Florence last weekend, not because of Italy’s failure to make the World Cup finals for the third successive time, but against the country’s immigration policies.  The fascist spirit of Il Duce, was evoked by many.

In Belfast recently there were fire bombings and riots, not because of sectarian strife, but again because of concerns about the efficacy of unlimited immigration. The protests were triggered by an alleged assault by a Sudanese refugee  who stabbed his victim and was seemingly on the cusp of beheading his victim.

How ironic the World Cup seems to be. It is arguably a greater showpiece for world unity through sport than the Olympics. Already it has produced unlikely heroes: the 40 year old goalkeeper from Cabo Verde whose heroics saw his country draw with soccer titan, Spain earning him overnight two million social media ‘followers’ and the tiny Caribbean state of Curacao who have earned a point with their unlikely draw against Ecuador.  

Yet, the world’s most significant and populated countries, Russia-banned, India and China- not good enough-are not there. Just as it is with the world’s body politic, there seems to be an absence of unity and common direction. So many countries are being internally tackled by questions about their identity and political stability.

And the newly crowned King of tennis, Alex Zverev, has learned how temporary time on the victor’s podium can be. He was defeated in the semi-finals of the Halle tournament by American Taylor Fritz, who was a first-round loser at Roland Garros. Favoured to win the final, Fritz was beaten in straight sets by fellow American Francis Tiafoe.

At the recent Libema Open all the champions, singled and doubles were unseeded.  Assuredness and predictability seem rarer commodities than ever.

Outside of politics, tennis and football, the world is having to confront a growing lack of assuredness about the virtues of artificial intelligence.

In 1993 Vikram Seth published his magisterial novel, A Suitable Boy. My paperback edition is a mere 1474 pages. A dear friend observed that readers forgot to realise that the importance of the story was there for us all to see in its title- who would be a suitable boy for the protagonist to marry? Sometimes the titles of things provide the unintentional explanation of their significance. Take Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme- it has become a financial disability for the country as too many who do not need its protections have taken advantage of its overly generous provisions.

As it is also with artificial intelligence. How can we surrender our imagination, creativity, and originality to anything that is artificial? Ask a good cook about the difference between genuine vanilla essence and its artificial counterpart! Even the greatest artists have never been able to match the colour palettes of nature in its pure form, Blake famously captured the ineffable joy of the original:

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a Heaven in a Wildflower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour

Artificial intelligence may come to be regarded as one of the great saboteurs of our times and culture.  O tempora, o mores, indeed. Teachers at school and university campuses are noting the extent to which students have become seduced by its apparent powers.  Students are surrendering their unique thought processes  to an entirely impersonal phenomenon which they implicitly trust. This after computers have seen students abandon their grammar skills to ‘Grammar Check’ and ‘Spell Check.’

The onslaught of AI has seen a lack of intrinsic knowledge become even more pronounced. The distressing corollary is the loss of the ability to analyse the accuracy of what AI generates.  In a world requiring discernment and judgement, there is less and less of it. How can there be a common humanity if humans abandon their semantic assessment of all things to the generations of inanimate object?

Thankfully, there will be nothing inauthentic about the forthcoming Wimbledon tournament. Whilst it is likely to be overshadowed by the ongoing World Cup, especially if England can emulate their sole 1966 victory, Wimbledon remains the primus inter pares Grand Slam tournament. England’s forecast warm weather will bake the grass courts before the opening match on 29^th June. Every day the courts will play differently, testing the reflexes and skills of the players. Au naturel. Nothing artificial.

Sinner must start a warm favourite to retain his title, although he does not like the warmth. He might be beginning to have a complex about the Cerundolo brothers from Argentina. Beaten by Juan Manuel in the French Open, the older brother Francisco has won the Wimbledon warm-up Queens tournament.

Djokovic, in the absence of Alcaraz, must favour his chances of a run to the final. Zverev would have to join the elite company of Borg, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Alcaraz who all crossed the English Channel from clay to grass and won both titles in the same year. 

In the Women’s Draw, Wimbledon has seen a run of eight different champions in the last eight years. Sabalenka, depending on a range of factors only best known to herself, could make it nine, but it’s either Swiatek or Rybakina for mine. The last woman to win the French and Wimbledon titles in the same year was Serena Williams- this morning granted a wildcard to compete in the Singles’ tournament-in 2015.

Whether it be on the tennis court or in the court of public opinion ascending to the throne in either tennis or politics is an extraordinary business. As for retaining the crown, that’s entirely another story.