Monday Madness — World Edition

Well, another Monday on this magnificent little planet, and the lunatics are still running the asylum.

Somewhere a billionaire is having breakfast on a yacht, a politician is explaining why we all need to make sacrifices, and a mother is quietly putting off her own medical treatment because her children need feeding.

Same world. Different breakfast menus.

I’ve wandered through enough of this strange,crazy,beautiful planet to realise that some of the wealthiest people I’ve met have had absolutely nothing.

Some random bloke living in conditions that would send a Western influencer into therapy will invite you into his home, share his food, pour you something questionable and laugh like he’s won the lottery.

Meanwhile, back in civilisation, a corporation making billions needs a tax incentive to give something back.

We’ve got wars being discussed like football scores, forests disappearing for products nobody really needs, oceans filling with our rubbish and celebrities selling us spiritual enlightenment between advertisements for face cream.

And apparently we’re the intelligent species.

Quite a performance.

The really fascinating thing is how much effort goes into convincing ordinary people that they’re the problem.

Use a paper straw. Take shorter showers. Recycle your yoghurt container.

Meanwhile, someone is flying halfway around the world in a private jet to discuss sustainability over a seven-course lunch.

You have to admire the creativity.

Perhaps Buddha had a point about the dangers of attachment. Although I suspect he’d be escorted out of the shareholders’ meeting before dessert.

I don’t know what the answer is to all this madness. But I’ve seen enough kindness in unexpected places to believe we’re not completely fucked yet.

The world doesn’t need another billionaire telling us how to live. It could probably do with a few more ordinary people looking after each other.

Anyway, happy Monday to the architects of this magnificent circus.

May your champagne be warm, your Wi-Fi unreliable and your next spiritual awakening come without a tax deduction.

And to the rest of us, keep your sense of humour. It’s one of the few things they haven’t worked out how to charge us for.

Yet.

Funny old world.