Toss-up for worst week ever between Johnson, Djokovic and Prince Andrew

Were there any winners?

By Ricky Browne

What a week for three people – Boris Johnson, Prince Andrew and Novak Djokovic. But who had the worst one?

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson may think he’s had the worst week – he had to apologise for a party at Downing St on May 20 last year, which he said he thought was a work event. But it wasn’t enough, and leaders from all the main opposition parties and some of his own party members and former supporters have said he must resign.

And then to make matters worse, it turns out there was another drunken party at Downing St on April 15 last year, at a time when the Queen had to mourn her husband’s death alone at his funeral. Fortunately Johnson wasn’t there. But it does help to paint a picture of Downing St being some kind of Frat House like Delta Tau Chi out of Animal House.

And then, just to make matters worse, a video of Boris dancing in Jamaican (or Caribbean) style to Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”, has been doing the rounds on social media. It shows Johnson ‘whining up’ with an enthusiastic dancing partner, holding a blue saber. There is no date on the video, which could have been from a few years ago, perhaps when he was London mayor. But its release comes at an inopportune time.

This morning Downing St apologised to Buckingham Palace for the parties that took place the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

So it sucks to be Boris.

And then you have the world’s number one tennis player Novak Djokovic. He’s been on a bit of a rollercoaster. First he was in celebratory mood, as the court decided that it was wrong to cancel his visa exception and that he should be allowed to remain, and therefore defend his Australian Open title. If he wins that title it will be his 21^st grand slam victory – meaning he would be the most successful tennis player (male anyway)  in world history.

His rivals, like him, are all currently on 20 Grand Slams each – namely Roger Federer who is on a steep decline, and Rafael Nadal who is vaccinated and waiting to play at the Open.

But then it was reported today that Australia has decided to cancel his visa again – giving him very little time to challenge that decision in court before the start of the AO.

Any court battle he may face (if he’s lucky) at the Australian Opem, will fade in comparison to his battles in the Australian judicial courts.

So it sucks to be Novax Novak.

And then you have Prince Andrew who may feel he has been royally f*cked. He has been facing his own court battle, but his has nothing to do with Covid. Its all to do with a sexual escapade that he may or may not have had years ago with a young girl that was introduced to him by his then friends convicted sexual offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The girl, Virginia Giuffre, now a woman, is taking Prince Andrew to court in New York on charges of sexual abuse when she was 17 years old, saying that she was trafficked to the UK to have sex with him.

He and his lawyers have been busy trying to have the case dismissed. But this week the judge decided that the case should go ahead.

That was bad enough. But things quickly got much worse for the ninth in line to the throne, as Buckingham Palace quickly announced that he had been stripped of his military titles – not the kind of stripping that he has any fondness for.

And potentially even worse, he would no longer be able to use the HRH title – though, unlike Princess Diana, he would still have it.

Buckingham Palace says he will now face the court charges as a ‘private citizen’ – but that will not lessen the global public interest in the story.

So it sucks to be Prince Andrew.

Who had the worse week though?

Boris is facing the possibility of having to resign, but so far he hasn’t – so yes his week has sucked, but it could be much worse, and there is still a possibility that he may be able to cling onto power.

Novak may not get the chance to play at the Australia Open, and could be denied entry to the country for three years – meaning three missed AOs. But there is still a possibility that the courts may say he can stay. And even if he doesn’t get to play in this AO, as long as Nadal doesn’t win and therefore be the first tennis player to hit 21 slam wins, he could potentially play at Wimbledon, the French Open or the US Open. It means that he still has the opportunity to become the most successful player in world history – even more so if he decides to have a vaccine.

Without that vaccine he may be denied entry to the UK, US or France – though France has already suggested they would allow him to play.

So yes, Novak’s week has sucked – but it may all workout, so its not yet as bad as it could be.

The Prince should win the prize for having the worst week as has lost almost all his prestige, and has virtually no admirers left – perhaps not even within his own family. The former heartthrob of the royal family is now viewed by some as being a sexual abuser of children. It is an extreme loss of face and humiliation on a global scale that will be hard if not impossible to recover from.

The former hero of the Falklands War is now in danger of being held in as low public regard as his former friend billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

And to top it all, he has appeared to embarrass his mother, the Queen, at a time when the nation is celebrating her platinum jubilee.

Despite Andrew’s travails, the Queen has come out this week as being a great monarch – first of all, for following the Covid protocols to the letter, even during her husband’s funeral – at a time when raucous parties were being held at Downing St.

And then for moving quickly to strip Prince Andrew of many of his titles.

Her actions on both fronts will probably boost support for the monarchy in general, showing the importance of having a Head of State who can be depended on to act in an admirable manner, especially at such a difficult time. She has shown that actions speak louder than words.

And another winner this week is China, who have lucked out by having the global news lens focus on Johnson, Djokovic and Prince Andrew – rather than on Christine Lee, a London-based solicitor who the M15 says is a Chinese agent, working to destabilise the UK government.