When I argued in this column last week that such was the public’s lack of confidence in the monarchy and the government (the two premier institutions in the land) that both may be on very rocky ground, I referenced the febrile days of the mid-1600s when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the pair of them.

So, this week I was impressed to discover that CBS News no less, had managed to get a comment from Charles II, the king who supplanted the Cromwells in the Restoration.

Except, obviously, CBS hadn’t. They just screwed up their numbers, confusing Chas II with the current Chas III — much to the amusement of the online meme-making community.

We all make mistakes. But Charles Stuart was no Charles Windsor.

Charles II was seen very much as a fun guy (something his current namesake can never be accused of.) This was quite some trick given that his reign coincided with the Black Death and the Great Fire of London.

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However, he also presided over what was known as Merrie England. He dumped Puritan austerity, rebuilt housing, reinvigorated the economy, bolstered the arts and generally restored a sense of positivity to the place.

The thing is, he didn’t imbue this feelgood sense by posting drippy social media videos of himself wandering through woodland like the Waleses, or offering up, as the current king and heir have done this week, half-baked acknowledgment of the appalling behaviour of Andrew and Fergie.

Chas II got things done. He didn’t go out to court popularity by gimmicky image management but by effecting real change.

But then, that was back in an era before social media turned leaders into big weans.

Social media has infantilised our world. Even worse it’s infantilised the people who are supposed to be running it.

Example: Donald Trump, this week launching an online tirade against someone called Bad Bunny.

This is the man who would style himself Leader of the Free World (Mr Trump, not Mr Bunny.) So, hadn’t he better things to be doing than picking a fight with a recalcitrant rabbit?

The world appears to be on the brink of Armageddon. The Epstein scandal is rocking global politics. Disillusionment and ICE are running amok in America, but Trump is focussed on a singer at a sports event. Seriously?

Meanwhile, as Angela Rayner ratchets up her not-very-subtle campaign to become British Prime Minister, her first salvo has been the posting of a TikTok video showing her getting her hair done.

That’ll galvanise the voters worried about paying the rent and the country going down the tubes.

Getting back to her roots (in the hairdo sense) Angela is yet another believer that the way to the electorate’s heart is showing them her fun, authentic self. Because who needs proper politics when your post has gone viral?

Another one is the new Japanese PM who has posted her own “fun” video showing her in a drumming contest with her South Korean counterpart. It’s not as though there aren’t problems in their immediate vicinity they could be banging on about — what with Beijing eyeing up Taiwan and breathing down their necks.

But why worry about fulfilling your remit when you can do a Phil Collins?

And back here? Even our own lot have been at it.

MLAs and councillors have been posting their “hilarious” AI created avatars showing us what fun folks they can be when they’re not doing… remind me again, what is it that they do?

In the current political climate in Northern Ireland with dysfunctional Stormont and council inertia, what people want to see is improvement in public services and the infilling of potholes — not what politicians look like after ChatGPT has turned them into cartoons.

The politicians fondly imagine this is helping them “connect with voters.” What’s connecting with voters is the distinct impression that these people have too much time on their hands.

Personally, I’m very much in favour of humour, fun and not taking life too seriously. But jollity works best when it’s against a backdrop of Things Actually Getting Done.

Given the state of the country — and the wider world — the least we can expect from public representatives right now is that they act the adult.

Trump throwing a toddler tantrum and Angela Rayner trying to blow-dry herself into Downing Street belittle the high office they hold (or, in Ange’s case, yearn to hold.)

Memo to the lot of them — just grow up and get on with the job.

Guthrie case shows family’s agony is our ‘entertainment’

In a world obsessed with what’s known in the business as “true crime”, the shocking story of the abduction of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has made global headlines.

Nancy, who is still missing at the time I’m writing this, is the mother of US TV star Savannah Guthrie, who has fronted up the family’s appeals to have her returned home.

It’s been hard to watch, keeping in mind that this isn’t some made-for-television drama but the real-life agony of real people. Everybody, it seems, has a theory about what’s happened. The keyboard detectives have been in investigative heaven. The real detectives haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory.

One commentator dismissed the search for answers as “amateur hour”. In the not-too-distant future, this will inevitably be a movie. Other people’s agony, our entertainment.

Savannah Guthrie and mum Nancy in New York in 2019 © Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via AP

When in Rome, speak nice about local fare

You can take the boy out of Georgia, but you can’t take the Georgian grub out of the boy. A Russian figure skater, Gleb Smolkin, representing Georgia at the Winter Olympics in Milan, has been giving off about the Italian fare on offer. Pasta, he says, is making his stomach churn.

Needless to say, locals haven’t been taking this well, advising him to go back home and eat his “earthworms and crickets”. Not nice. But you would think a diet of pizza and lasagne would go down well with an athlete. Apart from that, there’s the question of manners. When in Rome, and all that. Or, in this case, Milan…

Off-piste, this love story’s going downhill

For Valentine’s Day, the Winter Olympics have served up a story of doomed romance and a broken-hearted skier’s desperate attempt to win back “the love of my life”. Having won a bronze medal, weepy Sturla Holm Lægreid confessed to the world that he had lost his girlfriend of six months after she discovered that he’d gone off-piste with another lover. But, now, he wailed that he wanted his true love back. Will she, won’t she? While some are wishing for a hearts-and-flowers ending, others (mostly women) will be willing the girl to steer well clear. A cheater and a drama queen? It’s downhill all the way with this one, love.