Another year of joy and despair awaits

THERE is much to look forward to in 2018. But it also promises to deliver as much despair and frustration as joy and elation. Here in Scotland, the excitement generated by a potential Six Nations challenge, followed by guaranteed medals at the Commonwealth Games, will be offset by worries both local and global. In a matter of weeks, some may be mildly diverted by a Winter Olympics where there will be no Team Russia. But there will be a team of Russian athletes. Operating out of a base decked out in Russian flags. If you think the war on doping took a pitiful turn towards appeasement in 2017, brace yourself for worse to come. Russia will again be the focus for the world’s attention come the summer, of course, as they host a FIFA World Cup awarded via a process since shown to be about as invulnerable to interference as a US election. Yes, it’ll be another World Cup somehow struggling along without our presence. Inevitably, during the maudlin hours that abound during this ‘holiday season’, thoughts turn to whether we will ever again grace a major tournament. Relax. There are always the European Championship Finals. At the current rate of expansion, the tournament will soon be a three-month bonanza of group fixtures involving qualifiers, lucky losers and play-off lottery winners. But a World Cup? Never is a very long time. In a nation where the Reverend IM Jolly still feels like the perfect embodiment of our natural tendencies, it may feel longer.