Irish Examiner view: Which M people will be moving on up?

Office workers in London watching the Netflix programme 'Harry and Meghan'. Picture: PA

In a convincing display of the contradictions of public taste this week, it has been almost impossible to avoid the M people with the first name out of the hat, of course, being the Double M herself, Meghan Markle.

For a country which all but shed its connections to royalty in 1922, and then in entirety with the removal of the Oath Act of 1933, Ireland has always maintained an active curiousity about the workings of the Windsors. And this week, our country demonstrated that, while it may not have allegiance, it has a different form of loyalty which can be called upon from time to time. 

The Netflix programme 'Harry and Meghan' was the top show in the Republic in the past week. When the numbers are taken as part of a joint British and Irish audience, the streaming giant claimed it generated nearly 82m viewing hours and was watched in more than 28m homes. We and our neighbours were the most eager consumers, followed by the US, but the numbers fell away among others of the company’s 223m global subscribers. Irish newspapers and media have not been slow to join in the fun, with many centimetres of commentary and debate expended on what may, or may not, have been said by whom, to whom, and when.

With the cognitive dissonance required to watch such shows it is quite possible, of course, to think simultaneously that the Sussexes have been both grievously mistreated by an emotionally frigid, old world, over-privileged family of dinosaurs AND that they are a pair of wealthy, entitled, modern media hucksters whose $80m takings from the docu-series will buy them a lot more psychobabble and wellness courses.

Either or both may be true.

What is certainly the case is that our fascination with such intrigues has much to do with our love of dynasty and the rivalries they contain. 

Think back to the TV series of the same name and the Colbys and the Carringtons and Krystle and Alexis. Or the feuding Ewing family in Dallas. Or, right up to date, Succession, and the travails of Logan Roy’s poisonous brood. If you want to know how Meghan and Harry will play out, then download some box sets.

Impressive though the viewing statistics may be, they will seem small beer by comparison when two more Ms take to their stage on Sunday. More than 1.5bn people globally are expected to watch the 64th game of the 22nd World Cup in Qatar. The old master Lionel Messi versus the heir apparent Kylian Mbappé. Argentinian machismo against the magnifique French. Much has been written about this tournament and there is more to come, but it is probably appropriate that the two strongest teams in the competition play for victory. Unless, of course, the pernicious virus continues to lay low the stars of France. In which case we may just need a play-off between the two maestros of world soccer.

There’s one more representative of the M people who will have this weekend marked in his diary as Micheál Martin stands down as Taoiseach after two challenging but reliable years to make way for Leo Varadkar. He will have a brief respite before preparing for his next political challenge. Mr Martin may not yet have Netflix chasing him to tell his story, nor have the chance to score in a World Cup Final, but he can look back on a job performed well and with great merit.