Weekly news - Francois Hollande / Death of a Japanese soldier

This week the news media ejaculated with excitement over the story of French President Francois Hollande and his love affair with actress Julie Gayet. It is occasions such as these when the really shallow nature of the media is illuminated, for truly all the hallmarks of a salacious story are writ large - the power, the scandal and the glamour all intertwined like frenzied limbs in a secret hotel boudoir.

At face value, the story is another in a long and torrid line of statesmen infidelities, from Mitterrand to Berlusconi to Clinton; all have had their credibility and integrity severely shaken by the post-orgasmic shame of public exposure. The fact is, power and influence are (for some reason) very attractive traits and really the shock should arise when a red-blooded embodiment of power somehow manages not to embark on secretive dalliances.

Hollande's reaction was humorously ambivalent, refusing to discuss or to barely even acknowledge the scandal, his gameplan evidently being to ignore and hope it eventually withers away into nothing. Somehow I think, what with his partner still recovering in hospital, and the rumour mill churning as to a pregnancy, that hope may be futile, albeit being happy to give it a go all the same.

It's curious how attitudes to such events easily reflect national stereotypes. France, who are generally seen to be more laidback and open regarding sexual issues, have traditionally turned a blind eye to their head of state's misdemeanours, perhaps seeing a strong reaction as being far too infra dig. In Italy, Berlusconi's orgiastic tenure and wanton profligacy was handled in an almost braggadocio style, expertly complementing his well-crafted media image.

Whereas, in uppity Britain, you get the sense that even for Cameron, Clegg or Miliband to admit they possessed genitalia would require painful strategising as to whether such an admission adequately toed the party line.

And yet, for all the hilarity invoked by the sight of a power figure burnt by his own flaming passion, the whole issue is another distraction device for the masses, the levers pulled by the media to operate the easy headline generator that plays well to an audience fatigued by perpetual bad news that they can do nothing to influence, and/or has negative implications for them in some way. Never mind his hitherto woeful performance as President, sometimes we just want to laugh at someone who's been caught out.

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I was struck this week by the death at 91 of Hiroo Onoda, whose fascinating story I had not previously encountered. Onoda was an army intelligence officer who, refusing to believe that the Second World War had ended in 1945, spent the next 30 years in the Philippines jungle continuing his solo fight, only agreeing to surrender when in 1974 his former commanding officer rescinded his orders, thereby convincing him of the war's end.

This mind-bogglingly bizarre story stands as a testament to the fanatical loyalty of the Japanese military at the time, and illustrates a Robinson Crusoe-esque character marooned on an island of his own delusions, completely conditioned to a state of survival in wartime, and a firmly held belief that the reality of the world was not at all what it seemed.

If one were so inclined (and I am), it could be seen as an ingrained mentality not too far removed from that of the British, who still cling steadfastly to the patriotic fervour of the war victories that manifests itself now predominately in sporting events, endlessly regurgitated column inches and other cultural 'Keep Calm and Carry On' fluff, but still resonates through our unstinting and unquestioning celebration of the armed forces regardless of the mostly misguided conflicts chosen for their engagement since 1945.