Liz Truss' reign in Downing Street lasted longer than Tom Brady's attempt at retirement earlier this year. In a year of U-turns, just 40 days after calling time on one of the greatest careers in sport, the seven-time Super Bowl champion headed back for a 23rd season in the NFL.
Six weeks into the new season, Brady must be wondering if he made the right decision. Sure, the individual numbers are OK, but for a player who is driven only by glory, a 3-3 start with a sputtering Tampa Bay Buccaneers offence has appeared largely unenjoyable for the 45-year-old superstar quarterback.
Sunday's 20-18 road defeat to a mediocre Pittsburgh Steelers who had been pummelled 38-3 by the Super Bowl favourite Buffalo Bills a week previously showed just how far off the pace the Bucs are, although they are not alone in an NFC that is nowhere near as deeply-filled with contenders as the AFC.
Brady took two sacks and was hit five times at Acrisure Stadium, prompting him to rage at his offensive linemen on the sideline mid-game, and steering the Bucs ship just looks like no fun at all right now.
Brady is looking after the football, throwing just one interception so far with a quarterback rating above 95, but there is no juice to the offence. He has eight touchdowns in six games and his yards per attempt are down on last season. They rank 20th in the NFL for redzone scoring percentage, with the retirement of his long-time ally Rob Gronkowski being acutely felt.
Meanwhile, wide receiver Mike Evans's season is yet to truly catch fire, Chris Godwin has been in and out of the lineup with injuries and running back Leonard Fournette is averaging fewer than four yards per rush. The rest of the supporting cast on the offensive side of the ball is scrappy but short of game-changing quality.
So much, as a result, is on Brady's shoulders, all while he is dealing with headlines about his personal life, and at the moment things are not clicking.
Of course, it would be utterly foolish to question a man who knows the coordinates of the fountain of youth. After a miserable final season in New England in 2019 when he was devoid of playmakers and his relationship with head coach Bill Belichick soured, many presumed Brady was finally coming to the end.
He silenced any doubters by winning his seventh Lombardi Trophy with the Bucs a year later, turning around a franchise that had been dismal for almost two decades, and in January he was within touching distance of the NFC championship game before the LA Rams snatched victory with a last-second field goal.
At the time of his retirement, Brady was number one on the NFL Top 100 Players list, which is voted for by the players, though he was pipped to the MVP award by Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.
So this is not a question about Brady's ability but the overall circumstances in which he finds himself. He can still play, but can he still win? Maybe in the right scenario, but in this iteration of the Buccaneers with a head coach, Todd Bowles who is a defensive mind and came up short in his previous head coaching gig with the New York Jets? That is the question.
Few athletes get the chance to retire on their terms and even fewer retire with the Hollywood ending. Brady may be longing for another ring to add to his collection, but had he followed through with his attempt to walk away in February, he may have ended on a more satisfactory chapter – bringing his team back from 27-3 down to the Rams to tie the score, only to lose as time expires. It would not have been going out at the very top, but he would have finished with the last sight of him on the field being a true reflection of the player he has been.
Ultimately, Brady has every chance to make a fool of any journalist, pundit or fan who is questioning his decision to continue his unrivalled career, that is just what Tom Brady does, and the Bucs should win the NFC South with the Carolina Panthers in chaos and totally abject, while the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons are still figuring out exactly who they are and how far they can go.
When the Bucs make it to the post-season, do they have the explosiveness to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles or the potency to breach the ever-improving defences of the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers? And that is before you consider the AFC heavyweights of the Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. The evidence so far is it will take a helluva lot of improvement to be able to contend.
NBA Legend LeBron James can sympathise. His LA Lakers roster has been labelled one of the worst in the NBA after trading the farm to bring in Russell Westbrook. At 37 years old and with plenty of interests outside of basketball, his time to call it a day will come soon.
He is expected to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer this season, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After that, what will be left for the four-time champion, four-time finals MVP and four-time league MVP to achieve, particularly if he is on a team that is not built well enough to contend?
Brady's squad is not being spoken about in such damaging terms, but James may be looking at the situation in Tampa Bay and wondering when is the right time to hang them up. For the greats of the game who can still excel at the highest level, it is a near-impossible question to answer.
