THE world is a crazy place. Every day something happens to deepen that conviction. When God set about constructing Planet Earth, he couldn't possibly have imagined the human race would turn it into a gigantic lunatic asylum, or that violence would become so endemic in our society that we no longer seem affected by the horrors relayed into our homes via the omnipresent TV screen.

What has triggered this latest proof of our headlong gallop down Loony Lane? The juxtaposition of pictures from the 2004 Olympics against those mirroring the continuing nightmare of civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Along with the rest of my countrymen and women, I applauded the magnificent achievements of Team GB, who brought back 30 medals, including nine golds and a silver for local hero, boxer Amir Khan, catapulted from virtual unknown to international prominence. Everyone who wore a British tracksuit in Athens has devoted years of their lives, training for a crack at Olympic glory. They deserve our heartfelt thanks, especially as their achievements have apparently boosted our hopes of staging the 2012 Games. But there's a downside to that.

The Athens Olympiad, hugely successful despite predictions of chaos and unpreparedness, cost a staggering £6bn. I'll spell that out as the impact is lessened by the use of the abbreviation. SIX BILLION POUNDS. In figures that's £6 000 000 000. I read one piece which said it would take ten years to recoup the money. Sydney, which hosted the Games in 2000, is still trying to claw back the billions it spent on the greatest show on earth.

Beijing in the People's Republic of China will host the Games in 2008, and apparently it's a toss up between Paris and London for the honour of putting on the 30th Olympiad. I very much hope we finish second in the voting as the cost of putting on that extravaganza will probably be well in excess of the bank-busting £6bn spent by the Greeks. Where exactly are we going to find that amount of spare cash? In the back pocket of Gordon Brown or whoever has the Chancellor's job in 2012?

Meanwhile, in Darfur, people driven from their homes are slaughtered or starve while The United Nations, that pantheon of global justice, dithers, showing shameful disregard for the plight of those it is supposed to protect. Year on year this dreadful scenario is played out in Africa under the eyes of a world preoccupied with events like the Olympics, these days as much a hugely expensive exercise in rampant nationalism as a competition.

That may be over-simplifying things but newsreel pictures of dying children and stories of mass rape and murder, which persuade caring Westerners to donate towards famine relief, aren't going to solve the problem. A chunk of that £6bn might but until Africa sorts out its turf wars, with or without the intervention of the United Nations, the only people from that continent running for something other than their lives, will be its athletes. The world applauds their track successes but ignores the agony of millions. Like I said, a loony bin.