As the end of another year dawns, I find myself a year older and not necessarily any wiser. Deadlines are fast approaching and once again I am well behind on where I should be with the panic just setting in that unless I don't move from this specific spot by my computer for the next three weeks, there's no way it's all going to get finished...
However, there are bigger and more important things to reflect upon than my own petty rubbish. So I guess that's where I should point my attention henceforth. Many things have happened this year, some good, some bad and some incredibly ridiculous. I'll just ramble a bit about a couple before bed.
For starters there was the dawning of a new (?) era of British politics as we waved goodbye to our old faithful, Tony Blair. Gordon Brown strode in with his no nonsense attitude and an element of Scottish rough which made us feel he was 'down with the public' in a way that Tony Blair had not been since the late 90s. We wanted to trust Gordon after the insincerity and soundbytes of the previous government and we all hoped that this time, just maybe, things would be different. However, here we stand in December, all wiser with the knowledge that Gordon Brown is not going to make huge changes to policy or move away from the New Labour status quo, despite having stated such in previous speeches. His connection to Bush, although far more awkward and less buddy-like than Bush-Blair relations, is still clearly strong and he has not taken the stand that many of us would have liked. Realistically, we need the USA. That is the crux of the matter. We have made our bed and now we have to lie in it and would rather be snuggled up to the next US President than all alone on the bottom bunk. However, we must remember that whatever benefits the relationship with Bush and whoever comes next (as if it could be anyone but Hilary..) will undoubtedly damage relations between the UK and other parts of the world. Particularly as we still seem to be ignoring the fact that Guantanamo is still open, the US is still giving practically nothing to the developing world (despite G8 promises) and holding the whole world back in terms of climate change legislation. If you ask me, I'd rather sleep alone.
The other major event of the year, in terms of the UK at least, was the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. This was an absolutely tragic incident, which quite rightly tugged on the heartstrings of people all over the world, who could not imagine a tragedy worse than the disappearance of a child. The media circus may have helped the campaign, may have hindered it and I'm pretty sure we'll never know for sure the true impact of this on her situation. In my mind there is no point on postulating now as to whether or not her parents had anything to do with it, whether she is dead or whether she is alive. I hope they find her, I truly do, but I feel if anything good could possibly have come out of this in terms of enlightening the world to the plight of the millions of children who are abducted each year for illegal adoption, or far worse, to child traffickers, it would have been far better than the little media cover the real issues behind these disappearances received in reality. I feel it is sad that the spread of the coverage was not made wider. Although, of course, the McCanns did manage to set up a website specifically for missing children, which I guess is something positive at least.
Anyway, I'm rambling, so off to bed I go... I'm pretty glad no one reads this.
