There is a light

My dissertation is finished (although not officially submitted), the worst of the weather is probably over (touch wood) and it won't be long before I can start planning the future of the Students' Union here at Queen Mary. But what about the rest of the world?

I will confess that this will be somewhat more contemporary an entry compared to some of the others, but bear with me:

Terrorism is still happening. Take Yemen, Angola, Detroit, Somalia, Afghanistan... for all our efforts to apparently rid the world of terror (start with the moooooooovies and work backwards, it's probably easier to nanny the planet if you begin with the media) there have been precious few inroads. That said, perhaps we're seeing more evidence because there are more reporters or it's more likely to make the headlines. As I said, out of sight, out of mind - change the broadcasters' output if you want to win this one.

The economy hasn't made many advances from where it was last time I checked. Perhaps fewer people are being made unemployed, fewer banks are failing and the like, but for the most part it seems to be just as 'bad' as it ever was. I haven't yet experienced any of the fallout from before, but I'm sure it's coming. No change.

Society is still a little too angry for my liking. We continue to blame everyone else for everything, we come up with solutions with practicable methods of applications, we have an excuse for every moment of adversity and we refuse to admit responsibility. This is where I come in. Take it on the chin, accept that no one will ever give you credit, even if you shout it out, and season your life well. A pinch of salt gives flavour to what would otherwise be bland. Where is society angry? People like me getting frustrated with people using the increasingly lenient flow-charts or scripts of dealing with problems that we're faced with. 'I can't come in, I've got a cold'. Rubbish. I went to school in crutches for a month, so why can't people with the sniffles go to somewhere they get paid?

I have begun to lose my way I fear, but then I am just as part of the problem as I am a commentator on it: if it weren't for the royal family there wouldn't be a constant in our lives. Think about it, it makes sense, even if you don't agree with their position.

'McGuinness