Easter is over and I’m sure that the spiritual reason behind Easter has been as keenly observed as Christmas. After all, I’m sure the Cornerstone of Christianity suffered so that we could all pump money into Chocolate corporations and fill our hospitals with obesity. Father Christmas changed his colour from green to red as he was sponsored by Coca Cola. I feel at one with my Maker as I sit here eating a Kit Kat.

The Easter egg symbolises new life – that’s the reason for the consumption of copious amounts of chocolate during this festive period. Following the logic of the egg, Colonel Saunders has a case for claiming a share of the gig, doesn’t he? A real Kentucky Fried Conundrum. The noble Olympics are sponsored not by Holland and Barrett but by McDonalds. What chance do we have? It’s okay, though, because fast food organisations now put calories counts on the boxes of their wares, so we can control ourselves – although you’ve already paid for the burger by this stage.

And so the funny news of the week is that shops now cannot have cigarettes on show as they believe this will discourage young people from smoking. Forget peer pressure and trying to be adult, the reason young people smoke is that they go into the shops, see a packet of fags and feel the need to light up. If only we’d realised this before. The fact is, a young person may feel they’re doing something more illicit when they ask for an under-the-counter product. Why not just increase the age at which you can buy them to 21 or 25 … or 65? I tell you why, because at the prices they are sold, they’re too lucrative to ban and generate too much tax money for the Treasury. It’s always all about the money.

I’m confused.

The Bank of England has increased the money supply by pumping money into the economy – using Quantitative Easing. They believe having extra money sloshing around the economy will help lift us out of – or away from – a recession. This is done by allowing the banks to buy Government debt – the government basically gives money to banks, which will be paid back at some point in the future.

In receipt of this money, the banks are being criticized for not lending the money to businesses and people. The theory being that businesses and people can start the cogs of the economy moving by spending money – money they don’t currently have. With extra money, businesses can employ people. Therefore, this all sounds good.

However… Banks lending to businesses and people who did not have the means to pay back their loans is what got us into this mess in the first place! Some greedy bankers used a lack of regulatory scrutiny to sell loans to people, then package loans together in complicated ways to get paid a lot of commission. I say “some” – it was a small minority.

There will be some people struggling to get loans from banks that possibly deserve to get a loan – there will be some mistakes. However, the vast majority won’t have proper or believable business plans for the banks to think they’ll get their money back. Banks are businesses too – they make money by giving loans – it’s absurd to think they’re deliberately withholding funding.

Banks are also being told by the authorities that they must have more capital in their coffers to continue to be viable – to be considered a safe bank and keep their AAA ratings. So … when the Bank of England gives them extra money, hoping they’ll put it into the economy, what does it do? It … puts it in their coffers, as directed. The banks are also under threat of this Tobin tax – or “Witchhunt” tax – for performing transactions – erm … this is what banks do. It’s like being charged to breathe. Therefore, they’re considering reducing the amount of transactions that they do – including loans, probably – which will also reduce the amount of tax flowing back into the Government Treasury. That’s money used for public services, in case you’re wondering – things like hospitals and police – things that cost money.

Can you see why I’m confused yet?

I’d like to issue a call for sensible thinking. The world’s gone mad and getting madder by the day.

Financial meltdown is the order of the day in Europe. Greek bailouts, Italian prime ministers resigning, runs on French banks – knee jerk reactions and finger pointing. Inflation, deflation, unemployment and bubbles. Exposure to sovereign debt. What does that mean? It means that banks have lent money to countries and the countries aren’t able to pay it back. They’re trying to borrow more in order to pay back the original debts. People know they will struggle to pay it back so are lending to them at higher rates to insure themselves against defaulting payments – you can’t blame them for that.

What does it sound like? It sounds like a family struggling to pay off credit card bills. Why do they get into that situation, usually? They spend more than they earn. Sometimes because income is interrupted and sometime because it’s too easy to take cheap money and indulge themselves.

Where did it all go wrong? Bankers? No – governments. Some governments lied to get in the Euro and then they spent more than they earned. They wanted to get at cheap money to do things that would keep them in office. The bankers that exploited their position to make money – often in nefarious ways? Well, they’ll have to live with themselves and what they did – the very few that did wrong (relative to the number of people working in the City) – but the fault was, again, governments. In 2004, Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor and soon-to-be Prime Minister paid tribute to a certain Lehman Brothers. He said then, “During its 150-year history, Lehman Brothers has always been an innovator, financing new ideas and inventions before many others even began to realise their potential”. Gordon – with a good regulator you should have known that they were innovating themselves by exposing themselves to daft loans with people with no money. You probably had an eye on their non-executive board like the auditors did. A few years later Mr Brown was attacking this industry when it was his government that had relaxed regulatory oversight, creating the fertile grounds for those in a position to take advantage of it.

Look at Greece. Forget the lies that allowed them into the Euro currency – which is fraud – which is criminal – which is being forgotten. It costs Greece more to chase tax collection than they receive in taxes. The citizens of countries like Greece and Italy evade tax as routine – it’s engrained into their society. This means the government’s income is too small – it means they spend more than they make. Like the credit card bills that a family gets, this deficit adds up until eventually … there’s no more to borrow – you go bankrupt. This is not the fault of evil bankers – it’s the fault of democratically elected men who should know better. The result? Italy now has a Prime Minister that was not elected by its people.

The only solution when there is not enough money is for the central bank to print more but this makes the currency already in circulation worth less. So, a simple example: if there is £100 in circulation and I have £20 (20%) – when the bank makes another £100 out of thin air, making £200 in circulation, then my £20 is worth less than it was (10%). This makes shops raise their prices – inflation – because they need to get more money to stay at the same level. Now, the people with savings have £20 that is worth less than before and prices are rising sharply. Their wages quickly fall behind, leaving them less likely to be able to pay their way – it makes their employer much more likely to fire them. Crucially, it makes war and civil unrest a lot more likely.

The Financial Services industry puts tax money into the Government treasury from income tax and from corporation tax. It contributes a large percentage because Britain’s manufacturing industry is way behind what it used to be. We cannot compete with slave labour wages paid in far flung corners of the world. The more the Financial Services sector shrinks under attack – or flees abroad, to pay tax there instead – the less money goes into the Government treasury. This means that the Government spends less or it borrows more. It can “make” money out of thin air as I explain above but this is not a good idea, is it?

David Cameron recently said he would curb the bonuses being paid to its staff by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Sounds obvious – a vote winner – who could complain? Let’s think a bit more closely. Cut those numbers and the staff leave to join another bank or go abroad. RBS become less competitive, make less profit, so the share price drops and the Government’s investment then makes a smaller return. Again – the Government has less money – it needs to borrow more or spend less. This affects everyone – every teacher, every student. I hope Cameron didn’t mean what he said.

As jobs go in the City, where do you think they’ll go? They’ll compete for your job. Do you want that?

Students recently protested at Government cuts by marching on the City. Firstly, what’s it got to do with the City? Secondly, policing the protests costs the Government money that it wants to spend elsewhere. It makes cutting fees less likely and not more likely.

The students complained about corporate greed. 99.9% of the country do not advocate corporate greed – 0.1% of the country do because it benefits them. They shouldn’t be proud of that – but this is humanity – humanity is greedy, that’s why we don’t live in caves. How many of those students would accept a sponsorship from a big bank if it paid for their scholarship? What do US students think of the £9,000 per annum fees (that are only paid if the student earns a good wage after graduation) when they pay $30,000pa? What I found interesting was a friend in the City saying he saw some students after the march having coffess, outside a Starbucks – one of the largest corporations in the world. Were their scruples so easily swayed by a skinny latte?

What has happened to common sense? People are blinded by their want to attack bankers. The Government spent more than it should have and now we’re paying the price. The Europeans were blinded by their want for a Federal Europe and ignored the fact that some countries have different mindsets to others. We’re all paying the price now – and will do so for some years yet. Make no mistake – there’s no quick fix.

Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11 – the four-pronged attack on the United States of America. Ten years on and I still cannot comprehend the magnitude of the two buildings of the World Trade Centre crashing to the ground. Anyone who has seen a building of some 110 storeys will understand that more than those who haven’t. If you live in London or have been to London, you will have seen the “Gherkin” building in the City – which looks enormous but stands at only 40 storeys high – although the dome probably puts it at 42 storeys high. So, take the Gherkin, put another Gherkin on top, then three quarters of a gherkin again. Multiply that into two buildings and put it in downtown Manhattan, fill it with people, then fly a plane into it, turning it into a fiery inferno until it crashes to the ground, creating rubble 15 storeys high. Then – you may start to imagine the physical enormity of the damage caused by two of the four hijacked planes.

The mental disaster of 9/11 runs much deeper and has parked itself deeply into Western culture. Despair, hopelessness, great sadness, rage, fury and determination for revenge.

For those 3,000 that were killed, you must add their families, friends and acquaintances to the list of those directly affected, which sends the number shooting much higher. In comparison to the population of the world, New York or even Manhattan, it’s still quite a small number. Add to that, the people who had to respond to the emergency or those who witnessed it at first-hand – people like a friend of mine who saw persons throwing themselves from the top floor, hitting shop awnings below and breaking in half – and the numbers continue to grow. However, the number is still relatively small. Consider that there are over eight million people living in New York City and in pure mathematical terms – it’s a small percentage.

To London, the 7/7 bombings was a terrifying act of violence that claimed 52 lives. With a population of around seven million – this is, again, a very small percentage – even if you add in those that must never be forgotten: the rescuers, medical teams, firefighters, friends and relatives of the dead, injured and permanently disabled. Yet the remembrance and the pain persists for all.

In 2005, in the United States, 42,643 were killed in car crashes. That’s about 117 people dying every day – not far off 5 every hour of every day. The statistics in a lot of countries will bear the same sort of averages. It’s not really the point, here, as every life is precious, so please bear with me.

I still drive my car, as do many others. So, why does 9/11 and 7/7 continue to resonate so strongly in people’s lives? I remember where I was on the 11th September 2001 – I’d started a new job in an American company. There were a lot of American people on staff and I’ll never forget their reactions and my own feelings of incredulity. Starting a new job is hard enough – but it was surreal – like I was dreaming and my subconscious anxiety was manifesting itself through that medium. I watched the news intently for days and weeks after. I watch all the documentaries now. It’s not helping – I still can’t comprehend the horror. Car crashes are horrific – but I don’t think about them even though I have seen a lorry kill a young child and my wife’s brother was killed by a car.

The obvious difference is that one statistic is that of accidental death and the other one is of deliberate and malicious attack – an act of war. Wars and battles are well known and unfortunately far too common but to arrive on one’s doorstep really grips you by the collar and gives you a good shake. It frightens you. It pulls at the fabric of your safe life – and of normality. The reason for Islamic fundamentalism is known but scarcely believable and beyond the realms of the understanding of normal people – Westernised people anyway. That, for me, is the real crux of 9/11 and 7/7. There are other people in the world who so hate our way of life that they are prepared to take innocent lives in some kind of effort to impose their way of life. We don’t understand each other. Where do we go from there?

One other thing I want to mention on this day is the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The vast majority of people there want what most people want. They want to feel safe, have a home, live, work and die a natural death. Going back to numbers again, no one will know how many people have been killed in these post 9/11 conflicts but it’s likely to be hundreds of thousands – it’d surely make the 9/11 and 7/7 numbers look very small.

I realised that I can see news items of car bomb attacks in Baghdad market towns and populated areas of Afghanistan putting down figures of 50-100 people dead and that I don’t bat an eyelid anymore. This happens very regularly – look out for it – remind yourself to be shocked by it – it could easily be you. Collateral damage from Western airstrikes, no matter how carefully planned (and I attach no blame whatsoever), cause death and destruction. Like 7/7, it’s not just the number of dead or those affected relatives/friends or those that have seen the carnage first hand – but also those who lose limbs (or other physical disability) in the blasts. Consider them and their friends and family. Consider bystanders who watch someone’s legs blown off and then see the victim screaming for help – imagine if it’s a child, imagine if the child clings to his severed limb in shock. Would you forget it and just go about your business?

With rumour, coercion and warped religious interpretation, manipulators can infect people with anti-Western sentiment when their father, mother or uncle has his/her legs blown off or is blinded. They’re given someone to blame and hate is born – it doesn’t die easily. These are normal people that just happen to live in another country. Forget their religion or that fanatical groups have set up terrorist camps somewhere in their country. Remember, the 7/7 bombers came from Bedfordshire in the UK and practised their religion there. It doesn’t make me a forgettable statistic if I got blown up going to work one day, does it?

To those normal people who have been killed or maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan – who is remembering them today? We all should. We should remember all victims wherever they are and however they were affected.

There is widespread criticism to some of the sentences being handed out to rioters following the widespread trouble just over a week ago. See the BBC website for background.

Have we lost our minds or have we developed goldfish memories? Just over a week ago, mobs rampaged through towns and cities smashing into shops, stealing and burning things down. The sudden and simultaneous action fuelled by the media advertising and therefore encouraging copycat action were not stopped by the police in a timely manner as they struggled to gauge an appropriate response – handicapped by the threat of criticism for any heavy-handed tactics.

A week later and we’re starting to sympathise with these people: they have no money, the sentences are too tough. They had Blackberries though – and Nike tracksuits – I didn’t see any people rioting looking like Oliver Twist. These people were not doing what they did as a protest – but out of opportunistic greed. Rioters were in my mother’s front garden, storing loot and cars were arriving periodically to load up the swag. That kind of organisation would be well served in any job. A mob burned down a furniture store near to my home with no apparent intervention or ability for the fire brigade to stop it before it got out of hand. A mob attacked a retail park near to my home and stole thousands of pounds of electrical equipment – again without being stopped. Some houses in Croydon were attacked and burned down. There was a heartbreaking queue of people at the council offices, looking for shelter the following day, everything lost.

We were on the cusp of complete lawlessness. Vigilante groups in Croydon, Enfield and worshippers at a Sikh temple were defending properties and presenting themselves for confrontation. Three men were killed in Birmingham for doing it. His heartbroken father appealing for calm. The police, as defenders of the public, had spread themselves thin and in some areas had all but disappeared. The people had started to form their own police force. It was becoming Lord of the Flies. What was next? Murders, rapes? As a rioter said “we’re doing what we want” – it could’ve got a lot worse and may well have not been far off it. Some people were calling for the army – that has to be last resort.

The public were flooded by the media and social networking mediums telling them that you could join in and help yourself. Getting “free stuff” was the phrase that I heard on a news report that stuck in my mind. Now the punishment for those contributing to anarchy is “too severe”. The media were irresponsible and the social networking tools should’ve been shut down. “Human rights”, “freedom of speech!” – blow that when someone is trying to burn your house down – where are their rights?

The argument that people would get different sentences on one day to those on a “riot day” is weak. If I committed violent disorder before the trouble and stole some equipment from Currys a month ago, I was not contributing to the meltdown of society, I would not have been taking advantage of a broken police force. If I did it last week, the news was enough to tell me it was a serious situation and I should have stayed indoors. When I left and did that last week I was playing a different game. Different rules, different outcomes.

The liberal minded people on the media today probably didn’t have their shops or homes burned down. It was something they saw on the television. As a taxpayer – and someone who will pay for the disturbance through police costs and reparation costs – and in rising insurance premiums – where are my rights in all this? People proven to have been involved – including those inciting anarchy – should be dealt with the utmost severity. Tom Brake, my local MP, saying sentences should be restorative and not given in retribution. Does Mr Brake think that a soft sentence would make the offender reflect and “live a good life?” Will a harsh sentence make other people think twice?

Two men were sentenced to four years for inciting a riot that never materialised. Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “A four-year sentence would normally be associated with offences such as holding someone up at knife point, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault, and I’m not sure that the offence in question was really related to those types of offences.” I wonder if Mr Neilson would have had a different view if his house was on fire and his family was jumping from a first floor window? Perhaps Mr Neilson thinks there is a bottomless pit of money and we should send the two men on a course or an activity holiday or give them jobs that are not there? Perhaps Mr Neilson needs to consider that people sitting on computers having fun (which was probably the motivation) at other people’s real expense need to be harshly dealt with so that others think twice. They could have incited something that could have killed people. Forget “Facebook” – it was the same as if they stood on a box with a loudhailer, handing out bricks.

Politicians are calling some sentences as inappropriate where custodial sentences were handed out for petty crimes such as stealing a bottle of water. Very weak. If I was to do that today it would be ridiculous and out of proportion – if I was part of a riot then it’s a contributing factor to a much larger consideration. The argument that short term prison sentences do not help is absurd. Statistics may well show this doesn’t work well in normal situations but this is not a normal situation. The average person must know that when the media say it’s easy to go out and commit these sorts of crimes, that severe consequences are on offer if caught – and not 20 hours of litter patrol. Today’s lazy society of “take” and not give needs a wake-up call.

Law-abiding citizens have the right to feel safe in their own homes and to go about their business without fear. This should be the number one consideration in any society. It motivates people to respect the law and other people. It would be nice if young people were all employed and motivated, educated and disciplined. They’re not. Blame the parents, blame the state failing the parents when they were young – there are good arguments for that – but we are where we are. The country has no money and jobs are scarce – that’s a fact – we can’t invent a law to change that. Education has failed a lot of children but a large part of that is the failure of the parents to keep their kids on track. Parents think the school is fully responsible for developing their child – it isn’t. Businesses cannot create jobs that they don’t need – they’re struggling. The Government cannot create jobs – the Labour party did that and look where that got us – a massive deficit. What’s left? The reaction should certainly not be a passive reaction to those who would create anarchy. Wake up politicians – take a trip into a riot with your family when it’s happening and not a week later surrounded by security and media. See if you change your mind then.

I don’t know where to start to describe what has happened in the last week. After someone was shot by the police in Tottenham, London, a violent protest was copied in various parts of London and then various parts of England.

That’s one way of describing it.

In reality, an armed gangster was shot by police causing a violent protest that got out of hand. Although the police did a sterling job, it was clear that the “protesters” had the upper hand and were allowed to literally run riot, creating the famous imagery of the burning bus in the high street. Shops were robbed and burned to the ground and the rioters could seemingly do what they wanted. Sensationalist coverage from the media showed images of this not only around the country but around the world. A friend of mine wrote to me and said that the New York media were referring to London as a “street gang armageddon”. Not good for business and tourism.

The other factor fanning the flames was social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry messenger. If it was ever in doubt that these utilities have improved communication, the doubt has now gone forever. Other groups of youths were able to instantly communicate amongst themselves to start copycat riots in London and then elsewhere. The mobile nature of these tools allowed the relatively few numbers of rioters to co-ordinate themselves on the street. The 24 hour news channels were advertising the fact that people could go to the high street and take “free stuff”. They interviewed rioters at the scene who were explaining how easy it was. No wonder youths came out to help themselves. There was not a single policeman at Clapham Junction defending the precinct – how did I know? Sky News told me. They told everyone.

The police were probably slow to deploy large enough numbers but the scale of disorder must surely allow us to forgive that. It was sudden and it was brutal. The police are criticised for heavy armed tactics and criticised for a more light-touch reaction. In reality, they can’t win.

It’s all quiet now and everyone is now wondering why this happened. They wonder about the lack of opportunity for the youth, their culture, their environment, their education and their parents. This is nothing new. They weren’t let down in the last week – this is a society with problems. We’ve had riots before. We’ll have riots again. We have people that “have” and we have people that “have not”. This is nothing new. This will always be the case. Society will always have problems – it’s part of the definition.

There’s a global financial catastrophe playing itself out slowly over a period of years – we’ve all spent money that we don’t have and people don’t comprehend it. They think the Government is making cuts because of politics – no, they’re making cuts because we have a massive deficit. If you borrow more you simply put the pain of repayment back and make it worse. There’s no more room under the carpet – not just for us, but for every other developed country. Without action, the country would lose its credit status – and this means borrowing costs increase and foreign investment is withdrawn – that’s a fact. Therefore we must demonstrate to the world that we are cutting back to live within our means. The government gets its money from business and taxes – it doesn’t print it and doesn’t have an unlimited supply. Some people appear to view the government as an evil spirit who has unlimited resources and chooses not to use it for good purposes. It’s utter nonsense.

We all must face extra taxes, cuts to benefits and cuts to spending. The result of not doing this is much worse although it is not very well explained to the general public what that is. The media prefer to sensationalise and infer that greedy bankers have run off with all the money and caused the crisis. This is not correct. The implications of further attacks to the Financial centre and its workers is that they move abroad – and they take the tax revenue with them.

It’s a depressing thought but there will be a painful few years and the riots of the recent week are unlikely to be the end of the “underclass” taking opportunities to take “free stuff”. They are constantly told by the media that the middle and upper classes are taking and not giving – this sells newspapers and pulls in viewers. The media needs to show a bit more self-control and add some balance. The other impact of this week is that the middle and upper classes are now a lot less sympathetic to the “underclass” than they may have been last week. Society has a divide – every society does – and it’s now much wider.

As for what can be done, this is an impossible question. The root causes are deep. I do believe that further activity should be met with stiff resistance. I do believe that social networks and ways of mobile communication should be shut down immediately. There will be a massive backlash to that in regards to human rights. Human rights also extend to people not being fearful in their own homes or having their businesses destroyed. People would be rightly nervous of anything approaching a police state – a view I share. However, again, like the media, it’s about getting balance.

The News of the World will publish a newspaper for the last time tomorrow following revelations of phone hacking. The one hundred and sixty eight year old newspaper will fold (pardon the pun) on suspicion of using underhand and illegal tactics to obtain information that was subsequently used in sensationalist newspaper stories. I must confess that I couldn’t believe my ears and eyes when I heard that this national institution is to close.

It’s nothing short of incredible that something so ingrained in the national identity would disappear so violently and suddenly. It is more shocking to me than the demise of Lehman Brothers and the recent (current?) banking crisis. The advertisers have fled and the Murdoch corporation is clearly struggling to hold back the contagion across its empire and the potential acquisition of BSkyB.

One thing that springs to mind is – where is the surprise? Where did the public think all of this sensationalist information came from? Careful questioning? Police have identified 4,000 targets. That’s one heck of a lot of phones. At this level, hacking was operating on a massive scale and could well have been the responsibility of a “hacking” department. I can’t see how else such logistics could have been organised.

There are a number of other newspapers with similar profiles and backgrounds. I should think there must be a lot of worried editors ordering urgent internal enquiries and preparing to run down to Argos to buy some shredders.

I still find it hard to believe that a scandal – however unpleasant – could provoke such a severe reaction unless there was something a lot more dark, hiding in the shadows. Stories of hacking murdered schoolgirls and removing voicemails – crucial clues for the police – were incredibly dangerous actions and could well have left a murderer the opportunity to roam free for longer. For that, the punishment should be very severe. People with children will know why I say that.

I’m a competitive person but the race for first place in journalism has become twisted and has lost its way. The race should be for quality and not for quantity. People who communicate to large audiences carry with them responsibility – and the authorities should hunt the unscrupulous elements down and ensure that they are prosecuted in the most vigorous way. The staff left without jobs, those who are completely innocent, should have their names cleared and be allowed to continue – however, if they knew what was going on and chose not to act, then they too have failed in their duties.

A number of people have been named and vilified already. This human nature, to want to blame and attack individuals without understanding the full story, aligns itself in a some way with the behaviour of those responsible for the incredible invasions of privacy. The only way to proceed here is to have a full, open and public inquiry into what happened. This time, the public DO deserve to know.

As this is a site about my writing – believe it or not – or should be – but isn’t really – happy to announce I came second with a short story entry. See here and there.

So, it appears Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan. He wasn’t in a cave, he wasn’t in some obscure little town in Yemen or some surprising bolt-hole in Laos having had Michael Jackson style plastic surgery. He was in a town in Pakistan that crawled with current and ex Pakistan military. He was in a compound that had fortified defences and a multi-million pound home. Not something I’d expect to see in Pakistan. Perhaps this was a significant clue that had been missed?

Let’s forget, for the moment, the Western technology that can apparently see a gnat on a buffalo’s rear and call in a missile strike to take it out with precision. Although, in this case, it does sound like this technology has taken significant time to identify the equivalent of Buckingham Palace plonked in the middle of downtown Rochdale. Did not at least most of the current and ex Pakistani military wonder who lived in the heavily guarded Abbottabad version of Windsor Castle? Were they frightened to speak of it or were they comfortable with it? We’ll see from the level of negative reaction that may now come from the Pakistan nation. Any accusation of border violation is insignificant in contrast to the removal of this evil man.

What does it mean for Al Qaeda? Probably absolutely nothing. In fact, it will probably provoke one or more atrocities in retaliation. Al Qaeda is an ideology that has already spread and taken hold. Bin Laden may have had a large input into the launching of the terrorist franchise but those franchises have been taken up and have independent heads of their own. The truth is, there’s no way to completely win the war against Al Qaeda – the only solution would be to kill every single person who sympathises actively with “the cause”. That’s impractical, to put it mildly. The “cause”, as I understand it, is to live in an Islamic world – the resistance is not to live in an Islamic world. Both sides are driven by faith, which is irrational by its very definition. This is why religion is the largest taker of human life ever to be invented.

Some guy will step up and could arguably be worse. If you think it couldn’t get worse, think again. The sense of outrage could invigorate his followers, generate funds and resources and provide willing human sacrifice. How can you bargain with the offer of a heavenly after-life?

There’s no victory today – just a significant but mostly symbolic event. I hope that what it does do is give some satisfaction and peace to those who have suffered directly or indirectly at his hands.

Today saw the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Thousands of people descended on London and the country was given the day off to celebrate.

All very nice and all the best to them, however, the cost of the wedding in lost company revenue and subsequent tax revenue to the UK treasury is enormous. This is outside the cost of the event itself which is unlikely to have been paid by the Middleton family. If it was paid by the Royal family, I think you’ll find they didn’t build their fortune by working the night shift in McDonalds.

It was great to see the crowds out with their British flags and some, for once, unashamed patriotic fervour. If you go to New York there are Stars and Stripes flags everywhere – in the UK, that’s almost seen as racist.

So, well done to the happy couple. I just don’t think I should pay for it.

The news is so extensive and near real-time these days that newspapers are too out of date by the time you pick up your copy in the morning. 24 hour news channels and the internet are fighting an information arms race that cannot be won by old fashioned paper and ink.

The race to breaking news makes everything too short-term, demonstrated admirably by Twitter encouraging the destruction of depth and of concentration.

Consider recent events: Japanese earthquake, tsunami, radioactive devastation and horrific aftermath; Middle eastern governments of many years being overthrown by their people (corrupt or not); full out Libyan civil war; continuing conflict in Afghanistan and associated British deaths (remember that?); terrorism returning to Northern Ireland; civil unrest in Syria; Zimbabwe?; Iraq?; Ivory Coast civil war and possible genocide; and all the while, continuing financial meltdown in the world economy (yes, Spanish default is a real and horrifying possibility, as well as threats to the status of the AAA rating enjoyed by the US – added to the harsh spending cuts across the world and possible civil unrest that could follow).

Radiation spewing into the sea in Japan and the mangled infrastructure there has been assigned to history. That’s done. We remember the earthquake on the 11th March and, oh yeah, some reactor blew up, didn’t it? Anything older than a few days is as historic as the second world war.

The news is now racing to report who now holds some Libyan town that we’ve never heard of. It’s numbing – like watching a boring film that we’ve seen before – but it’s still compelling and we’re all still watching. It reminds me of the great novel 1984 by George Orwell. If you haven’t read it, read it. The reports on the war efforts there display parallels to today’s media. Everyone’s listening but no one is listening.

Not long after the disaster, the news reported a woman crying in the rubble of a blasted Japanese city, looking for her mother. She either found her or she didn’t – they didn’t hang around that long. It provoked an emotional response for the viewer – job done. Is this what the News is now for?

So, new year, more grimness. Bombs found in the US, police on patrol waiting for “Mumbai style commando attack”, public spending cuts, bankers bonuses, tax increases, threat of recession still looms.

Two things spring to mind in the first week of 2011 that put a smile on my face. This is no easy task, by the way.

Firstly, winning the Ashes in Australia is a great achievement for the England cricket team. They appear to have a real sporty team thing going on, which is great and a refreshing change from the England football team who have successfully alienated themselves from the public with their off-pitch behaviour and poor on-pitch performances. From thorougly likeable to thoroughly unlikeable.

The other news story that caught my eye was Amanda Holden being attacked by a man dressed as a giant pigeon during Britain’s Got Talent. Reality TV indeed.

Click here for The Sun’s article

I must admit to watching The Apprentice with some interest and equal measures of annoyance.

For a start, the program’s tasks have no real relevance to the real world. What sort of company wants someone who can think up an idea, have it made, pitch it and sell it in 24 hours? I think the winning team is probably the luckiest team on the day a lot of the time.

I’m sure Sugar’s firm isn’t looking for guidance either, the winner will surely be told, “right, well done for winning that game, now, this is how we do things around here.” I think they are only really looking for someone with a bit of certain charisma to try out in a job where the BBC are funding the salary for 2 years. The winner him/herself, will probably then have an ego the size of a large melon and will be looking for media opportunities throughout their (probably) guaranteed employment term of one or two years. Media is, after all, where the money is and you don’t use all that television exposure to get into selling garden equipment for Sugar Enterprises – it’s much more the other way around.

One last thing – he points at the losing candidate and says “you’re fired!” … but how can he fire someone he hasn’t hired? Surely, but less media friendly, it should be “you’re not hired!”. Probably ruins the name of the post-show show on BBC2 …

It’s now nine years since the terrible terrorist attacks of 9/11. In some ways it seems very recent but in some ways it’s faded almost to the point that it doesn’t seem real. Obviously it was real, it’s still real and for my own sake, I’ve been there and seen the big gap between the buildings in the busy metropolis there. It’s a very strange sight to walk around the corner of a large skyscraper, trying to find Ground Zero and then know you have arrived because the large space that you see seems so out of place. A gazillion tonnes of displaced concrete and steel – all gone.

The current focus is the plan to replace what vanished that day and the area around the site. There are new towers, commemorative gardens and such like. All things you would expect. Then we have the horny issue of the Islamic Cultural Centre – planned to be built near to Ground Zero. Christian pastors have appeared from nowhere – the main protagonist being a man leading a congregation of twelve that are mainly family members – threatening to burn the Koran in order to receive media attention that he thinks will give him some leverage with the people planning the centre. Not only does he achieve the opposite with his action, he angers a large amount of people from different creeds who want peaceful lives and pleases those who want some kind of holy war, providing recruitment propaganda that at the very least equals the famous “I want you” Uncle Sam posters. It’s like he and is friends are Al Qaeda double agents. His organisation has now rescinded the threat and whilst clearly never having had any intention of doing it, the damage is done. The words and threats spread quickly as far as remote villages in Muslim nations but the real reason for his action will not percolate so readily. Even if it did, I can’t imagine those baying crowds going silent, saying “Ah! Okay, no problem,” and going home quietly, dismissing the ignoramus responsible for the cack-handed plan purely as a naïve idiot.

My son said that the centre should not be allowed to be built near Ground Zero. The fact is, it is allowed. There is no law being broken. Another fact is that Muslims died in those atrocities too and the attacks were carried out by people who have found a common ground in that they have the same faith but do not operate in its name. They are just evil people. It’s like saying all Irish people should be treated differently because of the IRA.

I’ve heard the phrase “not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims”. In regards to Al Qaeda and other like-minded groups, this may technically correct but it’s actually irrelevant. The percentage of terrorists within the religion is miniscule. People join the Taleban and various groups because they are sometimes forced to (in Afghanistan after threats to their families) and because they are minded to do so because they are attracted to an ideology through ignorance, lack of education and because they want to improve their lives with some direction. They feel like they belong to something important. This is not an excuse but it is a reason.

In regards to the Islamic Cultural Centre, the victims of the 9/11 attacks, their family members, their friends and even those who were permanently scarred by the images do deserve an application of sensitivity. The centre itself will be a constant infection to the wound that scars the southern part of Manhattan. It will keep the wound open. The biggest thing that the organisers could do would be to change their plans. There are too many people who are not ready to consider other faiths and ways of living that are different to their own. Putting the centre there will not help, it will hinder. I hope that they change the location – the gesture might make other people think.

It’s been a while since my last “confession” and I’ve stolen the word “demolition” from Ian Hislop on Have I Got News for You. I’m sure he won’t mind.

So, we now have a government that not a single voter voted for. My, my, this democracy is a funny old game isn’t it? It received the same amount of votes as if tanks had rolled up Pall Mall and the country had been taken by force. None. I didn’t see a box for the Tory / Lib coalition – did you?

Saying that, I’m not all too sure what best to suggest, given that my opinion doesn’t count anywhere anyway. I would say that a referendum should be held to say “is this ok?” – but I would be worried that the popular vote would be “no” and anarachy would reign. Perhaps Gordon Brown would come back and I think even the most hardened but honest Labour supporter would not welcome that. The world is in financial chaos but it is fair to say he took a bad situation and made it much worse. Well done to the unelected previous PM – who wasn’t even elected as leader of his party! In fact, I demand a recount in his constituency as I would guess that man would always finish last in anything he ever did.

We now have Cameron and Clegg claiming that the bile that they had thrown at one another previously was all a misunderstanding and that actually, they agreed on most things all along. That’s quite unlikely, given the Liberals are probably more left wing than a large part of the Labour party. It stinks of untruth is what it does. It’s like Man United and Arsenal saying that actually, after all, they rather like one another, and given they both wear red, perhaps they can call themselves Arsenal United and claim the Premiership from the blues of Chelsea.

There are massive issues facing the country, a deficit of monumental size. People hear this, but I don’t believe the ordinary man in the street fully understands the scale of it – the interest alone is more than our spend on the NHS. Big cuts and tax increases are certain. A political party with a large majority in Parliament would, after time, after the “honeymoon” period of first returning to office would start to turn on itself. Labour was split, the last time in office (pro Blair and pro Brown), the Conservatives were bitterly split between pro Euro and anti Euro. With a coalition of two parties who ARE in general disagreement it will only be a matter of time before the national interest is put to one side and point scoring will commence. Remember, the two parties still exist separately at the ballot box and it will not be possible to vote for the same government next time – such is the mixed nature of the government now “selected” to steer us through some of the most challenging times we’re ever likely to face. This means they have a responsibility to snipe at one another and fight one another in the name of their supporters – how will this work? Simply answered, it won’t. It can’t.

There is also another issue we need to face and this is the collapse of the Federal European dream. The single currency doesn’t work. The larger sovereign nations of Euroland will not support the smaller and horrifically run nations like Greece, Italy and Spain. Countries have to be able to devalue their currencies in times of fiscal strife and they can’t when they’re joined to the same currency – exactly the same as the Exchange Rate Mechanism that did for Britain a few years ago.

The fiscal measures required leads us dangerously towards some kind of Depression – which makes fertile the plains of Europe for the rise, one again, of facism and the far right. This leads to war. This, like many other things, is cyclical and inevitable – wars of the not so distant past show this well. It’s too easy for a persuasive, yet unhinged person or group of people to rise up and offer a way out of the pain. They require only a suspension of the moral compass of a significant proportion of the population, some money and the right conditions to grow. History records this in Europe’s fairly recent past and in countries in African and Asia today.

On a more light hearted note, Britan’s Got Talent is throwing up some interesting candidates and the World Cup is near, so we can all look forward to that. It’s a perfect cover for the world to change around us.

So, it seems that Gordo Brown, the saviour of the world, is rumoured to have to repay some expenses that … presumably shouldn’t have been paid at all. He will say that he never broke any rules, that this was the system that everyone subscribed to and had been in operation for years. Fair enough.

When this is done, he will resume his attack on the evil bankers who … were within the rules and was governed by … a government appointed agency! In this case, using a framework set up by the previous chancellor – a Mr G Brown.

Oh dear … the world’s least talented and charismatic man is now in danger of adding hypocracy to his cluttered CV!

If this man dropped his trousers on live TV and took a dump, would he be sacked or is he completely invulnerable????!

I was fortunate enough to go to Munich and to Ocktoberfest last weekend and I think I’m still hung over.

It’s the most incredible and strangest place I’ve ever seen. In the middle of a big park in a lovely city (great architecture) is a funfair with enormous wooden “tents”. In these wooden tents are hundreds and hundreds of people. There are lots of tents. The people inside, moi included, started drinking giant “stein” glasses of super strength lager at 10am in the morning. This is Central European Time – so, 9am in my BST UK orientated head. From here until 16:30, I drank more lager than I have blood. Our party of 19 drank an average of 8.5 steins each – that’s 17 pints. I then went to another bar, after eating a hot dog (that’s all I ate), then another bar. I think I’m probably lucky to be alive, frankly…

I got to thinking, and someone else mentioned this too… if we had that sort of festival in the UK, then there would most likely be dead people floating around in rivers, upturned cars, large fires, destruction on an unimaginable scale and plenty of pavement pizzas (you know, stomach lining flavour) … I just can’t imagine it.

It seems my daughter has swine flu. I say “seems” because the medical establishment assume she has, given there is infection in her school, and so they provide no testing, no consultation and courier Tamiflu over on a bike. Job done.

I’m happy to say that on (probably) day three, she is fine and is suffering no more than an intermittent temperature rise, which is brought down by Nurofen. The three other people in the house (myself included) appear to not have been infected yet, so the virus has thus far travelled to my house from Mexico but not across the upstairs landing (yet). They speak of 100,000 new cases every day, soon, in the UK.

I think there are some important facts here:

1 – When we thought this was a global pandemic of something like SARS or Spanish flu, there was mass hysteria. It died away when they realised that it would kill a very small proportion of people given its apparent strength. In fact, I’ve heard of Swine Flu parties, akin to measles parties, where people are trying to catch the virus on purpose, to build up immunity now – in case it mutates into the global killer we thought it would be. A small proportion of fatalities could still represent a large number of people — one of whom could be a family member of yours. What did the doctor do when we rang for assistance? He called someone to get advice from them. He then told us my wife to go to the chemist, even though she would have to take my daughter with her… the chemist was appalled and the end result was that the drugs were couriered to my house. However, the chemist said his time was being taken up by people and DOCTORS who didn’t know what to do. What if this really was – or turns into – a very dangerous threat? It’s gone to my area of Surrey very quickly from Mexico, it will be with you very soon, if not already.

2 – Should I go to work, knowing I’m very likely to contract this virus soon – if not already? Answer, yes, because I have no symptoms. However, I had a headache and pointed this out, but I also pointed out that I have headaches twice a week or so anyway (depending on stress levels and hayfever!). So — do I stay at home until next Spring in case I have pig flu? Or do I brush past an asthmatic with a poor immune system and kill them off, or a recovering cancer patient? If I should stay at home, we should all stay at home and then society would break down pretty quickly – you could see that from the petrol strikes a few years back.

3 – Should I tell my work colleagues? Would I want to know if someone else had it? If my work colleagues are having a big birthday bash, should I go, knowing I might be harbouring the potentially threatening new flu virus on my hand, even though in most cases it’s so mild you might not know you have it. My answers were “no”, “yes”, “no” when faced with it. You could argue the flip for each answer.

4 – Someone mused that this virus was probably experimental in a laboratory and was accidentally released by the very people who were experimenting in order to develop vaccines and drugs to combat this potential menace. If you look at pharmaceutical shares, you will see that they have outperformed other sectors in the stock market in this bad global recession – and are set to continue. Interesting thought. Oink, oink.

The biggest point is that hopefully, this will serve as a warning to those responsible for preparing for a (probably) more dangerous crisis. The usual seasonal flu virus could suddenly mutate, bird flu could become rampant, as could SARS, or some other plague. Sadly, I have no confidence that this wake-up call, romantically rumoured to have come from a flu-striken child in Mexico kissing a flu-striken pig, will shake anybody into real action – with the recession and next year’s election to fight, there’s just no appetite.

I don’t know about you, but I have to do a double take when I see the news and it talks about pirates. Pirates? Pirates make me think of Johnny Depp or the old Spanish Galleons that glided around the Carribbean firing balls of metal at one another. Instead, there are speedboats and bandana-wearing guys firing rocket propelled grenades at cargo ships and oil tankers. No signs of cunning and articulate parrots anywhere, just guys chewing khat, sailing around and firing guns.

I have a certain sympathy for these people. There has been no government in Somalia for many years, no infrastructure, no hope. They see the throbbing veins of Western commerce forced to pass their coast and are taking advantage, earning much money in the process. You can imagine that the local warlords are pushing the young people of their fiefdoms into their naval mugging careers with no career in medicine or politics on offer as alternatives. They are like lambs to the slaughter.

This is serious business. Pirates are being killed, probably in larger numbers than the shipping companies and their insurance companies would want you to know. The killings that we hear about – information readily available to the gangs – are creating some kind of pirate brotherhood. They are threatening to kill their hostages and up the ante in their activities. With the threat of this, the Western forces are galvanising themselves in the area, raising up the tension.

Where will it end? I suspect the forces of good will crack down hard on any small and fast moving ship in the area and send a lot of young unfortunate men quietly down to Davy Jones’ locker. I don’t see any other outcome or see any other way that this can be avoided. Democracy is not knocking on Somalia’s door.