2012

This is supposed to be the year that the world ends, according to the Mayans. Of course they didn't see their own end coming and that does not give their prediction a lot of clout. However, there is much going on that does give some credence to such a possibilty.

Personally, 2012 has not been a great year. I have been ill for the last three weeks and this week, with just one week to go until the move, our buyers backed down and so we go back to square one. The following day, Mother in law, who was in a care home for a couple of weeks respite care, fell and broke her hip. She is 86 and such things at her age are not to be taken lightly. She was struggling to look after herself as it was, so goodness knows what will happen now.

Globally we have the American Republicans and the Muslims - two groups of fundamental religious maniacs, both utterly convinced that their god is on their side and that the modus vivendi is written down in ancient ramblings of middle eastern mystics. They use their religions to justify anything at all and i am not sure which is the scariest. It would seem that the republicans are on the rise - surfing a wave of greed that epitomises the American way of life, and their dog eat dog philosophy has to be a recipe for disaster.

And then of course there is North Korea. A nation so far suppressed that they don't know they are suppressed. Maybe the word was removed from the dictionary. The population seems happy to starve while supporting the second biggest army in the world and an arsenal of weapons that makes even China nervous.

We have the former Soviet Union, broken into corrupt and despotic states and the whole of Africa that seems ungovernable and which is ready to be taken over by Islamists. While over here, economic doom and gloom is exacerbating the gulf between the rich and poor and the vast majority are bathing in a prolonged and apathetic stupour, knowing that whatever government we have, only ever represents the interests of the few.

Maybe the Mayans got it right.