The end of another year

The end of another year of pain and misery for most of you reading this, doom and gloom in the financial world, houses being re-possessed, folk thrown out of work, on the scrap heap of life as soon as they come out of university, old folk left to die in cold houses without the means to either eat or heat, more children in poverty than before records began almost.

We have countries at war within their own borders, tyrants ruling others with an iron fist and as usual our governments condoning the killing and abuse of ordinary citizens as long as it suits our financial of military aims. Big business, banks and the multinationals have come together to exert pressure on governments where and when needed to achieve their goals and so the circle is almost complete. What else to bring to the party? How about fear, fear of what? Fear of anything they can use to help control and cajole the masses into accepting that this is the only way forward, the only way that our way of life will survive.

We look at the elections of tin pot dictators in far flung countries and scorn their barbaric use of force to achieve an end but yet we accept the more subtle use of the powers that can be wielded by our own “civilised” governments. We in the UK do not have the possibility of getting shot of the bunch of clowns ruling over us for a few more years, in the USA they have elections next year and may ditch the only person who seems to have some humanity in him in favour of someone promoted by a bunch of right wing lunatics who would not, in a more civilised society be given the time of day to espouse their creed of hate.

We have the power of the press, totally unfettered and left to do pretty much as it pleases, hack into people’s phone conversations, trick their way into our bank accounts and other financial situations, look into the bedrooms of not only the rich and famous but also anyone who dares to challenge them, yes it’s tight that there should be a free press but with this right comes responsibility, not only for their own standards but the feelings, privacy and rights of other human beings.

Would it be too much to ask that in the year 2012 we look to our fellow man and try to behave in a humane, kind and caring way, that we all try that little bit harder to make the life of those less fortunate a little easier and that we all take a look around and see what is being done in our names and say STOP it’s enough now.