The first week of 2012 has drawn to a close. In the UK the weather has remained unseasonably mild for some. In Scotland and the North of England people experienced storms as the New Year kicked in. High winds and heavy rain lashed parts of the country. Many homes remained without power for some days. Two people were killed as a result of the storms.
Toward the end of the week though higher than normal January temperatures were back. In the North, in Yorkshire, it may not be quite as mild as London but the signs of Spring are here. Geraniums from last summer are still flowering and continuing to grow. Migrating blackbirds have returned that bit early.
Toward the end of the week though higher than normal January temperatures were back. In the North, in Yorkshire, it may not be quite as mild as London but the signs of Spring are here. Geraniums from last summer are still flowering and continuing to grow. Migrating blackbirds have returned that bit early.
We Brits are obsessed with the weather, or so the saying goes, but of course the big wide world had other fish to fry.
In the US the main issue appeared to be the race for the Republican nomination. Like any country, there will be many people in the US who care not one jot for all this election hype. For those people 2012 is going to be a long year. The Presidential Election takes place on November 6 but Americans will be inundated with electioneering before then.
US relations with Iran sunk even further as that country's naval exercises or war games threatened the region's and the world's stability. The UK and other countries joined the US in condemning Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to traffic, notably oil tankers shipping to the west. All agreed that they would prevent this by whatever means necessary. Supporters of Iran claimed that the heavy sanctions imposed on Iran by the west were in fact an act of war.
In a week when President Obama announced a slimming down of US armed forces in order to cut costs, possible new conflicts pose a huge problem.
Violence and civil unrest continued in Syria, Nigeria and other countries. In Iraq the fragile peace left when the final US troops pulled out in December has already been shattered. Bomb attacks have killed many and look set to cause further problems.
In Syria Arab League monitors are proving to be powerless. They do not have the remit to solve issues merely to take note and report back. Bomb attacks in Syria since they arrived have been a big problem. The rebels claim that they were carried out by the regime to blacken the character of the rebels. The regime claims terrorists were responsible.
In the UK we seem to have become bogged down with political correctness. This week two of the men responsible for the murder of Stephan Lawrence, 18 years ago, were finally found guilty and shipped of to jail. This murder was part of what was a racist attack. Stephen was killed because of the colour of his skin. In some ways this week's events in the UK have made a mockery of that.
We have had Labour politician Diane Abbot berated over what many thought was a racially motivated tweet. On the football pitch we have seen one player in tears after racist taunts by some of thoseion the stands. Former footballer Stan Collymore has reported a tweet as a racist attack. Lastly David Cameron has been in hot water for attacking Labour's Ed Balls with a Tourette's syndrome jibe.
Cameron and Abbot have both apologised. Whilst racist attacks are bad news and should be stamped on hard it does seem that in an effort to be politically correct we are acting like fools. Whatever happened to the adage "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me", Yes words spoken with hate do cause hurt but we seem to be getting bogged down and in doing so will trivialise serious attacks. A sense of proportion is needed.
The UK lost another soldier in Afghanistan bringing the death toll to 395. This time it was a soldier who died from injuries sustained in 2010.RIP
If 2012 predictions ring true the end is nigh. We will either see the end of the world toward the end of May or the end of the year. Let's hope these predictions are wrong. The odds are that we will continue. However with so many threats of global warfare the end is possible, That is an end at the hand of mankind. Surely we will not let this happen?
Till next week stay safe, TTFN
In the US the main issue appeared to be the race for the Republican nomination. Like any country, there will be many people in the US who care not one jot for all this election hype. For those people 2012 is going to be a long year. The Presidential Election takes place on November 6 but Americans will be inundated with electioneering before then.
US relations with Iran sunk even further as that country's naval exercises or war games threatened the region's and the world's stability. The UK and other countries joined the US in condemning Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz to traffic, notably oil tankers shipping to the west. All agreed that they would prevent this by whatever means necessary. Supporters of Iran claimed that the heavy sanctions imposed on Iran by the west were in fact an act of war.
In a week when President Obama announced a slimming down of US armed forces in order to cut costs, possible new conflicts pose a huge problem.
Violence and civil unrest continued in Syria, Nigeria and other countries. In Iraq the fragile peace left when the final US troops pulled out in December has already been shattered. Bomb attacks have killed many and look set to cause further problems.
In Syria Arab League monitors are proving to be powerless. They do not have the remit to solve issues merely to take note and report back. Bomb attacks in Syria since they arrived have been a big problem. The rebels claim that they were carried out by the regime to blacken the character of the rebels. The regime claims terrorists were responsible.
In the UK we seem to have become bogged down with political correctness. This week two of the men responsible for the murder of Stephan Lawrence, 18 years ago, were finally found guilty and shipped of to jail. This murder was part of what was a racist attack. Stephen was killed because of the colour of his skin. In some ways this week's events in the UK have made a mockery of that.
We have had Labour politician Diane Abbot berated over what many thought was a racially motivated tweet. On the football pitch we have seen one player in tears after racist taunts by some of thoseion the stands. Former footballer Stan Collymore has reported a tweet as a racist attack. Lastly David Cameron has been in hot water for attacking Labour's Ed Balls with a Tourette's syndrome jibe.
Cameron and Abbot have both apologised. Whilst racist attacks are bad news and should be stamped on hard it does seem that in an effort to be politically correct we are acting like fools. Whatever happened to the adage "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me", Yes words spoken with hate do cause hurt but we seem to be getting bogged down and in doing so will trivialise serious attacks. A sense of proportion is needed.
The UK lost another soldier in Afghanistan bringing the death toll to 395. This time it was a soldier who died from injuries sustained in 2010.RIP
If 2012 predictions ring true the end is nigh. We will either see the end of the world toward the end of May or the end of the year. Let's hope these predictions are wrong. The odds are that we will continue. However with so many threats of global warfare the end is possible, That is an end at the hand of mankind. Surely we will not let this happen?
Till next week stay safe, TTFN
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