English Opinion

I took a quick look at my Facebook page today and saw that a number of people have already altered their status to show just how glad they are to see the back of 2008. Whilst I won’t be sad to see the year out and will welcome 2009, it took me by surprise that so many people have had one of the worst years of their lives this year as a result of personal circumstances. This begs the question, just how bad was 2008?

 In terms of the news, 2008 was certainly an awful year. Not only did we have the Baby P case brought to the fore and the sheer lack of regard for his murder by the social services team that was supposed to protect him but we also had a mother prosecuted for the kidnapping of her own child in Karen Matthews. In terms of the way children are treated, 2008 was certainly a bad year. In the UK, more measure were brought in to imply that we can’t look after ourselves anymore so the advent of the nanny state was all but cemented. And then there was the economy… The years of boom that we have enjoyed are well and truly over thanks to the recklessness of the banks and lack of regulation by a government that seem hell bent on blaming America for our problems rather than taking responsibility. Now we face one of the harshest recessions since the end of World War II. On top of that, and average of 6 people were killed via knife crime every week.

All in all, not taking my own personal circumstances into account, 2008 was a terrible year. Hopefully 2009 will be better. Hopefully the government will learn that its emphasis on statistics and figures just does not work and they need to focus on something else… like sorting out their own messes for example. They need to start believing that we can look after ourelves but need to be able to trust them with our money, child protection system and crime prevention. We need to be able to trust them to do what is best for us and not for them. We need to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The latter is why I hope that Gordon Brown’s days as Prime Minister are numbered. 2009 is certainly time for a change in more ways than one!

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