I'm back

I had a long break with the family, I think we all needed it.

Clearly the world doesn't stop just because it's Christmas and the state of the economy, the middle-east, the business and employment markets, the pound etc. etc. don't make for fun reading.

Here are some very quick observations on the big news stories.

Gaza.
Like everything to do with the middle-east the situation isn't as clear cut as much of the media would make out. I think that Israel is being heavy handed in it's military operations in Gaza. But that's easy for me to say, I haven't been on the receiving end on thousands of rocket attacks like the people of southern Israel have.

Hamas is a bad news, both for the Palestinian people and for the chances of lasting peace in the region. I have been shocked and saddened by the lack of balance in the reporting, I am reminded of the November 2006 headline "Gaza Strip ceasefire holds despite rocket attacks on Israel".

Economy
Gordon Brown sounds like a stuck record (younger readers might want to ask their parents about the meaning of that phrase). The constant "it started in America", "I'm the best placed to get us out of this", "the Conservative would do nothing" etc, etc aren't convincing anyone that I've spoken to about this.

His desire to be seen to be active and decisive but without any sense of direction or focus gives a whole new meaning to Brownian motion.

I'll back updating the bog regularly again now, so keep checking back.