It hasn't been a good week for those of us of a pessimistic and fearful tendency.
Living again through the horrors of September 11, 2001, has been bad enough, but confronting the present and future consequences of it through countless newspaper features and television programmes has triggered an almost overwhelming urge to curl up in a corner in the foetal position and whimper.
Never has the world seemed so uncertain. Never has the background stress gnawing away at peace of mind been so intense. Small wonder more and more people are escaping from it into drink, drugs, gluttony, sexual excess or combinations of any or all of these.
There seems to be a general consensus among those who have studied these things closely that the Third World War has begun, and that it's a holy one. None of them, though, has a clue how it will develop, how long it will go on, and how or if it will end.
All we know for certain is that, as far as we in the free-thinking West are concerned, it's a war being waged against us by dogma-driven people who are fanatical in their religious beliefs and who see it as their mission, their duty even, to either convert or destroy those who don't see life through their blinkers. And the fact that it might mean destroying themselves in the process is no deterrent.
Unlike other world wars, when it was generally known where the enemy was, in this conflict the enemy is also within. None of us has any idea when he (because it will almost certainly be a he, women being generally disregarded) will crop up to blast himself into oblivion and take as many people as possible with him. Safe arrival at the end of every journey or safe exit from every crowded venue becomes a cause for quiet thanksgiving.
Yet while we wait for things to get worse, brace ourselves for the next atrocity, life must go on. We invest money in pension funds, invest hope in our children and grandchildren, plant trees in our gardens and squash plastic bottles for recycling to reduce the greenhouse gasses that are melting the ice-caps.
And somehow we have to do all these future-thinking things without asking ourselves the obvious question: what's the point?
The point is that if we didn't manage, subconsciously, to persuade ourselves to carry on as normal on the assumption that we'll still be here to enjoy the future, and be free to enjoy it in our own way, we'd all go mad.
However overwhelming the indications to the contrary might sometimes seem, we must continue to talk ourselves into hoping for the best at least part of the time.
To constantly fear the worst is to hand an easy victory to that enemy within.
We don't want tax bandit in the saddle
Are you one of those people who are looking forward to Gordon Brown, above, becoming Prime Minister? I'm not. I don't like the look of the man and wouldn't trust him an inch.
If we judge him by the many and varied covert ways he's managed to tax us, he's sneaky. His refusal to acknowledge the damage he did to pension funds by ending tax relief on them shows that he's unbending. His brooding visage and dour manner reinforce the impression of a man closed within himself and unapproachable.
No, I don't much fancy Brown as Britain's head boy. But I can't wait to get rid of Blair. How on earth can some people talk glowingly about his Government's achievements?
Public services are in a shambles and either being privatised or gradually shut down. The cost of council tax and utilities gobbles up more and more of everyone's money. Immigration is out of control. So are house prices, which is only good news if you're selling up to leave the country. Despite various tricks employed to disguise the fact, unemployment is rising steadily. The NHS is virtually bankrupt. It now costs an arm and a leg to have a tooth filled.
And thanks to Blair being in thrall to Bush we're involved in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which are costing a growing number of British lives and billions of pounds and have turned us into a prime terrorist target.
Blair took us into the Iraq conflict on the basis of lies. In a more honourable age a politician found out in such a deception would have taken himself off to his study and shot himself. These days they brazen it out.
Whoever takes over from Blair will have a huge job to do to put things even a quarter right. Brown isn't the man for it. Neither is David Cameron, who has created himself in Blair's image.
It says a lot for the paucity of talent, integrity and stature among Britain's politicians that despite his deception and his other obvious failings, many people still consider Blair to be the best we've got. God help us!
Run this proposal off the road
Bradford Council should reject the Highways Agency offer of £800,000 to accept responsibility for the A650 road. What a poisoned chalice that would be. We're not that daft in Bradford, are we?
If that road is ever not to be the nightmare it currently is, particularly around Saltaire, it will need major roadworks costing considerably more than £800,000. That sum would barely cover the cost of maintaining the surface for a few years.
So on behalf of the council taxpayers I urge councillors to politely decline to let the Government offload its burden on to us.
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