There have been some interesting observations made recently by the cross section afforded through Chat..
One which appears to be universal, is a sense that something's not quite right with the world, on a vaguely spiritual level. People from India, China, Holland, Britain, the United States, have all mentioned a general malaise.. a sense of discontent which transcends individual economic situations..
A gloom settling in, perhaps we, all of us, are bombarded with the problems of the world. When the man on the street must assimilate all the senseless death and injustice of the entire world, issues the likes of Local Council's tardiness in repairing the potholes can become the focus of personal crusades..
Molehills made mountains, to sublimate the inherent knowledge that when dealing with the bigger picture, we are simply passengers on a train out of control.

Zimbabwe.
Now, where might our collective social concience be..? Africa, since the rapid desertion or removal of Colonial Governments, has seen it's successes, but is not anywhere near what it could be..
Now make no mistake, it's not a declaration of Manifest Destiny to say most African independant nations are utter failures.. political shambles.. It's merely a statement of fact..
Robert Mugabe perhaps personifies the worst in a long list..Idi Amin.. Mohammar Khadafy..
It's a continent which has eagerly thrown off the rule of Europe, but which, for the most part, has discarded all social concience and returned to basic tribalism..
Terrorism, intimidation, fear, and no Law per se, only those enforced by those Impi loyal to the current Chieftain, leaves Africans, on the whole, at deaths door.
Again, it begs the question.. What truely motivates the collective Western concience?

Again, one can only laugh.
The Irish people voted on their country's position on the Lisbon Treaty, saying overwhelmingly 'no' to a document they saw as a thinly disguised EU Constitution.. Their concerns revolved around the abrogation of legal and financial control to Brussels..
Legal issues such as the right to abortion.. economic issues concerning subsidies and the access of migratory workers to permanent residents..
However.. in spite of this Irish 'no' vote, and similar results in France and the Netherlands back in 2005, and the absolute condition being in place that requires 100% agreement among EU member States.. Disregarding these refusals, Brussels wants the Irish to have another 6 weeks, to possibly change their minds..
Unbelievable. It's not that the eventual necessity will be an economically and judicially coherent European conglomerate, for it certainly will be.
But it's the kack-handed manner in which they conduct their diplomacy..

There may well be some talk of 'stagflation' bandied about over the next few weeks or so..
Be not decieved. It's going to be a cold winter around the world.. with energy and food prices on an unstoppable rise..
The phrase 'blame the weather' springs to mind. And trite though it may well be, that will become more and more apparent to each and every consumer on this planet.
Grain and corn reaching unprecidented highs on the Commodities market.. The American midWest underwater..
And the downstream spiral is plain to see..
Add to that universally higher prices for fuel..
One has to actually feel a sense of pity for whomever takes over the American Presidency and the new British Prime Minister..
It's difficult to make any explanation of the necessity of personal money management to societies who have become used to having the option of the never-never..
Even more difficult to keep all the balls in the air..
The upcoming electoral platforms will be exceedingly interesting, to say the very least..
It may take constant translation to separate the verbal wheat from the chaff..