It seems these days, that moments are stolen..
However..what's to prompt comment when little has been happening that hasn't been recorded before..
Until these past few days, anyway.
And what better to take peoples minds off the continuing economic collapse, than a good old pandemic to take center stage in the news..
It's still called swine flu over here.. a
Although we have had a case transferred to someone who hasn't recently been in or near people who have just returned from Mexico.. prompting a number of health reminder PSA's.. the attitude of the British man on the street is aware of, but not particularly concerned about the disease.. at this point it's as mentioned, a welcome break from unhealthy economic figures and the pall hanging over our collective heads..
No mention of the G20 recently held in London.. No use, and neither will there be much of any substance to come from the next..
Barack's first hundred days have come and gone.. little of substance either pro or con as yet but the new President has learned that all of his plans will not sail through the House and the Senate.. defeated in his fight to fill some of the houses left empty through repossessions throughout the country..
He may well be still the overwhelming favourite with the crowd, but it's a leap he's made. Just how much of a leap, and how he deals with the situation as it gets harder and harder..
There will be no dancing in the streets of Motown for quite a while.. Chrysler declaring a 'controlled bankruptcy'.. talks with Fiat.. The AFL.CIO will not be happy and Jimmy Hoffa will be turning in cement tomb under the I94.. no 'K-Car' to pull the company out of the hole this time..
But what a surprise this golden opportunity was missed by Barack and Co..
Had the government not refused a bailout for Chrysler but instead used it for taking the company over completely and dedicating it to supplying a better car..a better truck..
If an entire company was devoted to mass production of affordable alternative to a petrol powered car or truck.. A respected name.. one with a history.. Could just keep re-tooled assembly lines running.. while keeping a massive workforce on the job..
Consider.. when Chrysler starts shutting down it's lines.. all the downstream contractors will be forced to close.. but the effects of a major bankruptcy are too basic an economic principle for sermonising..

But we'll keep an eye on the progression of this 'flu.. and recall 1918..
And there are far too many of us at any rate..

And a brief closing note this evening.. concerning the recent rumblings throughout 'Old Europe', the core which spawned the EU hegemony..
It appears there is some regret on having been precipitous in expanding the Union.. and the burden imposed by some of the former members of the USSR who have wrangled their way into a far more lucrative club..
A case of Continental hubris perhaps..?