Daniel Cann

Here we are ten years later and that now seems like such an innocent time in light of events that followed the welcoming of the year 2000. Who could have predicted 911? (Okay smart arses, I suppose Nostradamus). Since that dark day in 2001 we had Bush and Blair and the so-called ‘War on Terror’ (like declaring a war on fresh air or sunshine), weapons of mass destruction (which were never found), war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We still have not found Osama bin Laden and there is still no end in sight for our involvement in Afghanistan.

The noughties have also seen entertainment, communications and technology take off to an amazing degree with the advent of: social networking sites, Twitter, Facebook, mobile phones (and their ever increasing number of gadgets, extras and functions), Blackberry, Ipods, Iphones, Iplayer, Nintendo Wii’s, DVDs, BluRay, HD and flat screens. All of these things we take for granted now were either not around or not as ubiquitous as they are now. Can you imagine life without them? (Probably more peaceful and spiritually fulfilling but like a drug these gadgets are hard to let go).

The noughties saw the explosion of Home Improvement and Property shows for the television as well as reality shows like ‘Big Brother’, ‘The X Factor’, ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.’ Our obsession with celebrity has been shocking and knows no bounds. People just can’t seem to get enough of ‘OK’, ‘Hello’ ‘Nuts’, ‘Zoo’ and the tabloids as well as the Internet. The public’s thirst for trivia is insatiable.

Blogging, texting, tweeting have become part of our language and our normal modern existence. None of these things were as prevalent or given as much importance as they have now. Youtube is a source of fun and information and the speed with which things are shared en masse from big headlines to the most trivial of matters would have had our heads spinning at the beginning of the decade.

Of course there has been the recession: they seem to come around every seven or so years. The environment: we are constantly being reminded about global warming and our carbon footprint. How we live and what we do has never before come under such scrutiny. Nearly every town and city in this country has CCTV. Nothing is really private or off limits anymore.

America replaced its first moron President with its first black President in the form of the impressive orator Barrack Obama. A step in the right direction, for at the very least, even if he does not live up to the very high (some would say almost impossible) hopes heaped onto his shoulders he at least represents an improvement on his predecessor. Obama’s intellect must be at least fifty or sixty IQ points higher than Bush, a welcome development. The World still has its problems but perhaps as time goes on we will be able to sleep more easily.

There are tough times ahead but as this decade has already shown so much can happen in a very short space of time. Think of all the giant leaps in technology and communication made in the noughties. I just wonder what the next decade will bring? (A nice large helping of optimism and philanthropy will be a great start).

What to call the new decade? The tens? The twenty tens? The teens? The teenies? Whatever they become known as I am certain they are going to be interesting.

Happy New Year!