Do we care it's New Year time at all?
(with apologies to Ure/Geldof) It's pretty commonplace to think we have just about managed to survive a particularly awful year as we say farewell to 2022. Globally still we've had waxing and waning Covid, and a number of other biological threats; a new vicious war, this time right on our doorstep, in Ukraine; more sabre rattling from China over Taiwan; we are threatening our one home planet just as much as ever, if not more; and just as in every previous sort of crisis, a tiny few will become even more wealthy from exploiting it, playing it like a game. Whether we can lay all our economic woes at the feet of the belligerent Putin or seek better reasons closer to home in the failures of our own governments over the past few years, 2022 has witnessed prices rise faster than during most of our lives, households pushed to decisions about whether to heat or eat, and whether, indeed, they can afford to maintain the very roof over their heads. In Britain we've seen two governmen