From inside the walls of my gilded prison I just wanted to send holiday greetings to all who have followed this blog for so many years. I know I've not been writing much lately, but you have to admit it's been a rough year:
No one, rich or poor, has been immune to the droughts and climate-change disasters from one end of the country to the other. Even as I'm writing this evening we're facing another "unprecedented" and potentially destructive Arctic blast right here before Christmas day.
To the shock of a nation and the whole world we've witnessed women's rights being stripped away before our very eyes by an over zealous Supreme Court.
With a lack of sensible gun control there's been multiple disastrous shootings all over the place that hurt our souls and shocked us to our roots!
There's Putin's bizarre and on-going war in Ukraine with his continual threat of using nuclear weapons.
Queen Elizabeth II, who has been on the throne throughout most of our lifetimes, died. Which distracted us for weeks.
We've been facing high gasoline prices and inflation that's hurting everyone, the poor most of all of course, as usual.
There's been the almost constant distraction of our former president's legal problems.
And then we've had the bruising mid-term elections that crushed right up against the holidays, making the season a little less festive - depending on which side of the fence you're on, I suppose.
But there's always room for hope. Gasoline prices have dropped dramatically, inflation is showing signs of easing, and the recent agreements among the United Nations Climate Change Conference (referred to as COP27) gives more reason for hope!
So with all sincerity I will say Happy Holidays and all best wishes for a Happy New Year!
Cheers, and as always, thank you so much for reading,
Andrew
