Vivat Libertas

It's that  time of year again - otherwise known as the last day of the year, or an incredibly arbitrary decision to start one new orbit of the earth around the sun after having completed one old orbit. Anyone going to shed any tears? I know I'm not. Partly because I cry too much, partly because I don't have enough energy to cry as much as I used to, and partly because this year hasn't been worth crying over. Don't get me wrong; it started off well. I was happy, I was content, I was doing well in my studies and it turned out that the wonderful, amazing guy I'd fallen for late in 2011 had somehow fallen for me too - and then we ended up getting together. I'm a lucky, lucky lady. I also have the bad luck to suffer from depression and as spring turned into summer, my mood started to deteriorate. (I feel guilty talking about this, though, as other people I know were going through far worse.) By happy accident, I was also taking my GCSE exams (and one stray ...

Right. So it's the last day of 2011, we're going into 2012 and...well...it really doesn't feel like the end of the year. All the same, it is, and I've decided to do a blog post attempting to sum up 2011. I guess when people call it the year of revolution, they're right: the year started with the Arab Spring and protests only spread and spread. Now we have Occupy as well, and all this only looks set to continue. We want our voices back, we want change - and yet it's also been a year of repression, with governments in the western world cracking down further, both on the streets and by floating, or trying to pass, measures that roll back or completely trample over civil liberties. If anything, both these trends are set to continue in 2012, and while I want to believe that we'll one day end up with a better society, I honestly have my doubts. The persistent theme, particularly as the year draws to an end, is that we're running out of time to make things ...