Resurgam?

Looking back 2010 hasn't really been a vintage year has it?

Well, no matter. 2011 is just around the corner, full of promise. Even in this new found age of austerity there's much to look forward to, both personally and professionally. New challenges to be met, places to go, people to see.

It's easy to look to the year ahead with trepidation, and I've spent most of the last three days doing just that. this arbitrary date on the calendar looms large for the bereaved, the anxious, the dispossessed, but hope is there to be had, and sometimes we need someone else to point that out for us.

As a political ploy Dave's "Big Society" is a bit of a non-starter-- as a friend of mine quipped yesterday, the difference between the Big Society and the Big Issue is that nobody buys the Big Society-- but the fundamental decency of our fellow men that would underpin it is still there and will, I fervently hope and expect, come to the fore in the months to come. *

So, wherever you are, and whatever your plans for tonight, I hope you give Oh-Ten a splendid send off and Oh-Eleven a roaring welcome. I hope to be back rather more next year, and I look forward to hearing all your news as time unfolds.

We shall, as ever be firmly installed in front of the Hootenanny, and we'll be raising a glass to you and yours, and us and ours.

Cheers to you all, and Happy New Year.

*Woohoo. "Big Society" three times in one sentence! Thesaurus- Schmesaurus say I.