New year - same everything

New year, new opportunities etc.

Not to be a killjoy, but is there really any difference between yesterday and today?

If I was a pessimist yesterday, what would have changed between then and now that I would suddenly see the world afresh and my future anew?

This morning I caught a segment on the Today show on BBC4 – some people heard they’d lost their jobs on Christmas Day. They’ve spent the holiday season looking for jobs, worrying about their futures, unless they’ve had good news since – they probably feel the same as yesterday.

This is 2015. It, like 1999, has had a certain lore built up around it. It is promised to be special. Perhaps this is due to the Millennium Development Goals – fifteen years of talking about, working towards, analysing and debating this arbitrarily chosen year. Fifteen years of being reminded that if we work hard enough we’d have achieved goals never before tackled on a global scale have probably been imprinted on us making this year unlike any other.

Perhaps it’s the distance from the year 2000? Is 15 years enough to have made something of yourself? Can you recognise the person you were when the Y2K fuss reigned? What has changed since 2010, five years ago? What will change before 2020?

Nevertheless, best wishes for the New Year!