Our top four picks for the most universe-disturbing* stories of the year:
- The massive deleveraging of the financial system, the huge devaluing of most financial assets, and the long-coming cardiac arrest of a credit-gorged economy. It was fun while it lasted, eh?
- President-Elect Barack Obama. Hooda thunk it?
- Success in Iraq. Although you could have missed it for the lack of news coverage.
- Turning 50, and the associated psychological seismic activity.
*And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin — [They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]
Do I dare Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
- T.S. Eliot, from the Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock