THREE days to go: are you ready yet? Ready for what? For Christmas, of course.

A WHACKING 15,000 delegates descended on Cancun at the weekend. Expectations were not high. The problem for those seeking the Holy Grail of a deal to “save the planet” was that the climate change debate has changed.

I WOKE up the other morning, turned around, and remembered he wasn’t there. Of course, he wasn’t there. He killed himself seven months ago.

WITH his leather jackets and messy, bleached hair, Julian Assange could be the edgy one in a fashionable indie band. In more ways than one, the WikiLeaks founder is the poster boy for today’s unthinking, whistleblowing brand of newsmaking, which is what currently passes for investigative reporting.

THE daily dosages have been administered since February. At times the strength and vigour has been pumped up.

SO, the situation the Government was trying to avoid has come about. Whether or not it was strictly necessary, elected representatives have been elbowed aside by officials from Europe.

WHEN Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from years of house arrest last week, memories flooded back of Nelson Mandela’s own release from Victor Verster prison and his triumphant walk to freedom. Dare we hope that Burma too might soon join the civilised nations of the world? The chances, unfortunately, are slim.

But to suggest that this explains Berlusconi’s political success presents Italians as morons, programmed to vote for him at the flick of a switch.

IN economic good times, all the different good causes lobby for their share of the bounty.