The whole point of a weblog is, I suppose, to keep a regular chronicle of one's life, thoughts and findings. Apologies then for my basic uselessness at being regular. (And now I feel the urge to include this aside here to stop those of you who may wish to leave a comment encouraging me to drink prune juice - although any comment is better than none you silent moody bastards). It has been a week away from the online world for this entity. But excuses are for wimps, so I stop here.

However the hiatus has given me room to reflect and the question that springs to mind concerning this weblog is what is this particular blog for? Charging Though The Midfield started its existence as a chronicle of websites and images excellent enough to rouse some happy emotion within the mind of the entity that writes it. But recently political matters have driven their way to a bubbling surface of more opined interactivity. So where does Charging go from here? What is worth avoiding of course is the sort of lengthy winding prose that rattles on about something of little interest to anyone except the writer and possibly the writer's mother. So perhaps now is the time to cease this particular thread of thought. But perhaps not - what else can be the point of a personal weblog?



Media is changing. The days that a media organisation is controlled by the government are increasingly fading into memory. Although still too many broadcasters and publications around the world are state controlled, people increasingly have access to media that is influenced either by some rich bloke (namely Rupert Murdoch) or by an agenda based on the audience at which it is aimed. And in this last way, the media has come full circle. No longer does it do what it is told (as much), but rather what it thinks the audience wants. Which, to be honest, isn't that much different. CNN in America and Al Jazeera in the Middle East report the same stories differently because the audience wants to see them differently. And the media is so influential in today's world that its reporting of the news is news in itself. The most interesting stories are often those about how other viewers see the stories in their country.

So while the media eats itself, perhaps the personal view of the world that is the weblog is the pure honest reflection of the world we need. For the universe can only be understood through our own subjective views of it. And the most in depth version of subjectivity can be found via your modem. So I guess the opinions should continue; although so must the linkage fest...

Mad Japanese Cat Headwear

For these are important times; what we are seeing in the world is a forging of a new world order. Uncertain times lay ahead and closely bound with uncertainty comes anxiety. So doubts are inevitable; however the doubt in Europe lies deeper within the consciousness of the European people. In the last century Europe has been ripped apart by religious strife, evil warfare, political extremism, and bids for world domination. European attempts to close together have come because common policy means peace and security - a move propagated by the need to stop centuries of bitter warfare on the continent. Even top Tory Churchill was in favour. US' recent foreign policy can be regarded as a move to maintain its reign at the top of this world order that insulates it further from the world. As human kind matures, many Europeans feel nations of people should come together. American and British unilateralism challenges the very foundations of that ideal. But it goes much deeper still. US foreign policy can also be seen from a spiritual viewpoint. After World War II and the Holocaust, Europeans have become much less religious. They have seen how policies that touch the issue of religion and race can be a force for evil. So when Europeans, asked before the Iraq War, regarded George W. Bush as a greater threat to world peace than Saddam Hussain, it was possibly not just because he appears to divide the world into good and evil but also because he is an Evangelical Christian who represents a great many very odd views of the world in the United States. According to a recent Time/CNN poll 17 per cent of Americans think the world will end during their lifetime; 59 per cent believe the prophecies of the Book of Revelations will happen sometime and a quarter think the events of 9/11 were predicted in the Bible. This branch of thought includes our Mr Bush - although we do not know whether he thinks the world is ending soon. When most Europeans read this sort of thing, they do not exactly feel a great affinity with our American cousins. For if you don't believe in all this fire and brimstone stuff you might be of the opinion it is not good that those that do are going into bits of the Middle East (where the brimstone is due to appear first) with guns ablaze using words like good, evil and morality in their language.

Anxious?