I see this as yet more proof that there is no God - the neat little arguments reconciling perfect good with the existence of evil trail off into silence when one sees the piles of bodies, the screams of the bereaved, the desperate relatives searching.. the day after Christmas. I know from my travels that there are no people less deserving of such suffering than the gentle, kind fishers of Tamil Nadu, and I am sure that the victims in other countrie were just as 'good'.

All one can hope for is that 2005 will be better than stinking 2004 which has to be just about the most apalling year for the suffering of innocent people that I can remember.