Yes, No, Maybe

I'm a little worried that I may have lost the power, or will, to form opinions on things. Let me give some examples, by way of illustration.

The other night, we had our friends M and D round, and discussed various weighty matters. I say discussed, but frankly I rather lost track of the discussion around about the stage when D began arguing that introducing a Congestion Charge in Belfast would discriminate against the poor, and only really started following things again when we got onto the subject of our favourite Olympic events. I pointed out that I quite like the gymnastics, especially when they fall off those high bar things, but then gave myself a fit of giggling hysterics during which I only just managed to retain control over several essential bodily functions, so even that opinion was lost (and the conversation, I'd like to point out, was rather the poorer for it). However, I am pleased to report that we were able to conclude that everyone is stupid except us, so the debate was not entirely without merit.

Then there's the Lisbon Treaty, to which the Irish last week voted 'No' (I am thrilled to note, incidentally, that the British government have decided to vote 'yes' to it on my behalf); frankly I have no idea what it is, even in the vaguest possible terms. From what I can glean from the newspaper coverage, it encompasses abortion, The EU, and the possibility that we're all going to be conscripted to a European Army some time in the undefined future (all of which seems like an unneccessarily ambitious range of affairs to tackle in a single document) and that it may well have been defeated due to everyone's mum voting against it.

You may also recall that I was struggling to form an opinion on the American elections; I have now abandoned this notion entirely, since it would appear that after all that, we're only finished round 1.

So I wonder whether I am losing the power to form opinions, or whether I simply need to find something more to my taste to opine about. I did hear on the grapevine that Richard Dawkins is writing a book on atheism for children, which may prove to be a useful yardstick by which to measure things.