The BBC News website has published a selection of photos as a year in review that makes for depressing viewing. Of the 17 pictures posted there, 13 of them are about bad news - violence in Kenya and the DR Congo, Amazonian land disputes, natural disasters, wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia, protests in the West Bank, food shortages and contamination, and the credit crunch. Three of the four remaining pictures are about the US presidential election, and the only high point is a photo from the Olympics. Even now, the front page of the BBC News website is dominated with news on the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and more doom and gloom related to the credit crunch.

I know that they say, ‘No news is good news’, which could also loosely be re-interpreted as ‘any news is bad news’, but this is ridiculous. We look back now at the 20th century and shake our heads sadly about things like the atrocities of the two World Wars, the Cold War, the Depression, AIDS, and the development of nuclear weapons, but there were also great things; like advances in science, technology and medicine, the space race and moon landings, and the development and expansion of telecommunications. What about the 21st century? Iraq. Afghanistan. SARS. MRSA. Global warming. Economy down turn. 9/11 and terrorism. Obesity. Poverty and disproportionate wealth. Multi-million divorce settlements.

When I try to think of the most memorable events in my lifespan - in my memory - the first one that springs to mind, possibly because it’s the biggest and most recent, is 9/11. Before that, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the incessant, ridiculous, ceaseless controversy and conspiracy theories. Sure, I also remember things like the Berlin Wall coming down, the development of the world wide web, and strides in medicine and genetics, but they pale in comparison to recent events. At this rate, it’s not going to be the 20th century that people look back on with head shaking and regret. It’ll be the 21st.