Blog: Floods, disease and earthquakes - Happy New Year!

Blog: They've been described as being of biblical proportions. Australian floods sweeping 30ft deep through an area as big as France and Germany combined, are certainly beyond the comprehension of most of us and show once more how man and beast are totally at the mercy of the planet when it roars.

Meanwhile, a mystery disease has killed more than 10,000 saiga antelope in Kazakhstan with conservationists warning the mass deaths could spell disaster for the saiga, already an endangered species.

While across the globe, wildlife officials are trying to find out what caused more than a thousand birds to fall dead from the sky over a small town in the US state of Arkansas.

And closer to home, apart from the early onset of bitter winter, two earthquakes have hit northern England - we usually get one a year at around three points on the Richter scale, now there have been two in just a fortnight.

What's happening to the world? Well actually, it is doing what it always has done since it began - evolving, changing, being turbulent and very scary. That's the price we pay for the wonder of living in it. And some people and creatures pay a much more crippling price than most of us.

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Gillian Duffy rates Lady Gaga. Gillian, the Rochdale lady who popped out for a loaf and all but brought down a government (Gordon forgot to switch off his mike before he called her a bigot) gives the thumbs-down von past and present Prime Ministers but what she thinks of entertainers is much more interesting.

She says: "I really like Lady Gaga and her music. She is very eccentric about how she presents herself and I don't think that dress she wore really was made of meat. I like Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse too. Though my daughter bought me a Barbra Streisand CD for Christmas." Pop princess or politician? It's a no brainer!

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Some sales assistants and serving staff are appalling, rude and totally disinterested in their customers. The vast majority are not. They are patient, friendly, unbelievably tolerant and anxious to send you out pleased with the experience.

And that, despite a survey showing that more than a million staff in the UK was assaulted, threatened or abused during the past year. Many were physically attacked, many more threatened with violence and a whopping 70 per cent verbally abused. Half the incidents related to under age youngsters wanting to buy items like fireworks, solvents, cigarettes and alcohol. The other half?

Well they'd be so-called adults confirming the belief that the last refuge of those unable to open and sustain a grown-up conversation, is to be nasty and foul-mouthed. Politely complain if there is a problem, of course.

But on the whole, those who serve us deserve a better deal and should certainly not be the butt of the ignorant who think that to be unpleasant is to be clever when it actually makes everybody else cringe.

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The number of sales (mostly for beds and sofas) promising slashed prices, then even more off and a 'don't pay anyway for years ahead' deal, beg the question: what on earth is the profit when the goods are being sold at full price? Out of all proportion, obviously!

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A flying machine which looks like an airship, doesn't need a runway and can land anywhere, is set to be the next conqueror of the skies. It can also cruise in the air for three weeks without landing. But who on earth (or above it) would want to do that?