What will the 1990s be remembered for? Shakespeare wrote that the good that men do is buried with them, while the evil lives on after them. So may it be with this decade. The years between 1990 and 1999 will be remembered for the hypocrisy that is shown by the leaders of this decade.

The cold war ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union by the start of the 90s but in the next 10 years there was no significant move forward on Nuclear Arms. I know that there was a test ban treaty signed, but look at the details. Britain spent the past few years replacing one fleet of submarines each with a world threatening capability with a new more expensive set. France only signed the treaty after irradiating a couple of Pacific Islands. Pakistan and India demonstrated to each other their power (and to others, their foolishness) by setting off a couple of their own devices. This is not forgetting the USA who see fit, them being the largest Nuclear Power, and by their own words, the guardians of the new world order, reject the test treaty.

The early years were spent preserving the supply of oil (and incidentally, I'm not suggesting that petrol companies can influence government policy, gave them an excuse to hike fuel prices) by bombing a mad dictator who in previous years was seen as the saviour of the Middle East against another mad dictator. The Gulf conflict left Iraq in a state remarkably similar to the post WWI Germany, it had lost most of its army, its money and had internal conflicts. The only differences were that in Iraq there was a madman still running the country and that the Germans in technical terms were far superior to Iraqis (no offence intended, but since people I know have worked on Iraqi defences, I feel able to comment). One could say that the West was hypocritical in saying that it will stop at nothing to oust Sadam, but then stopping.

The same could be said for conflicts in Yugoslavia, were Serbs will Croats, who both kill Muslims, and then the Albanians are attacked. If the leader of Serbia were removed earlier, none of this would have happened. But did we see this before, no. We were happy to sell arms to countries though out the 90s, only to have them used against us when we come into sort out the mess.

To me everybody is equal and seeing this or the other so called attempts at peace in the world sometimes make me sick at the intolerance of others. In Israel we had a great chance of peace, until the hard-line Jews (no offence meant to Jews, I am one, but find the views of the Zionist groups unbearable), voted in an intolerant right-winger, and its only now back on track. (This was written before everybody got together to cock it all up by each demanding the impossible of the other). The Irish politicians in my view talk about a new era, but are too babyish and hypocritical to trust each other.

There are other things too that are hypocritical about the decade, we all want to be Europeans, good world citizens, but we are happy to jump on the trade war against Johnny Foreigners. The are all caring about the environment, but watch as our Public Transport in this country is eroded away. We see the media persecute royals to their death, then raise them to the status of saints to cover their guilt while ignoring real Saints (Mother Theresa of Calcutta died just after Di).

What annoys me a lot is Political Correctness. I speak normally fairly bluntly, and never wish to offend, but some of the bollocks terms conjured up are doing the opposite of what they should. Somebody, who I would call disabled, is now differently abled, which we all are therefore making the term redundant. I can see that fat is sometimes insulting, but horizontally (or gravitationally) challenged is rubbing it in. And now one of my Local Borough Councils wants Punch And Judy to be tamed down, its been accepted for the last few centuries, so why stop now???

The 90s were a lie, we tried to make believe we are doing go, living well but were really rolling in the muck of our own self indulgence.