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We're at the end of the first month of a new decade - a good time to look back and reflect on the last 10 years.

Sadly, here in Bermuda this past decade was marred by a new wave of violence. Gunplay became synonymous with codfish and potatoes as too many Sunday mornings came with news of murder the night before.

We closed out the year with fatal shootings in broad daylight, and unlike previous incidents, gunmen took aim at relatives and friends.

We're also heading into a year of more court cases stemming from the scourge of violence, only this time women will take centre stage in the Supreme Court dock as defendants in cases involving the possession of guns, ammunition and money laundering. Who knew?

Globally, the first 10 years of the new millennium will go down in history as the decade of major transformation, with the economic bubble bursting and the infamous bailouts of AIG and other huge players on Wall Street.

This was also the decade of Osama Bin Laden and the attacks on America on September 11, 2001 - and cheating on a grand scale to keep the White House under George W. Bush's control. Remember the infamous Florida recount where another Bush just happened to be Governor?

Remember Katrina?

Halfway through the decade, on August 29, 2005 the world got a firsthand look at just how the mighty U.S. treats its own people - or should I say poor people. Remember Hurricane Katrina? No one lifted a finger to help the people of New Orleans for days! I'll never forget that - forgive maybe - but never forget.

And then just a year ago, the world witnessed a day many thought they would never live to see; a black man voted in as U.S. President.

It's already clear the honeymoon was short lived. One of his first moves was to follow through on an election promise to close Guantanamo Bay. Now just a year later there are plans to reopen it - but under another name, in Illinois... that's if the Republicans allow it, and most likely they will.

More recently, Obama's healthcare plans took a dive when the Republicans won the Senate seat held close to a half a century by the late Ted Kennedy.

A far less important but more entertaining spectacle was the Tiger Woods sex saga. The world's favourite golfer hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when numerous affairs came to light. We'll have to wait and see how all of this will affect his game. It's clear the games he was playing off the course are already costing him dearly, with major sponsors deserting the star.

His fall from grace somehow mirrored the global economic downturn and while I'm not a natural pessimist, I think it's a fair bet that things will probably get worse before they get better.

We still don't know how Bermuda's economy will play out in terms of unemployment. I do know more jobs will be on the line this year. I also know that a hungry man is an angry man we need only look to Haiti to see that.

All in all it looks like we're in for a tough year.

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