Dear Hopeless,
Auntie admits getting quite swept away by the tide of hope on election night but it was more a case of anyone but Bush (or McCain and Palin) and I'll open the champagne. She quickly sobered up, though, after few hours broken sleep and nightmares in which Barack Obama was bopping with Margaret Thatcher, dressed as St Francis of Assisi, to the sound of 'Things can only get better'.
And she too remembers we've been here before and 11 years on nowt much has got better and much has got worse. In Auntie's experience, politicians that promise to save the world usually disappoint.
Suddenly, it seems healthy cynicism is out of fashion. But the devil's always worn Prada and so do the most Machiavellian and seductive of the spin doctors. The Obama publicity machine has more oil on it than the Exxon Valdez and is in much better nick than the toxic tanker. But the result could be just as devastating - if nothing else, in crushing all this new found hope and optimism.
Auntie won't state the bleeding obvious and say Obama is no socialist but ... well, he isn't. The more desperate you are for a cure the more the snake oil sounds like a good bet but on the more positive side, it's up to us to make sure Obama's fine words translate into fine actions.
Email your questions to: Subcomandauntie@gmail.com
The crack pipe of peace Dear Auntie
_ War, famine, economic depression and global warming - the idea that 'another world is possible' seems remoter than ever. Will we ever have a just and peaceful world?
_ Desperate for peace, Preston
Learning by number Dear Auntie
_ At one of the Gaza protests in London, Stop the War put the number of protesters at around 100,000 but the police insisted it was only 20,000. Can Auntie reassure me that the Met has a scientific methodology for estimating crowd numbers?
_ Numberless in London
Both feet not in the grave Dear Auntie,
Having reached 50, I've become invisible. It's the only explanation of why people look right through me. I'm ignored in shops and at bus stops; and getting served at the bar is an endurance test, as men and younger women always take priority. I have a lifetime of experience as an activist, but these days there's always a 'Darren' or 'Ryan' whose opinion matters more. I'd go as far as saying they don't even hear me speak! It seems white hair and wrinkles are taken as an early indication of Alzheimer's.
But I'm not ready to go gently into the night and as Auntie looks of a similar age, does she have any advice?
The invisible woman, London
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