Feeling the hope.

So, here it is. Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States and true to his word he has hit the ground running by instantly shutting down the so called 'legal' activities that the Bush administration was carrying out in Guantanamo Bay. While many were calling for the prisoners held there to be put straight through the American legal system, I can see the advantages in temporarily putting a halt to the torture and 'trials' running rampant at the terrorism camp off Cuba while he sifts through the mess left by the previous administration. Each case has to be sifted through on a case by case basis. Some prisoners will be tried through the American legal system, others will be deported back to their own countries. It is the other cases which complicate things however. Some will not be able to go through the legal system due to the illegal methods that have been used to extract information even if they pose a credible threat to America. Others would not be safe back in their own countries. It is here where Obama needs to make the tough decisions. Shutting down the trials was the easy bit, now he needs to work out how to clean up his predecessor's mess.

I have also been keeping a close eye on the Australian open. Could be an interesting tournament, more so on the men's side then the women's side. With four evenly matched contenders who will come up on top. Will it be Murray, the favourite - looking for his first grand slam title and in the best form of his life, Djokovic, the holder - trying to prove he is not simply a flash in the pan, Federer looking to reclaim his form and show that he is still a major force in world tennis, or the world number 1, Rafael Nadal who has never impressed on the hard courts but would desperately want to show he can do the business on all three courts.