I think that many of us in the western world live in a kind of consumer cocoon. It is a place that is not quite real but is all too real. It is how we live our modern lives and it is a model, apparently, for many developing nations.

I think one of the reasons that we live here is because the outside world has the appearance of being a dangerous place. When I was growing up I feared a nuclear war and the kind of death or incomprehensible desolation that that event would bring. It was difficult to face square on but impossible to avoid. That threat persists though the agents of its threatened execution have ceased to be the major players, for now.

It is hard to know where to start when sizing up the threats that could make our lives, or our children's lives, difficult propositions. Wars in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear ambitions, Pakistani instability, global warming and financial meltdowns are amongst the more prominent brush fires about. And did I mention Kim Jong ll in North Korea?

One of the values that emerged from The Enlightenment was the exaltation of Reason. It can be argued, and has been, that reason alone is insufficient as a model for human progress. That's true enough, I think. But the re-emergence of the Irrational in new forms in both developed and developing nations is a mighty cause for concern. When added to the cocktail of poisonous problems besetting the planet, it is an admixture for disaster. Though, as usual, I am happy to be proven wrong. I pray that I am.