Unless you're living on the street and surviving on a diet of discarded turkey drumsticks there's no point in being gloomy. We've spent too long trying to cheer ourselves up by spending money on brightly coloured things we don't really need. We've stopped using our imaginations.

Environmental concern is a little like dieting or paying off credit-card debt - an episodically terrific idea that burns brightly and then seems to fade when we realize there's a reason we need to diet or pay down our debt. The reason is that it's really really hard and too many of us in too many spheres of life choose the easy over the hard.

Design and technology should be the subject where mathematical brainboxes and science whizzkids turn their bright ideas into useful products.

But for me it is when a student has died. I find the death of a young person the most difficult and painful of times. To explain it to other young people to see a bright future snuffed out is just awful. I am haunted by those deaths.

I was really bright as a kid and tested well and it was clear that I was going to get scholarships to any schools I wanted. My dad always said I could be an engineer at that time it was the elite of society: steady job working in science which was then the answer to every problem we had. It was kind of a mandate. Kind of a dream he had for me.

To be fair to my dad he is one of the brightest men I've ever met.

Courage is sometimes frail as hope is frail: a fragile shoot between two stones that grows brave toward the sun though warmth and brightness fail striving and faith the only strength it knows.

When I look at President Obama I see a leader with a cool head a caring heart and an open mind a president who has demonstrated through his demeanor and through his deeds that he is uniquely qualified to heal our divisions rebuild our nation and lead us to a brighter future together.

In the summer I wear shorts with a bright top and ankle boots or just sandals. I'll add a nice scarf maybe a hat some cool sunglasses. It's all about the accessories.

I moved to New York last year and I love it. It's a huge change and I've always wanted to spend time there. It's like a more intense London and everything's up a few notches. The lights are brighter the pace is faster and the food's better.