IT'S always the same. We wish each other Happy New Year, shake hands with people, kiss some, who, at other times, we can barely tolerate.

And it is done with the best intentions, though, deep inside, we suspect the New Year will prove just as unproductive, expensive, fearful and generally disappointing as the Old.

Lucas William, my newly-arrived grandson, like millions of other new grandsons and daughters, is as yet blissfully untroubled by such thoughts, a state he, and they, will enjoy for however many years it takes to develop an awareness of what is going on in the world. In contrast, I can't stop thinking about it, and the appalling legacy which Lucas and the rest will inherit.

There is so much anger in the atmosphere you can taste it. The situation is particularly unpleasant in the UK, with crime, notably violent crime, an ever-present fact of life, though Westminster spin doctors declare it otherwise. Well, they would, wouldn't they. I can see the day when children, Lucas among them, will wear body armour to school, with airport-style screening at the entrances to disarm pupils who arrive "tooled-up".

How have we reached such a desperate state and can it be reversed? I would love to think it could but, frankly, cannot. Violence is endemic in our society and the legal system is unable to cope. Anyone found in possession of a knife should be given a sufficiently punitive custodial sentence, with no hope of reduction, to deter others. These days it doesn't.

Then there is the growing threat from global warming, with clear evidence of climate change. Can anyone remember the last time we had a significant fall of snow, with drifts several feet high and people digging themselves out of their homes? Mind you, it's just as well. Nowadays a couple of inches of the white stuff is enough to bring Britain to a halt. It's called progress.

And what about our multi-racial society and the divisions which the Politically Correct lobby is doing its damnedest to widen. The decision to instruct members of local government and legal professions to substitute Seasons Greetings for Merry Christmas, so as not to offend Muslims, was the latest misguided dictum. Inevitably, even the most moderate white Christians, agnostics and atheists, will be driven into the welcoming arms of the Far Right.

So what hopes and aspirations do I harbour for little Lucas. Sadly I can't see me having much input, as, at 72, with a somewhat questionable past lifestyle on my CV, I won't be around to advise or influence him, which some might think no bad thing.

If I were, I would suggest he look to quit the UK as soon as possible and head for somewhere more civilised, say Switzerland or Iceland. Australia, my particular favourite, would be good, too, though not if he were sensitive about cricket. Alternatively, he could stay here and go into boat building. If scientists are correct in their weather forecasts, Noah would have made a fortune simply by patenting his design for the Ark. Lucas the boat builder. Yes, that's my boy.