heather reccomends you read . . .

Check out Lonely Planet for all this infomation about "only in 2009" events 

Total Solar Eclipse, Varanasi, India. It may be cloudy, it will certainly be chaotic, but the chance to witness a 4-minute totality in one of the most ancient sun-worshipping sites in the world is just too much to resist. Occurs 22 July 2009.

Magnificence of the Tsars exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. No-one could lay on the sumptuous like a Russian tsar. Marvel at the pomp of their ceremonial clobber. Until 29 March 2009.

Motown's 50th anniversary, Detroit, USA. Detroit has a year's worth of celebrations planned (exhibitions with celebrity docents, special releases) to honour the legendary soul label. Detroit's lively music scene is sure to have an extra jolt in its amps.



'Hitsville USA' is the nickname given to Motown Records' first headquarters, now the Motown Historical Museum

Want to see all these events? Grab a round-the-world flight special.

Want to know the best of the rest? Get Best in Travel 2009 for a collection of travel experiences for the year ahead.

Capitalism on its death-bed? Breath of life revives it!

As the financial tornado sweeps through Wall Street – and Main Street – we all sit and watch, wondering how far its ill-winds will reach.

If I lived in the USA, which I don’t, and had bought a home, which I haven’t, and which was now repossessed by the bank, I’d be pretty angry. Angry that those at the top of the financial food chain were now being bailed out by – me – and every other taxpayer in the USA: what happened to capitalist markets finding their own level? Perform or die? Eat or be eaten?

Has this Govt. bail-out, sorry, ‘rescue package’, changed the financial rules?

Is it now ... when we profit we grow bigger, when we loose you pay, with your house and your taxes – heads I win, tails you lose?

All this adds to the interest of the USA elections … makes our local concerns seem small in the scale of things … and once again makes us in the rest of the western world wishing we had a vote too – after all, we have to live with the results so it only seems fair.