Two disturbing incidents of violent crime in Cork in the past week have reminded many of us city dwellers that we may not be as safe as we feel. While Cork City and County are generally very safe places to live and work, incidents like last week's shooting in Wilton and stabbing on Pope's Quay show that violent crime is not confined to 'gangland'.

With all the problems facing Irish people these days, it was heartening to see the turnout at the Haven Volunteer evening held in Jury's on Tuesday night. Haven had hoped for about 50 volunteers from Cork, and approximately 200 people showed up in the hope that they could do something to help the devastated island nation.

The Cork Independent has recently become a convert to Twitter. The 'micro-blogging' site, on which users post 140-character updates called 'tweets', is being lauded by many as revolutionising the way we use the internet. At the moment, Twitter use in Ireland is not as widespread as other places, and it's largely used by the media and by business. But it looks like that's changing.

While 2010 is being welcomed with open arms by most of us as an escape from the unrelenting gloom of 2009, it's worth bearing in mind that we have certainly not had it worst over the past year or so. We don't need to look too far from our own shores to see how bad it could have been for this country. Only ECB membership saved us from the fate of Iceland, which has been thrown into complete turmoil by the failure of its banking system.

As we compiled this special year in review edition of the Cork Independent over the past few weeks, one thing became clear: Everyone will want to see the back of 2009.

The new year is often tinged with emotion; sometimes optimism, sometimes pessimism, sometimes complete indifference.

Rural Ireland can be a sinister place. On the surface, small villages are fantastic. A sense of community, everyone knowing everyone else, and sometimes, if you're lucky, a real pride of place and a sense of shared history that binds people together.

It may be cheesy, but It's a Wonderful Life is the perfect Christmas film for all of us this year. I scoffed at the person who told me to bring tissues to the screening. I am a cynical journalist, I told them, and I do not cry at soppy movies! By the end, both I and the (equally cynical) politician I went to the movie with were bawling.

Waiting for yesterday's Budget, one thing was clear. From radio, television, Twitter, Facebook and carrier pigeon the message was coming across loud and clear that people were terrified and angry. I learned at about 11am that protesters had already assembled outside Leinster House to protest against 'potential' cuts to be made in the Budget.

Conflicting statements from the Government and the unions over the last few days have left most of us in a state of some confusion. The fact that they are talking again, rather than issuing tit-for-tat hollow threats, is to be welcomed, but the subject and focus of these talks are something to be wondered at.

It's been a tough week for the people of Cork. Despite severe weather warnings and torrential rain, nobody expected the deluge that hit the city and county with such force over the last week. Last week our front page story dealt with a report from the Irish Academy of Engineers that said the city could be submerged within 100 years due to climate change and inadequate flood defences.