2014: Not A Good Year

I imagine for some 2014 was a year that will be fondly remembered down the line but as we reach the burnt out end of 2014 and look back at events of the 12 months, it was one of the cruelest years i can recall filed with some of the grimest events in recent memory.
The effects of Climate Change kicked it up a gear with extreme weather events all over the globe sending meteorological records tumbling and 2014 the warmest year on record.  
Three Air Asia airplanes went fell out the sky, one recently, one which was never found and another which was shot down as it flew over the Ukraine which was the scene of continued fighting amongst the pro-Western and pro-Eastern sides of the country with an estimated 4000 deaths so far.
The long running battle between Israel and the Palestinians blew up again resulting in a 7 week military assault by Israel which ended up with 2200 Palestinians deaths, 70% of which were civilian.   
The Pakistani city of Peshawar buried its dead after a Taliban attack at a school killed at least 132 children and nine staff and ISIS stampeded through Iraq slaughtering as they went and posting videos of prisoners being beheaded on the Internet.
The Syrian conflict continued unabated and spilled over into Lebanon, Al-Shabaab terrorised Somalia with car and suicide bombs and Boko Haram did the same in Nigeria while kidnapping 200 girls from a school and slaughtering whole villages.
The fall out from the 2008 recession continued with economies falling over with yet more austerity to come and food banks springing up in the Worlds 'richest' countries as the chill of hard times continue to spread regardless.
The rise of the racist and xenophobic UKIP political party in Britain should raise a few eyebrows and in America white policemen shot and killed unarmed black men without punishment leading to marches and protests from the black community and bloggers to vindicate the officers with views that 'black men are bad' echoes of a KKK-esque view that everyone thought had long been left behind.
It seemed that 2014 was the year when we stumbled from one horrific event to another and i can't see that 2015 is going to be much better but we can still hope that we come to our collective senses and stop the craziness.