To mark the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, Up To Speed ran a features writing competition open to students from university newspapers all over the UK.

Marcus Greenslade from Reading University came second and won £100.

Here’s his entry.

“Has the Noughties been a decade of despair or the dawn of an exciting new era?”

I’m British. Cynicism is within me in the same way that weapons of mass destruction were within Iraq – nobody can prove it’s there, but suspicions are strong enough as to lead to drastic action. “Vote for Change”, ran Obama’s campaign slogan as he determined to lead people out of their disillusionment and into a new era of prosperity.

Unfortunately, counter-terrorism has been a far bigger priority than counter-cynicism.  Having survived the Millennium Bug, the media has been handed a sack full of other stories to scare people with, starting with the al-Qaeda attacks all the way through to a never-ending economic crisis caused solely by Gordon Brown’s incompetence. The opinions of the media and their effects on the opinions of the masses is what I despair at most. Bad news still sells, and that is what we are subjected to.

However, the media has been given plenty of ammunition over the years. Terrorist attacks such as 9/11 and 7/7, the Iraq War and the continuation of conflicts in the Middle East, increasing concerns over climate change, the apparent offense to democracy that was Gordon Brown’s succession of Tony Blair, and the government scandals such as the massive amount of personal data being lost and, of course, the expenses scandal. And then all of the old worries from previous decades have been dragged over too – the seemingly failing NHS system, the increasingly disproportionate number of elderly citizens and their pensions (or lack of). All of this clearly isn’t just negative spin.

Barrack Obama saw the weight of the world dropped on his shoulders in 2008. A year later, people pine that he has been ineffectual and has let them down. This, I would argue, is just cynicism. Of course he didn’t live up to expectations – people seemed to believe that he was like Morgan Freeman in ‘Bruce Almighty’. It is far too early to make such judgement calls on his performance. Although his supporters are somewhat quieter than they were in 2008, Obama is still the man who the world has put their faith in for carving a better future.

Similarly, Gordon Brown has been demonised for his handling of the economic crisis. His approach has been so appallingly awful that it was mirrored across the globe. Hmm. David Cameron’s economic policy is so great that when the Japanese used it in the early nineties, they got stuck in a recession that lasted ten years. Hmm. This is not a defence of Brown’s performance as a Prime Minister overall, but it is embarrassing to see how quickly the paper’s have lined up behind Cameron. A recent ICM poll for the Guardian showed that 53% of those interviewed would be angry or disappointed if Labour won the 2010 election, while 36% said the same of the Tories. This to the Guardian is fantastic news for the Tories. But actually, that’s 89% of people disillusioned with both of the main contenders. And everyone says a vote for Lib Dem is a wasted vote, so there is no solution there either. There is widespread despair at our politicians and their policies, and the scandals have generated a distinct lack of trust. I am forced to concede that the political future for Britain looks bleak.

However, we can have faith in our sporting industry. The cynics have attacked our hosting of the 2012 Olympics, readily prepared for the UK’s global embarrassment. And yes, we may not have qualified for the World or European Cups in football. But Capello has brought an exciting new dimension to the English football team, and huge successes in recent Olympic Games mean that we can only expect better when our athletes compete on home turf.

The Noughties has been a decade that sees the straw that breaks the camel’s back. What people wanted was a decade of solutions being provided, but the introduction of new problems saw a diversion of attention, a lack of achievement made anywhere. Progress through time was meant to be linked to advances in society, and yet this has very much proved not to be the case. Or at least, so the media would have us believe.

In truth, ‘proved’ should be replaced with ‘appeared’. Actually, progress has been made. Yes, the Middle East might be in turmoil, but al-Qaeda has been dramatically weakened over the decade. There is a lot of talk about an “unwinnable war”, but there is hope in that progress has been made and that al-Qaeda does not have the support or the resources to keep fighting for as long as counter-insurgency forces do.

Similarly, climate change may not have been ‘dealt with’, but again there has been progress. The Copenhagen Summit is seeing a revival of interest following Obama’s and Hu’s agreement that a deal at Copenhagen should be reached. Although the cynics shout “I’ll believe it when I see it”, there is renewed hope. I’m certainly hopeful. It would be a fantastic way to end the decade on a high.

To mark the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, Up To Speed ran a features writing competition open to students from university newspapers all over the UK.

Robin Morgan, from Cardiff University’s Gair Rhydd, won the Third Prize of £50 with this entry.

The Noughties:

‘Has it been a decade of despair or the dawn of an exciting new era?’

The date is 31^st December 1999. It’s coming up to midnight. I’m standing on my street, a full glass of champagne in hand (I’d only sipped at it, I hate the bloody stuff), and I’m linking arms with people I only vaguely know from when I’ve kicked my football against their car and apologised, hurriedly.

I was ten years old, in my defence. Not some social delinquent who attacks transport with sports equipment. Although I won’t speak too soon, maybe fifty years from now I’ll be writing a similar essay on how that game has made it into the Olympics. Probably not.

The noughties did start out in that fashion, for me at least. Personally, the decade saw me grow into the ‘man’ I am. Note the inverted commas. I’m not particularly manly. This decade, I failed my driving test, went to high school, did my GCSE’s, A-levels, went to university, moved out of my parent’s house, and kissed a girl. And I liked it.

They weren’t done in that order, just to clarify. In my personal sense, of course this decade was exciting – I was growing up. I’ve got so many stories to tell, and more that I’ve forgotten. But it started out so badly.

Exhibit A: The ‘Noughties’. Are you serious? We’re dictating a decade to history as the camp, playful, tomfoolery ridden era, which epitomised the late 90s. Sure, I was a kid. But I also dressed up as Scary Spice in a Year 6 event. Camp, playful, and f***ing mortifying. I still don’t understand why my Mum allowed me to do that.

I’ve had countless more experiences that still jolt to the front of my mind when I’m trying to get to sleep. I think that’s just how my brain works. Reminds me of my failures. Don’t worry; this isn’t the formation of a suicide note. I’ll find out if I’ve won the £250 first. No pressure…

What have we seen in this decade? What technological, medical and social advancements have been made over the past ten years? No, bollocks to that – we’ve had Deal or No Deal. This premise seemingly gave birth to the rebirth of the love of the game show. And gave a plethora of stand-ups a chance to bash Noel Edmonds all over again. Years of hard-worked material instantly back up for use. Exciting, or despair? You be the judge.

In all seriousness though (and these are rarities in this essay, as I’m sure you can tell), the main talking point of the Decade That Shall Not Be Named is something has probably gone under the radar. It’s importance to global politics, international relations and social reasoning is unrelenting and unrivalled, yet none of us really know about it.

This might come as a shock to you – it certainly did to me – but there is something called The Internet that has shaped the last ten years in a way that only I will in the next ten. It gave democracy and the freedom of speech, to idiots.

Exhibit B: YouTube. Or to be more precise, the comments section of YouTube. This is where I pretend to be a lifeguard, saving the poor folk who are drowning in the gene pool. They are drowning, my good friends, because they are idiots.

I was forced, by the nature of comedy, to sign up for an account on YouTube, just so I could reply to one person’s post. On a video of two gentlemen who were rapping, one man had sophisticatedly informed people that “Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder are the biggest rappers in the UK right now.”

There was one problem. He had spelt ‘rappers’ with one ‘P’. Acting on instinct and my abilities as a Grammar Nazi, I quickly signed up and clicked to ‘Reply’ to his post.

The ‘reply’ function on YouTube is flawed. When you ‘reply’ to something, it doesn’t inform people what you have ‘replied’ to. It just shows your ‘reply’ as a standalone comment, floating around in the stupidity pool, trying to stay above water.

So therefore, on a video of two rappers, I had apparently said, off the top of my head, completely unprovoked, that they had both committed a terrible crime, when all I was trying to do was correct a spelling mistake and protect their names!

This was at the latter end of this decade called the Noughties, I should’ve learnt from my mortified mistakes nine years ago!

I thought I would just ignore it. Wrong again. I got an email instantly, not ‘replying’ to my post, but sending me a private message informing that I was making serious allegations.

Of course I didn’t reply. I closed down my account and I haven’t commented on a YouTube video ever since. I must have seemed like a ‘boy who cried wolf’, but didn’t even get the few weeks of fun when people believed me.

But this is what I’m trying to portray to you. The awkwardness of my life has, undoubtedly, dictated this soon-to-be-supernova of a decade as one of despair, of social embarrassment, but of stories that I can hopefully portray as sweeping generalisations that we’ve all been through.