Now, unless you’ve been living on Mars or with that recently discovered tribe of rainforest indians, it can’t have escaped your notice that the economy’s in trouble.

So how can Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling’s comments in the Guardian be blamed directly for a fall in the pound and the FTSE?

Commentators have been banging on for months about the likely longevity of this financial crisis, so how do the Chancellor’s words have such a direct influence on the markets?

Well, maybe they do; maybe they don’t. But, the point is, the confluence of these two events is too tempting not to connect in the eyes of the media. That might be exposing my somewhat rudimentary grasp of international finance, but it goes to show that loose talk - if not costing lives in this instance - may not help Mr Darling come Cabinet reshuffle time.

Reading about sex in the tabloids is, well, unavoidable. But in the Guardian, it makes me feel slightly soiled. Still, the story about the “outing” of a Brit blogger, ChinaBounder, in China is instructive about the blogosphere generally.

ChinaBounder’s, ahem, enthusiastic online entries about his liaisons with Chinese women caused a storm with an influential Chinese blogger, whose denunciation of the bounder caused a flurry of visits to the offending blog. Now the guy’s got a book deal!

If you are an empassioned expert in your field and are willing to share your passion with the world, you are likely to spark debate, attract an increasing audience and plain get noticed.  Hopefully, unlike ChineseBounder, you won’t have to leave the country.

First, a declaration of interest - I am a fan of The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade. That aside, his comments on the uneasy relationship between journalists and bloggers articulate exactly the dilemma of journalists pre-internet: writing for an invisible body of readers whose views on what you’re writing remain largely unknown. Not so now. With bloggers and, well, anyone with broadband, able to interact with the news and pass comment, the monopoly on the message no longer lies with the “fourth estate”. With the abundance of online channels and social media to participate in, the conversation is gaining currency.