The war in Iraq.
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, Photographer, Leaf Pile
I take it you mean "one thing in news and media" rather than "one thing in general." If it's one thing in general, it's the Iraq war. This will have consequences for decades to come. If it's one thing in news, then it's Embedded Reporting. We now have an up-close look at war. It wasn't perfect, it was too "rah-rah" sometimes - but we followed the war in real time.
Steve Safran, Executive Producer, NECN: New England Cable News & Columnist,
Lost Remote
Unfortunately I'd have to say, war, is the one that will fit right in this category. The chaos around the world will leave scars for life.
Celeste Lanari, PR Manager, Geotecnica S.R.L
The removal of Saddam Hussein from power (though any tyrant would have suited the purpose). It may seem naive, but there is every reason to believe that we eventually will live in a world a la Star Trek, with no borders, no wars and while there will always be those who threaten the peace, their numbers will be fewer.
Mike Brown, the pepys project
For me, the baby. For all of us, probably the Iraq invasion.
Drew Curtis, Fark
The war.
Cynthia Basinet, Entertainer
I suppose you mean not the one thing that happened to me personally but that happened in the world at large. I think without question that has to be the U.S.'s unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation on false pretenses and without the support of the rest of the world. I worry about the precedent that was set with that action, and I think the world is a more dangerous place than it was before that happened.
MaryAnn Johanson, Film Critic, FlickFilosopher
War. What else need be said?
Jeff Blitz, filmmaker, amateur magician, Spellbound
It's a toss-up between the war and the rise in popularity of the drawstring teabag.
Danny Wallace, Writer, Join Me
The election of Arnie to public office - the consequences are more frightening than that of the Iraq invasion. Having lived in California for three years, I just don't get it. Neither do Californians apparently.
Cameron Borland, Off The Telly
In terms of global consequences, I'm going to be optimistic and say that I think that President Bush's HIV/AIDS initiative, the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, will be the thing with the longest-reaching and lasting effects from his entire tenure. As far as things with consequences in the personal arena, I'd like to hope that the soul-searching and getting-off-of-my-sagging-bottom that I managed to do in 2003 is a lasting thing that will consequently end someday with me no longer qualifying for "Fat Lady In The Circus Sideshow" as a valid career option.
Kat Sagbottom, Headmistress of the Sagbottom Home For Wayward Girls
For me - surviving
Rowan Kerek, Editor, The Collective
I suppose learning to drive. It took me a couple of attempts, and I was glad to pass, but I can't say I at all enjoy driving. Given that I live in pretty much the centre of Glasgow, almost every journey throws up some kind of hazard to shake your confidence just when you think you're finally getting the hang of it. Still, I have to say I genuinely love driving to the big Tescos at midnight on a Friday and wandering around the empty aisles doing the weekly big shop.
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly and TV Cream
Chopping the end of my cat's tail in the back door. Unlike certain lizards, cats' tails don't grow back, so the consequence of that action should be around for at least a decade. It was an accident, by the way.
Nick Jones, Web Editor, National Museums Liverpool
My mother died on 3 February 2003.
Denise Raine, Librarian, The Henry Moore Institute
I resolved and began to do work that I truly love.
Miles Hochstein, Documented Life
My life laundry. I was always something of a hoarder. Going through the process of getting rid of so much stuff was very cathartic, if not actually relaxing. But working out which videos and books to get rid of meant I was at times justifying my taste in something. In High Fidelity, Nick Hornby writes about how you're more than what you like. Effectively what you like is not what you're like. Did having every series of Star Trek on video define who I was in someway and did the wholesale ditching of the lot via twenty handy bin bags have some other symbolism? I finally decided not to think about it and just enjoy all the space I suddenly had about the place.
Stuart Ian Burns, feeling listless
On a personal level, the obvious thing to say here would be the collapse of my business. I'm going to be paying that back for a very long time, but something else happened this year that I hope will eventually be seen to eclipse that little hiccup quite completely. I wrote the first draft of my first screenplay and started a second. I got good reviews on Zoetrope, a web site for people interested in the creative aspects of the film industry, for my first foray into screenwriting. That pleased me greatly, but I'm determined that the second draft will be even better. I've been writing professionally and for fun for years, usually features, interviews, prose, random copy for corporate employers, but I rarely manage to finish anything that doesn't involve an editor, a deadline and payment. Now, though, I feel as if I have finally found a format within which I am happy - there's something particularly sexy about writing the blueprint for a future feature film. It's a format I feel very comfortable in and I intend to continue writing screenplays until someone somewhere pays me money to stop.
Suw Charman, Chocolate and Vodka
Probably the giving-up-the-day-job-to-write-fiction thing. (As Karen and I had been living together for a decade before getting married, that's not going to change things a huge amount for us.)
Charlie Stross, Writer, weblog
Possibly splitting with my partner of five and a half years, but more likely, the writing career really taking off and doing odds and sods of TV and radio, that will hopefully make it easier for me to get a publishing deal.
Emily Dubberley, Founder of cliterati and Dubberly
The production of Shada for BBC
Jason Haigh-Ellery, Producer, The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who, Big Finish Productions
The publication of the book U2 Live - A Concert Documentary. I took over authorship from an old friend who passed away in 2002.
Caroline van Oosten de Boer of prolific and Whedonesque
Hopefully, one of the (items I listed) above, but writers don't like talking about commissioned stuff until it's definitely going to be made.
Paul Cornell, Writer, British Summertime
Finding out I have to run the London Marathon. I hate it now but I'm thinking it might leave me with a lifetime of running for pleasure.
Emma Kennedy, Actress, Writer and Comedienne
I completed a book proposal which will dictate my next two years--if I decide to submit it. And I started a couple of projects that are very close to my heart. Nothing I'm ready to talk about, but they should make for an involving and satisfying 2004.
Rebecca Blood, Blogger, Author, and Woman of Mystery
I have an inking that it is about to happen.
Eva Katzler, singer
I'll tell you in a few years.
Ben Birtwistle, Fine Art Printmaker and 'financial advisor'
Trying to bring a show to the Fringe, which unfortunately had to cancelled due to unforeseen cicumstances. Consequences include debts, days and nights of problem solving and an intense learning process.
Kristina Perner, Audiopark
Tomorrow: Who was the best new person you met in 2003 and what was the first thing you talked about?
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