Two days in and already I'm a failure. Despite my best intentions to live a healthier life this year it seems my fight to get fit may be on the canvas already.

Whereas most people worry about what they eat between Christmas and New Year, I on the other hand struggle with the period between January 1 and Santa arriving.

However there is one man in greater need than me of a successful resolution, who after a horrendous 12 months, must be praying 2014 will bring him better fortune.

The optimist in Barack Obama no doubt stayed up until midnight on Tuesday to see the New Year in, while the pessimist burnt the midnight oil to ensure the old year had well and truly gone.

It was by anyone's standards a political annus horribilis for the American President.

Every which way he turned he seemed to run in to one embarrassingly damaging scandal after another.

Admittedly many of his wounds were self inflicted.

From the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups to the revelations of the National Security Agency’s spying to the ongoing car crash that is Obamacare, 2013 was hardly a successful year for the American leader.

Critics here have all been quick to offer the resolutions they think he should adopt with many hoping his top one is to tell the world and the American people the truth over the mistakes his government makes.

And whereas most of us vow to take up a new hobby, the President would do well to drop one of his and spend less time on the putting green and more time in the White House.

Like our own leader David Cameron, Obama is often accused of taking too many breaks when he should be running the country.

The past 12 months have seen the President lose his way, moving frequently from one issue to another without any clear reason as to why.

When he first assumed office in 2009, he had the focus of a laser guided missile.

He built his campaign for President on health care, the economy, reform and how he would improve America's relations overseas including with the United Kingdom.

In his first few years he and his team looked and sounded great. They gave inspirational speeches, and talked about grand visions for remaking America.

Today, however, that focus seems all but gone.

Domestically his inability to seem interested in the finer details of his policies have blown up in his face and none more so than with his new health care act.

Such mistakes allowed his opponents to seize on such failures and allow them to define the agenda and not the White House.

But it is on the world stage where his leadership has appeared weakest.

He allowed Putin to broker the removal of chemical weapons out of Syria despite it being an American idea, while the initial back slapping over a deal with Iran and its nuclear build-up quickly turned to embarrassment after the rest of the world baulked at the idea.

And his most damaging gaffe came with the revelation 41 of the world's leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel, had had their phones tapped by their NSA spooks, the fallout to which is still pressing on unabated.

For 2014 Obama needs to stick to a few key subjects and use his ability to engage leaders to ensure they are implemented.

His top resolution should be that of transparency, a move that will help rebuild his and America's reputation in the world.

Resolutions are easy to make but difficult to keep.

There is no other realm where the failure to stick to promises has more devastating consequences than in politics. It erodes all trust, the very cornerstone of what governments are built on.

Given the year he has had and the dire approval ratings he now sees, the time has come for Obama to knuckle down and make sure he does everything possible to claw back the ground he has lost and leave a legacy he can be proud of.

Happy New Year Mr President.

 

Audiences want the singer not just the song

The long awaited return of Britney Spears to the stage has not been without controversy.

The Toxic singer opened her Las Vegas residency to accusations of lip syncing her way through parts of the show.

Fans, including many from the UK, have paid up to £120 a ticket to see the 32-year-old perform but will be left disappointed when they discover the cost of their ticket covers listening to her elaborate studio tapes too.

The truth is there are not many stars who can sing and dance at the same time and do it well.

The late Michael Jackson was one of the very best but few have managed to emulate the King of Pop's abilities on stage including his sister Janet.

Britney, though, like so many “artists” these days is a performer rather than an out-and-out singer.

She is not a Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys or Mariah Carey, all of whom I'd listen to sing the phone book for a couple of hours and still give them my money.

Poor Britney will never be in their category. I say let her lip sync, maybe she is doing us all a favour.

Evolution stops here, Uncle Sam

According to a third of Americans, Charles Darwin couldn’t have been more wrong.

A new study shows that 33 per cent of our trans-Atlantic cousins don’t believe in evolution and think humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.

The Pew Research Centre found that 60 per cent of people Stateside believe that "humans and other things have evolved over time" but that 33 per cent think we were the only human form to ever set foot on the Earth.

The shocking findings alone are enough to make me question if evolution actually does exist. But what is more worrying is the political divide in those who do and those who don't believe.

Almost 60 per cent of those who think man first walked the planet as we do now were Republicans.

I guess Democrat Barack Obama must have come out and said he believes in evolution.

What a load of right Charlies.