No news is good news...

I've heard that there once was a time, long before the start of 24 hr rolling news, when the BBC used to announce at its news bulletins, "Today, there has been no news" if nothing they deemed newsworthy had happened. The last couple of days have been far removed from that, with the situation changing before our eyes by the minute.

People living in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester have watched the news channels anxiously to find out about the rioting and looting that's been happening in their cities. Indeed, people all over the UK have watched these same news channels hoping that the name of their town or city will not be heard.

There have been rumours on twitter and from friends throughout yesterday and today about the possibility of riots in Cardiff, both last night and tonight. Despite the reports of unrest in Roath and parts of Grangetown being cordoned off last night, these have been proved to be unfounded rumours. One of the best messages I saw on Twitter today was this one from @simonhair this morning, who tweeted,

Walked 5 miles home tonight and the closest I came to trouble was 3 guys singing Total Eclipse of the Heart. Please stay that way, Cardiff.

I cycled from the town centre to the bay this afternoon and saw no sign of any unrest; nothing but normality. I had my hair cut in the Docks tonight and my barber seemed to think that there would be no trouble in Cardiff; "Too small", he said. I cycled to the swimming pool for a swim and everything seemed very normal. Watching the tweets coming through on Twitter; there are numerous messages about how quiet Cardiff is tonight. I look around the streets outside and everything looks peaceful. Let's hope it stays that way.

There must be thousands of people out there who would love the BBC to announce that "Today, there has been no news."