Alarmed, Depressed...?

Why does this both alarm and depress me? (asks Nige). Is it that it 's a simultaneous reminder of how dangerous the world is and how little the government can do about it, least of all by setting up some kind of super committee, which seems to be about all this boils down to? Maybe it's no more than another 'I'm in charge' move by Brown. If so, it doesn't look like a very wise one. It's the catalogue of (known) risks that's likely to impress people more than any proposed action...