Opinions: Do you feel hopeful this Easter?

RUSSELL GRANT, astrologer: How can you be with the new tax year starting? Do me a favour. That's why I'm going to watch the Middlesex Senior Cup Final today. If you take a global view you can't be hopeful, that's why I stick to my own backyard.

ADILA AHMETAGIC, Bosnian refugee: You must have hope or it's not worth living. I thought I had lost everything, my country, my home, my possessions but I still hoped. I want to return to my country and my husband, but wonder if for my children's sake I should stay here. But money and good jobs don't always make you happy. I hope that Bosnia can offer something to my children.

DAVID ICKE, former Green party leader: I am more hopeful this year as I see the credibility and confidence of the Christian religion continue to diminish. I'll even be more hopeful when the whole nonsense of Easter as a religious ceremony is exposed. It's a recycled pre-Christian ceremony and part of the con trick that religion has visited on the human race.

LESLEY PRATT, marketing manager, Darlington FC: Are we bottom of the third division? I thought we were second to bottom. It doesn't bother us. We're extremely hopeful. After all, once you've hit the bottom the only way is up.

NICK PARTRIDGE, chief executive, Terrence Higgins Trust: Realistic sex education is being trashed by government ministers. There are very few drug developments for people who are already infected. No, I don't feel very hopeful.

DONNA HAMILTON, florist: We're getting all the beautiful spring flowers now which makes you think of summer and long light evenings. The three-day ceasefire gives hope for Ireland and I feel hopeful about Bosnia.

CLEM, Big Issue vendor No100: No, I don't. I didn't even know it was Easter. Lots of us have given up hope in the government, in councils and in charities. For homeless people it's not a matter of hope or luck falling from the sky. You've just got to go out and help yourself.

Rabbi Hugo Gryn: I couldn't survive three minutes without hope. It's not possible to live without it. Passover is about hope - the hope of liberty over tyranny. The Easter story is all about reverence for life, and in Islam the great attribute of God is compassion. Together with liberty, these are the three elements of my hope.

JASON BANKES, Inland Revenue accountant: At this time of year it's easier to be optimistic, and I keep hoping for peace around the world. I expect a lot of people are hoping they won't hear from the Inland Revenue this year.

JOHN ROBERTS, private investigator: For myself I do; my job will only cease when undertakers go out of work, when we're all brown bread. It's difficult to feel hopeful for Britain - our government doesn't seem to be doing a good job. I work in Southwark which is a depressing place so I suppose I don't feel hopeful for Southwark either.

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