This year has been yet another incredible year for this site, and has seen it grow yet further. So, now that it’s almost over, let me indulge in a parochial look back at this amazing year.

Back in 2004, the site generated 282,122 hits. That’s quite impressive. Last year, I was blown away by a final total of 1,202,415 hits. This year, I’ve more than doubled that. The final figures won’t be in till sometime tomorrow, but I’ve certainly had well over 2,500,000 hits this – two and a half million. The site has grown pretty consistently over the year, with this month being the most successful.

All of this is despite there being far fewer posts this year than last. I hope that you’d agree that, whilst there have been fewer posts, each one has been of higher quality. Easily one of the most notable posts of the year come in February, when I was one of only a very few UK outlets to publish the infamous Denmark cartoons, sparking a response bigger than anything the site has ever seen before, contact with the Reuters news agency, and a Google ranking higher which was the stuff of dreams. The comment thread still continues to grow.

Also this year, I’ve been featured in Iain Dale’s book as one of the country’s top politcal bloggers, ranking me higher than Jeffrey Archer, Melanie Phillips, and David Aaronovitch, I’ve won a Bloggy Award, I’ve worked with the country’s number one political blogger Guido Fawkes on a local political scoop, and I’ve been picked out by Channel 4 News as a ‘blog of interest’. And all this for spouting my often ill-conceived opinions to a global audience. Oh, and the site’s now making a profit for the first time, despite having no big flashy banner ads or Google Adwords – just plain, honest recommendations and an all-new toolbar with ‘shopping’ links.

So, after a spectacular year, there’s really only one things that remains to be done. And that is to thank you, my readers, for your continued support throughout the year. I thank you for your reading, your commenting, and even for those times we’ve disagreed. Thank you for it all – you make it worthwhile and fun.

I’ll be back here in 2007 – I hope you will be too.