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.

Breaking news in the last few minutes that a 71 year-old grandfather has been filmed being barbarically killed using an ancient method of state killing after a highly criticised show trial in an unstable country. This is, apparently, ‘justice’.

And this from the side of the angels? Oh, how they’ve fallen.

This is not some satirical comment on the ‘celebrity’ chef, but a rather wonderful book by someone of the same name, which I would highly recommend. I’ve just enjoyed every page, from cover to cover, over a couple of days. It’s a fantastic amusing romp through death, people’s opinions on it, stats relating to it, and the practicalities of what to do when someone dies.

Yes, I know that sounds depressing and weird. But it really is a good book, full of inspirational quotes and not depressing in the slightest. It also has masterful photography by Cristian Barnett, who’s name should really be up there on the front – without his contribution, this book wouldn’t really work (if you’re not familiar with him, check out his website).

Did you know, for example, that five times more people commit suicide in the UK than die in Road Traffic Accidents? And doesn’t that make you think that something, somewhere, is wrong with funding in this country? If you need a reminder of the current state of mental health funding in this country, look here.

But let’s not get me started on that particular rant. Buy this book. You can get hold of it very cheaply through Amazon, and it’s well worth it.

Hazel Blears is the chairman of the Labour Party. The Labour Party have decided, in their wisdom, that cutting the number of hospitals will improve the NHS, since the NHS clearly has too many doctors and nurses. Hazel Blears is, apparently, in agreement. Yet she is protesting against the closure of her local hospital.

How is this anything other than shameless nimbyism? She’s perfectly happy for hospitals to close across the UK, but when it comes to the hospitals in her constituency, they’re all vital. I wonder if, perchance, this has anything to do with the potential to lose her oh-so-precious seat? She should take a leaf from Ruth Kelly’s book, and swap her beloved seat for an altogether safer one, and basically come out and admit that her career is more important that the local people she is supposed to be representing.

Is this the first time we’ve seen a cabinet minister protesting against a decision with which they apparently agree? It’s certainly an odd spectacle. But then, she’s an odd minister. Like many of Blair’s babes (mentioning absolutely no names), more of a huge-flower-on-the-lapel permasmile Blairite automaton than a person.

As soon as the title was announced, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows went on pre-order sale at Amazon.co.uk (Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows). And it’s already at Number One in their book chart.

A book, length unknown, content unknown, price unknown, and release date unknown reaches Number One in the chart. Surely this must be a first? Also interesting to see that Amazon are charging £13.99 – oh, how we’ll laugh if JK Rowling outdoes herself and comes out with some oh-so-weighty tome that will cost a good £15.99 at retail… Amazon could lose an awful lot of money!

There really could be only one final post in this series of classics, given that I’m focussing on those with interesting discussions. The discussion following the publication of Denmark cartoon controversy was the biggest ever on the site – some of the comments are unintelligible rants, but many make interesting reading. Please remember to leave any further comments there, rather than here.

I do hope you enjoyed your Christmas, and (less importantly) this experimental series of classic posts – I hope that it will encourage you to browse the archives more often. Normal service will be resumed shortly!

Today, I would like to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas. I hope it’s happy, peaceful, and brings you everything you could ever ask for. Even little green men…

[flashvideo filename=”http://sjhoward.co.uk/video/christmas.flv” /]

It’s a post that’s nearly six months old, but it’s still generating a fascinating discussion, so I thought it would be worth pointing you back in that direction: UK Life League and scare tactics.

Hopefully, you’ll agree that it’s well worth a read. Please leave any comments over on that post, to keep them together.

Over the festive season, I’ll probably not be around to post on the site.

So, to fill the gap, I’ve picked out some posts from the archive that are particularly interesting for the discussion they’ve generated – discussions you may have missed if you only read posts when they are first published. Four posts have been chosen in total – one for today, one for tomorrow, one for Christmas Eve, and one for Boxing Day – and a post will appear here on the front page pointing you in the direction of these interesting nuggets. This is the first time I’ve done something like this, so I hope you like it, and I hope it encourages you to dig through the archive of over 1,000 posts more often.

Just a quick note to say that ask that in all cases, please post any comments back on the original post. I’ve arranged for these comments threads to remain open longer than usual, since they normally close after a year (which would be most unhelpful when pointing you in the direction of old posts!).

Normal service will be resumed after Christmas.

“But what’s today’s choice?”, I hear you cry! Well, appropriately for Christmas, it’s a post which generated a lot of inspirational discussion from young women who were making the best of life, despite also being mothers. It was a very short post, whose discussion is many times longer. The original article referenced in the post is well worth a read too, if you missed it first time round. The post is: Being a teenage mum, originally posted back in September 2005.

I hope you enjoy the read!

Earlier this year, the BBC had a somewhat surprising hit in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? For those with short memories, this was a programme which cast Connie Fisher the lead role in a new stage production of The Sound of Music, through a week-by-week Pop Idol style competition.

Now, the BBC have announced that there is to be a follow-up, Any Dream Will Do. This will follow the same format, but will cast Joseph, a narrator, and a Pharoh for a new stage production of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat.

At the same time, ITV have announced that they are to produce a show looking for a new Danny and Sandy to play the lead roles in a new production of Grease. As with everything on ITV, Simon Cowell will be judging – alongside David Ian, also known as the most infamous judge of, er, the BBC’s How do You Solve a Problem Like Maria. No blatant copying there, then. And certainly nothing like the Strictly Ice Dancing and Dancing on Ice affair.

I understand that faced with this competition, Five are to sign a deal with Equity to ensure that anybody ever case in anything will have to be a member of the public chosen through a piss-poor TV talent contest. There will be a nightly show hosted by a naked Keith Chegwin going up against Deal or No Deal, and the series will only end once everybody in the country has a role in a musical. Everybody, that is, except for professional actors.

The move will then be superceded by 4, who will decide to give their schedules over 24/7 to a Big Brother style continuous musical, complete with resident orchestra, in which the participants must communicate only through singing, or be voted out to return to their singing day job. The winner will receive a traditional bouquet, and a place on the next series of Strictly Come Dancing – where the couples will be required to sing their own backing tracks whilst also ballroom dancing.

Can ITV not just let the BBC have a hit without feeling the need to copy it down to the smallest detail?