Review of the Year

So, that was the year that was. And what a year. It was the year in which, for whatever reason, the political establishment kept trying to convince us that apocalypse was upon us and the end of the world is nigh. And the more they pushed upon us, the more cynical we became until the point we all got to Christmas, found we were still alive, and spent like there was... errr... no tomorrow.

First up was the state of the 'global' banking system. Continuing where the previous year left off, we the public had to pay - or rather Gordon Brown gave away - trillions upon trillions to stop the supposed collapse of the banking system. Only to find that a few short months later, the banking industry was paying itself billions in bonuses. So, where did our money go? And who consented to us giving the banking industry so much money? And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest.

Then came 'swine flu'. We were all going to die. Millions of us, apparently. There were going to be mass graves in London. Bodies were going to be buried six deep to cope with the burden on cemeteries. We all had to rush out and get vaccines. Except it didn't actually happen. What actually happened is that one or two unfortunate people got ill. Then came the reaction to hysteria. Anyone who got a sore throat or a bit of a cold phoned a hotline where people with no medical experience whatsoever read a checklist from a script on a computer and hundreds of thousands of people went around claiming to have had 'mild' swine flu. There were no mass graves. And now we're in flu season again, not even the hysterical Government is bothering to scare us with that one anymore.

We then had the expenses scandal where we found out just exactly what the grubby political class was using our money for. Duckhouses, moats, porn films, non-existent second homes - we found out we'd been fleeced on a grand scale. And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest.

Protest became a very unsafe activity. At the G20 protests in London, newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson died. Footage emerged over a period of a few days on The Guardian's website which showed the public key details of what happened to the poor fellow. And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest.

We then found ourselves forced into being part of the European Empire against our wishes. All three main parties promised us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Labour and the LibDems colluded to prevent us getting one. After the Irish democratic 'no' was ignored, they gave the other answer - yes. And their second answer was accepted. Czech President Vaclav Klaus carried the hopes of most of Britain. He had the power to defend British national sovereignty by defending his own. In the end, he crumbled. It was all over. Labour had given away our national sovereignty. And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest.

Then came ClimateGate. A wholesale leaking of emails which showed that something very untoward had been happening to seemingly present a distortion of the truth. The establishment hated it. Carbon trading had trillions of dollars invested in it. There were hopes of setting up global government on the back of it. So no-one investigated ClimateGate. Instead, many members of the public twigged what was going on. And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest. Meanwhile, the political establishment ran around calling people who asked any questions about the legitimacy of the science a whole procession of names instead of addressing what had been revealed.

Then came the cranking up of rhetoric. Carbon dioxide (exhale) is evil, we were told. We had to ban it else we were all going to die. We were told. Exhale. But rather than bring forth a mass culling of humans to reduce carbon dioxide (exhale), the political establishment just decided that if we all paid a fortune in taxes, then they would control Mother Nature on our behalf. Russia or China - depending on who you listen to - helped play a part in saving the free peoples of the world from global tyranny. For now.

We had the minor sideshows. Would Gordon Brown (unelected Prime Minister) get through the year without being kicked out by his own side? In the end, his Labour colleagues lacked a spine. Meanwhile, the national debt grew and grew and grew.

Slowly, other nations came out of recession. Meanwhile, Britain - the powerhouse from which Gordon Brown claimed to 'save the world' - remained stubbornly in recession. Is still in recession. Is still seeing the national debt grow and grow and grow.

More and more of the public woke up to the complete stink of it all. And we grumbled. But we did not march or protest.

Instead, those of us who are conservative (small 'c') libertarians became increasingly switched on to UKIP.

A whole load of other people decided that they would turn to the BNP. A witch-hunt against the BNP brewed up with the party being attacked by people claiming to be against fascism... who strangely have yet to protest against the semi-fascists who currently sit in Government.

So, a year of doom, gloom, apocalypse and corruption.

How cynical did it all make you become?

And just how do you plan on exacting revenge at the ballot box in 2010..?