So this is Christmas as John Lennon put it, and time for a look back over some of this years highlights and lowlights from the political world of the British Isles. On the face of it little has changed, and certainly from a polling standpoint the parties have pretty much the same share of their market, the British public, in December as they did at the start of the year. The conservatives, under the terribly trend rule of David “call me Dave” Cameron have had probably the best of years, despite their minuscule shift from just 39 to 40% over the last 12 months. But what has changed is that Dave has gone from a object of derision in the media, from being pilloried in the early part of the year for trying to falsely boost his green credentials by riding a bike to work whilst his briefcase was chauffeur driven behind him, to a credible alternative to whoever happens to be the leader of the Labour party this week.

The conservatives did very well in the May local elections, gaining 800 council seats and taking control of 38 councils, and Cameron who was once accused of surrounding himself with his elitist ex Eton school chums, is now seen by many “ordinary” Joe members of the public as a talking their language, and holding similar views to theirs about issues such as Europe and immigration.......but then again middle England is one hell of a xenophobic and bigoted place! So that should be no surprise.

The conservatives still have a long way to go before there is a general election, but they are in good shape (something I couldn't have said for the last 10 years or more) and the way they bristled for a fight when there was the off-chance of an early election from Gordon in the Autumn was stunning. Having said all of that, I still don't like Dave, he's just not “real enough” for me. There's no doubt that someone at Conservative HQ sold their soul to the devil and has drunk from the same cup as Tony Blair's spin doctors, its all just too slick, too safe and too empty to be real. Middle ground political mediocrity at its worst I'm afraid.

And talking of reality, I get the felling Gordon Brown is starting to realise the reality of Prime Ministership isn't all it was cracked up to be by his best mate Tony! In a year that has saw several of the Labour top dogs jostling for pole position, and then not a single one standing to oppose the now Prime Minister , its almost as if they all secretly agreed to take 2 steps back, rather than Gordon taking a step forward to claim number 10. In the 7 months that Gordon has been PM, he has wrestled with disasters and events one after the other leaving him now at the back of the year looking quite frankly, out of his depth. Yes he's had a lot on his plate, after all I cant think of another year when the UK has suffered terrorist attacks, a re-emergence of Foot and Mouth disease, Blue Tongue, the threat of Avian Flu, and mammoth flooding, Surely Gordon is now just waiting for the plague of locust , darkness and the death of a first born to complete his own book of Exodus, or as I like to think of it Gordon's Plague of the Egit.

Events really have stopped Gordon from making his mark as a credible alternative to Tony Blair, and surely this is most obvious in the international arena where he simply has not been able to cultivate the same gravitas as Tony had on the world stage. Tony was seen as Bush's lapdog.... there is no doubt, but worst than that Gordon has become Europe's Garfield, undoubtedly clever..... but lazy...... probably watching TV right now with a bowl of chips and a soda. Meanwhile, Nicolas Sarkozy, visits Afghanistan today to meet with President Hamid Karzai, and Angela Merkel had the strength of character to speak out against Robert Mugabe's regime at the Africa summit in Lisbon a couple of weeks ago. Gordon's appeal is slipping and he has been bloody lucky to hang on to Labour 32% poll which at times has swung as high as 44%, and as low as 27% since taking office in May. Public confidence is on the wane as more of us are hit in our pockets by the deepening credit crunch, and many start to ask just how good was Gordon as a Chancellor anyway, was he a genius or was our economy simply propped up by huge personal debt? Either way, UK PLC and Gordon Brown should both be worried as we enter 2008 with Northern Rock, one of the UK's largest mortgage lenders still begin propped up by the Bank of England and no sign of a buyer to save them. Questions are being asked of Browns stewardship of the country's finances prior to moving to No10, and of the financial irregularity of his party funding since the middle of this year. Next year will be toughie for Labour.

On a lighter note, I think hats off to Jacqui Smith, the first ever woman Home Secretary who came to office this year. The day after Gordon Brown announced her new role she openly admitted taking cannabis back in the 80's, and gave it as a credential as to why she was good for the job of tackling crime. OK, maybe not her wisest move, but at least she is honest and has something in common with most of the British public. I should also say the day after she took office, bombs were found in London and the day after that a terrorist attack took place in Glasgow. She handled both brilliantly and has had a really good go at dealing with the thorny issues of security, crime and immigration, all of which are hot political potatoes on this small island. Next year will be trickier what with continued resistance to detention without trial, and wrangling over police pay, but for now “Jacqui Spliff”, as she is known is definitely one of the years winners.

And so to this years biggest winner......no, not the anti smoking lobby who finally got a smoking ban in England this year, or even Steve McLaren the England Soccer Manager who single handedly ruined the England team, got the sack and still walked away with £6m pound pay off. No I am talking of Nick Clegg, who at the start of the year was a political nobody, and as of Tuesday this week won the leadership contest for the Liberal Democratic party,

The Lib Dems haven't had a great year, May saw them have a shocking set of results in the local elections, loosing the most seats for 30 years, and Ming Campbell was forced to step down as leader after his party decided he was too old and out of touch given that they were competing with “trendy Dave” for the political middle ground. In October they sat with just 11% of the poll, 7% down on January, and to be frank British Politics had become a Bipolar affair with all the focus on Labour and Conservatives who were in many cases saying the same things; but one with a stodgy Scotsman with ginger fur a craving for Lasagne (a Garfield reference for the uninformed) and the other with a “Tony u like” clone wearing cycling shorts.

Nick Clegg, or “Calamity Clegg” as he has become nicknamed, has somehow shot to leader almost from nowhere, and whilst I don't care for his or the Lib Dems policies particularly he has to be my pick of the bunch in terms of a political winner. The Lib Dems are without doubt trying to create another Tony/Dave clone to appeal to the masses, but behind the bland sound bites Cl egg has already given us a glimpse of some honesty, just this week he has announced he doesn't believe in God!!! To be frank, this close to Christmas in a society where everything from home and foreign policy, to social care, art, architecture and even schooling are shaped by Christianity I think such honesty should be applauded.......this bodes well for a fantastic 2008 of guffaws, gaffs and honest but misguided remarks from Mr Clegg. What's more, I've been doing some digging on the net and it appears Mr Clegg has a rich history and pedigree, having a Grandfather who was the Attorney General of the Senate of Imperial Russia, and himself being convicted of Arson in his youth whilst an exchange student in Munich..............fantastic........ a communist, Atheist, Arsonist, what more could we want from someone hoping to run Britain!! That would be an interesting “special relationship” with the States if he ever got in power!!!

So, all that is left for me to say, is from the bottom corner of the little island to your right, a very Merry Christmas. Remember we may be small, but long may we remain perfectly ill-informed.