Day 364. Just the facts. (30/12/13)

So, it's nearly over then and we're left with two questions:

1. What happened?

And:

2. What happened?

Yes, at first glance they may well appear to be the same question and to an extent they are but there is a crucial distinction to make here; they are, in order, what happened in the world and what happened to me?

Tonight; the news review to all intents and purposes.

We lost Thatcher at last. Well, not lost as such, we know exactly where she is; seventh circle of hell arguing with Satan about exactly whose chair that is that he's sitting in. The news broke one lunchtime and, for the vast majority of us above the Midlands that were old enough to recall her reign of fear, joy was as unconfined as you would have expected. I can't remember exactly who Liverpool played that weekend (somebody with a rabid Tory chairman, I'm thinking Wigan but could be wrong) but their stewards took great exception to a red scouse army ignoring all idea of football in favour of conducting a conga line round the stands.

The Tories didn't appear to appreciate the sheer hatred that met the passing of the country's worst Prime Minister but that's okay, we didn't appreciate her or her evil party progeny. The lovely Louise Mensch pointed out that while the left celebrated none of our political Pygmy icons would be remembered as Thatcher was.

Nelson Mandela's passing later in the year proved that the world will always recall those that unify above those that separate and demonstrated what a true colossus of world politics looks like.

Thatcher's children tried their best to co-opt Mandela's legacy in their mealy mouthed tributes while giving the lie to their words with the hateful Bedroom Tax; the war on the working class gives on, don't forget this - there are two years left then we kick the bastards out.

Closer to home, the day after Thatcher was laid to rest in a funeral that we had no choice about paying for, Liverpool lost Anne Williams, a mother who devoted her life to the struggle for the truth of what happened to her son and 95 other innocent victims of corporate manslaughter and in doing so proved exactly what ordinary people are capable of when right is on their side, no matter how long that fight may take.

In pure football terms; Liverpool rebuilt, ending an impressive calendar year in a position to finally once again challenge at the top of the table. Luis Suarez went from pantomime villain to idiot to scourge of football with a bite on a Chelsea player to want away traitor to returning hero in the space of six months; that's a hell of a character arc for anybody.

Musically, Simon Cowell continued his mission to bland out the entire world with another series of non entities performing karaoke for the benefit of advertisers but if you knew where to look there was redemption to be had; most prominently in the glorious return of David Bowie showing the world what an actual star is capable of.

The summer was dominated by the face off between Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' and Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'; so your choice was an adaptation of Chic's late 70s sound or a blatant rip off of  Marvin Gaye's 'Got To Give It Up'. If forced, I'm going for Blurred Lines - borderline sex pest lyrics but a hell of a groove - the real winner though was Pharell Williams who appeared on both.

We got a new pope and a new Dr Who in the same year and a new hero in the shape of Commander Chris Hadfield who spent what seemed like his entire time in charge of the International Space Station tweeting photos of the earth from space and reminding us of how small, fragile and beautiful our planet is; maybe if we could keep that idea in mind for more than five minutes we may all see the stupidity of conflict and all live in post revolutionary peace like Russell Brand says.

And that's the year, pretty much laid to rest; if I missed any obvious biggies there (in the way that I completely forgot to include Paul McCartney's 'New' in last night's stop 10 despite it being his best solo album ever and probably the best thing that he's recorded since 'Band On The Run') feel free to pull me up.

For now though, for tomorrow, I'm going to do the same thing as everybody else and think about where this year has taken me.

Without putting out any spoilers, it's been quite a journey.