Looking Back On 2012

[sp1814]

For me, it would be the London Olympics and specifically how well we did in terms of the opening ceremony and the medals haul.

Also, up there would be the Leveson enquiry, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee event, the world (or rather YouTube) domination of Psy, Obama's win, Hurricane Sandy and now sadly, the Connecticut massacre.

Obviously, the most important news is stuff that happens in our own lives (weddings, funerals, house/job moves etc), but what UK or world news stories characterised 2012 for you?

[Zacs-Master]

The continued downward spiral of our financial situation.

[ludwig]

The Olympics. A fantastic success in every regard. The organisation*, the venues, the ceremonies, the performances. We even managed to get the weather about right during the weeks that mattered.

Especially pleasing after all the years of people moaning about what a disaster it was going to be.

(*ok G4S screwed up, but it turned out well in the end)

[Prudie]

Agree ludwig, disastrous things happen every year but the success of the Jubilee celebrations (even if you didn't give a toss) and then followed by the Olympics has been a great year for the UK. Has restored my faith in us as a nation and best of all the whole Olympics was so uplifting and shut the moaners up temporarily.

[LazyGun]

Olympics for me also as the stand out memorable event of 2012 - the apprehension, in the immmediate period leading up to the opening ceremony, with all the issues about security, and concerns expressed by people like Romney that the UK would be able to stage an event like this - then the fantastical opening ceremony, and the performance of the UK athletes - Super Saturday and all that.

Also, I suppose the economic crisis engulfing the EU and what that means, and the re-election of Obama in the US.

[ZedBloke]

I agree with the olympics what I loved most was silencing all the moaners who'd spent the previous 5 years generally running it down and predicting a complete c0ckup, then that openning ceremony, wow, I watched it 3 times! Then the British performances double wow, best ever Olympics!

Diamond jubilee wonderful, Robbie openning the concert, "let me entertain you", you did Robbie, you did! I'll sign off now, welling up!

Over to the anti British to dig up some bad things.

great post SP.

[ChillDoubt]

Obviously the Olympics. The way our athletes rose to the challenge and performed beyond expectation(bar the footballers, surprise surprise) and our Armed Forces dealt with a crisis at the 11th hour with the minimum of fuss in typically British fashion, not to mention the unique and(at times) quirky masterpiece created by Danny Boyle.
Special mention for Andy Murray who finally got the monkey off his back with the US Open, along with his Olympic success.

The massively over-hyped and far too widely covered 'flooding of New York' that never happened to the extent that was wildly predicted.

The way that Dodgy Dave welcomed the Leveson Inquiry with open arms, only to reach round and stab it in the back once it was published.

But my one abiding memory will be Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Briton to win the Tour De France and in typical self deprecating style, announced on the podium "Right, we are just gonna do the raffle"!

[emmie]

The Paralympics which we attended, a tremendous effort from the athletes, and a magnificent venue, the Olympic Park was a real joy to be at .

[jno]

I'd go along with the Olympics too, about 90% really well organised and very successful outcome for the Brits. But the moaners weren't entirely wrong, as the buildup was terrible: not jut G4S but the whole ticketing system too. So it kind of came right at the last possible second - much like in Athens, and it's not exactly wonderful having to compare the UK to Greece.

And the Savile story, sad to say.

I'm going to have to sit down and watch Psy one of these days, aren't I.

[FredPuli43]

Olympics. Went to several events, none of them glamour ones and only one in the Stadium, but the atmosphere was fantastic in all of them. And the helpers were brilliant; cheerful, eager to help everyone. What made it for me was that I went there with such low expectations and these were proved utterly wrong. Even the transport worked perfectly.

[ELVIS68]

For me the sentencing of Stephen Lawrence's killers, they finally got their comeuppance after all these years