I'm here to wish you a very merry Christmas from the arts and entertainment blog. It's been a thrilling and stimulating 12 months for us. From Antony Gormley's Blind Light to the final Harry Potter novel, Frieze art fair to Trevor Nunn's King Lear, Anton Corbijn's Control to the Great Morrissey Controversy, it feels as if the arts - especially in Britain - have never provided more fuel for passionate and fascinating debate. And it's been a privilege to have that conversation with you.
Highlights for me have included the many pieces by Jon Wilde and Ryan Gilbey; drbendyspoongun's hilarious interjections on everything; You review; Sam Jordison's must-read Booker club; Lynn Barber's two fingers to Michael Parkinson; the brilliant thread that developed the day Radiohead's In Rainbows came out and it was clear that everyone was listening to it and talking about it together; and Jonathan Glancey's Classics of everyday design - especially the commenter who grew up next door to the inventor of the slinky.
As well as our army of blogging critics, we've had posts from the likes of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Stella Vine, Shane Meadows, Dom Joly (quite controversial, that one), Phil Redmond, Guardian album of the year winners LCD Soundsystem (whose refusal to use punctuation caused outrage in some quarters) and Kenneth Anger, while Alan McGee continued to write pieces that got some of you wound up - namely his "most hyped bands" exposé. Then there were our specials from Hay, Glastonbury and Edinburgh, which included contributions from everyone from Beryl Bainbridge to Arctic Monkeys.
The year also boasted the astonishing Ricky Gervais thread, the Homer Simpson caption competition, Gareth McLean's daily TV blog, Catch of the Day (and its predecessor Web Trawl), Fresh Links, Noises Off, and the continuing delight that is Readers Recommend.
Big up to all our most prolific commenters - Alarming, DarceysDad, ShatterFace, mastershake, raaaah, richardrj, IsThatcherDeadYet, invisibletitties, frogprincess, gordonimmel, sourpus, Carefree, dothestrand, VioletV, jackhavana, sexedup, Jackanapes, the indefatigable jasonaparkes - and of course profuse thanks to everyone else who has read, written and commented.
We hope you continue to enjoy reading and debating with us long into 2008.
