IT S traditional around this time of the year to put together a compendium of the best and worst bits of the last 12 months. A light-hearted look, if you will, of all that has gone before us – of those wonderful stories which tickled us here at The Comet,

IT'S traditional around this time of the year to put together a compendium of the best and worst bits of the last 12 months.

A light-hearted look, if you will, of all that has gone before us - of those wonderful stories which tickled us here at The Comet, tickled you at home and left some in Comet country with faces as red as Santa's coat.

But seeing as though I'm sitting here at 2.28pm on Friday afternoon knowing that I've got only three hours in which to research and write both Last Word and two more stories, I do not have the time (actually, nor the inclination) to go rummaging through our archives.

In fact, someone else has done it already and you can read about it on pages 25-27.

So that leaves me in a bit of a pickle about what to write about.Last Word is normally written and subbed - tidied up and corrected by the news editor and then one of either the editor or sub editor - by the weekend, although there are rare occasions when I finish the article on Monday or a Tuesday.

So from when I come into the office on Thursday after the newspaper has been put to bed on a Wednesday evening, I usually have two days to think of a few subjects, research them and write a couple of different pieces before scrapping them all and starting again.

But if I write such a rambling piece such as this, then I don't really have to do too much research at all and instead I can watch the clock tick down (as I'm doing right now) and look forward to a nice cool beer after work.

Ok, I couldn't resist it - here is a list of my favourite five stories which appeared in The Comet over the past 12 months.

??The half-eaten newt which a lady bit into while eating a Sainsbury's salad back in May - The minute we received the photograph of it by email we knew we were on to a winner.

??The story of the 'Baldock Swingers Club' - the night the newspaper came out I was having a rare(!) drink in a pub in Baldock and heard a group of 10 or so middle-aged ladies giggling about it.

??The 24-year-old Stevenage man who tried to have sex with a fence - what an extraordinary story, one which came just a week after the story of a man from Scotland who was found having sex with his bicycle.

??The April Fools' joke where signs went up around Hitchin, put up by locals annoyed with the way the council was handling its community assets. My favourite was 'Welcome to Hitchin - Home of the Bulldozer'.

??My application for the England football head coach position - I really thought I had a chance of getting the job after the previous appointment of Steve 'The Teeth' McLaren. How wrong I was.

FINALLY, a few predictions for the New Year - Fabio Capello will excel as the new England manager, Gordon Brown's poll ratings will be behind the Conservatives by the end of 2008, Hilary Clinton will become the new US president, overweight politicians will continue to lecture us about being healthy, the indebt Labour Party will continue to lecture us about being in debt and politicians will still fly and use their cars when travelling to environmental summits and meetings.

Have a happy New Year.