'Whilst doubt was cast on the strength of intelligence the government came away largely unscathed.'

2004 was a year of continuing conflict for many in Iraq, Sudan and the Middle East to name but a few countries.

However it was also a year for democracy with a record number of elections around the world including Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, Niger, Australia and of course the United States.

Flooding, hurricanes and general extreme weather made global warming an unarguable reality.

January

Flash Airlines’ Boeing 737 crashed into the Red Sea leaving 148 dead including 133 French tourists.

Robotic explorer Spirit landed on Mars, much to NASA’s delight and Britain’s envy. (Our attempt – Beadle was lost a few days before.)

Ken Livingstone was accepted back into the Labour Party after Tony Blair admitted he was mistaken in saying that Red Ken would be a disastrous mayor of London.

The Hutton Enquiry report was published, with a loud condemnation of the BBC’s behaviour but only a cursory telling off for the Ministry of Defence due to them not warning him that his name would be publicised. Tony Blair did not sex up the September dossier and Andrew Gilligan misquoted and misrepresented David Kelly. Greg Dyke, Gavin Davies (BBC Director and Chair of governors) and Andrew Gilligan all resigned in the aftermath of the Hutton Report.

February

Bird flu continued to terrorise the east. 10 countries including China and Thailand reported the disease and millions of chickens were slaughtered.

Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer, admitted to leaking weapons technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. President Musharraf later pardoned the scientist.

Mark Haddon’s tale of a young boy with Aspergers Syndrome, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, won the Whitbread Prize.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague started to consider whether the Israeli barrier, separating Palestinian territories from Israel, was against human rights.

President Museveni said he was to take personal command in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda who were responsible for hundreds of deaths in the Lira district.

March

Multiple bombs were simultaneously detonated on packed commuter trains in Madrid killing nearly 200 people and injuring nearly 2000. Despite initially blaming the Basque separatists Eta, the government eventually said it was an attack linked to al-Qaeda. This led to a surprise victory for the socialist party in the Spanish elections that weekend after.

Passion fever hit as Mel Gibson’s version was released to the mutual delight and disgust of many. Was it a festival of gore or a beautiful portrayal of the gospel?

Sydney Carter composer of the hymn Lord of the Dance died aged 88.

Vladimir Putin swept to victory in the Russian elections despite condemnation by observers for the elections failing to meet democratic standards.

April

Iraq kicked back one year after the so called victory. The worse fighting since the toppling of Saddam’s statue was seen in Falluja, Basra and Kirkuk.

The 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide was marked around the world. There was criticism of the West resulting in promises to act more swiftly in similar situations in the future.

After a nationwide competition the Methodist Church announced five possible new commandments including Thou shalt not kill in the name of any God and Thou shalt not eat thine own body weight in fudge.

South Africa celebrated 10 years of Freedom from Apartheid and 10 years of full democracy. Thabo Mbeki led the ANC to a landslide win in the general election.

After saying there would be no referendum on the EU constitution, Blair made a U turn and announced that there would indeed be a public vote on the issue.

Actor, playwright and raconteur, Sir Peter Ustinov died aged 82.

May

EU enlargement finally occurred seeing 15 states become 25 overnight.

US soldiers were accused of torture in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Photos were published around the world. At the same time Piers Morgan resigned as editor of the Daily Mirror conceding that the photos he had published of UK troops torturing Iraqi’s were fake.

The Middle East peace process took a further knock as Ariel Sharon’s Likud party rejected his plans to pull out of Palestinian territories.

Tony Blair was hit by purple powder during Prime Ministers questions, thanks to the accurate aim of an irate member of Fathers 4 Justice.

Ruslana of the Ukraine won the Eurovision song contest.

Floods devastated the Dominican Republic and Haiti, rendering thousands homeless and in danger of disease. The decimated island Hispaniola was further rocked by an earthquake tremor.

22 hostages, mainly foreigners were killed in Saudi Arabia by suspected Al Qaeda gun men.

June

Whilst people still continued to be killed in Sudan by the Jingaweit the EU and the US applied pressure on the Sudanese government to solve the crisis.

Ronald Reagan, the 40 th President of the United States died aged 93.

The Tories won the 27% of the vote for the European Elections in the UK. However their vote together with Labour’s was eroded by the success of the United Kingdom Independence Party who polled 16%.

Andrea Levy was awarded the Orange Prize for her novel Small Island.

Iraq celebrated sovereignty after the Coalition Provisional Authority transferred power to the Iraqi interim government. The ceremony was unexpectedly held two days early in the light of security fears.

July

Greece cost the bookies millions after pulling off one of the biggest football surprises and beating Portugal to win the Euro 2004 final.

The inquiry into the integrity of intelligence used to justify the war on Iraq ended and the Butler report was published. Whilst doubt was cast on the strength of intelligence the government came away largely unscathed.

The Liberal Democrats seized Leicester South from Labour in the bi- election and Labour clung on to Birmingham Hodge

The UN passed a resolution calling on the Sudanese government to take immediate action on the crisis in Darfur. This was met with criticism from many that the Sudanese were not faced with serious sanctions and therefore the resolution was largely impotent.

Maria Sharopova stunned Wimbledon by winning at the age of 17. Roger Federer won the men’s singles title for the second time.

August

Over 300 people died in a fire at a shopping centre in Paraguay. Accusations of locking doors and general ineptitude abounded.

6 million people required immediate help after severe flooding in Bangladesh.

The Olympics returned to the origins in Greece. After a worrying start, team GB won a record haul of medals. Highs included 17 year old Amir Khan winning silver in boxing and Kelly Holmes winning double gold in the 800 and 1500 metre races. One of the low points was Paula Radcliffe pulling out of the Marathon with only a few miles to go due to exhaustion.

Two Russian planes crashed. Initially it was blamed on accidents but eventually the government admitted that both planes had exploded due to bombs planted by Chechnyan rebels.

Heavy rain through August caused farmers to worry that they would lose more money than they did during the Foot and Mouth crisis. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3603186.stm Boscastle, Cornwall was demolished by two rivers bursting their banks.

September

There was devastation in Russia, as 1000 children and adults were held hostage at a school in Beslan. Over three hundred people, mainly children died by the end.

Bill Clinton underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation.

The Australian embassy was attacked in Jakarta, Indonesia. Nine people were killed and over 160 injured by the terrorist bomb.

Indonesia held their first direct elections which went largely without trouble. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was declared President at the beginning of October.

Young Scot, Andrew Murray brought hope to British tennis after winning the Junior US Open.

Protestors again managed to invade Parliament, this time it was to protest against the fox hunting ban being voted on by MPs.

October

Over 70 Palestinians were killed by the latest Israeli assaults on the Palestinian Territories.

Hamid Karzai won the Afghan elections which were bitterly disputed by rivals, not least due to dodgy ink used in voting. However the UN declared the elections largely free and fair.

Superman Christopher Reeve died at the age of 52.

John Howard secured a larger majority after winning a fourth term as Prime minister at the Australian polling booths.

November

Chaotic scenes occurred in Ramallah, Palastine at the burial of Yasser Arrafat who died aged 75 in a French Military hospital.

George Bush won the US election.

The final round of the Ukraine’s elections were held. The final result was disputed despite Mr Yanukovych declaring himself the winner. The opposition leader Mr Yushchenko made accusations of gross election fraud and protestors took to the streets for days. A rerun of the ballot has now been agreed.

The England cricket team eventually started their controversial tour of Zimbabwe which had been threatened by Zimbabwe banning 13 member of the British press. Zimbabwe finally admitted the press, and blamed it on an “administrative error.”

The government invoked the Parliament Act to ensure that the ban on fox hunting became law after numerous rejections by the House of Lords.

December

Progress in the Northern Ireland Peace Process came to a halt after the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein failed to reach agreement on IRA disarmament.

100,000 people faced homeless and devastation after massive floods in the Philippines.

Madame Tussauds courted controversy after “updating” the nativity. The Beckhams’ became Mary and Joseph and Tony Blair, George W Bush and Prince Philip were cast as the three wise men.

After several weeks of refusing to resign, the Home Secretary David Blunkett finally gave in. He said that whilst he was not guilty of demanding speedy treatment of a visa application for the nanny of his former lover, if there was doubt he could not risk embarrassing the government.