A Happy New Year to you all

Thank you for all your comments during the year, for all your good and bad wishes. Madame Arcati's visitor audience grew by nearly 15% in 2008 compared with 2007, and pageviews increased by just under 20%, to nearly 737,000. Absolutely Unique Visitors was up to nearly 253,000, up over 30% on 2007. Frankly, I have no idea how this was achieved but if you're reading this, chances are you had a hand in it.

Of Arcati's world audience, 318,217 people visited the site from 206 countries/territories, with the US at the No 1 spot, up over 14% on '07. The UK was at No 2, just over 3% up. Italy suddenly became a fan, up over 219% year-on-year. Liechtenstein excelled itself with one visitor in the whole of 2008, down 50% on '07. I hope it wasn't something I said.

Such figures suggest an internationally thin but robust interest in a blog that has no especial theme and is at the mercy of the whim and passing fancy of a funny fanny. God knows what keeps it going. But at least it's not part of a newspaper blogging herd with subjects initiated by some under-age cunt editor and nannied with legal notices telling you not to use bad language, or to deviate from the ordained topic, as in some sort of Miss Jean Brodie class.

So happy New Year. And remember: the UK Tories support bullying in the workplace. You know what I'm talking about if you're an Arcatiste.