It has been one helluva year! We’ve had everything, from celebrity make-ups and break-ups to big banks going bust. We have watched the meteoric rise of X-Factor and the not-so-sad demise of Big Brother. And of course, there was the tragic but unsurprising death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. A lot has happened over the past 12 months, so join us as we look back at what we believe were the biggest stories of 2009. Enjoy!

Christmas Rage
No one could have quite predicted the magnitude of support that couple Jon and Tracy Morter drummed up when they began their Facebook campaign to get Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name of’ to Christmas number 1. But the fight against the Cowell empire captured the imagination of thousands of Brits and this week it was announced that the ‘90s rap rock track has pipped Joe McElderry’s The Climb to the post. This has made Kalimocho very happy.

One week to save the world
World leaders faced crunch time at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. Considered to be one of the most important meetings in history, leaders will hopefully thrash out agreements on climate change, reducing carbon emissions, and how to protect the rainforests.

Swine flu goes viral
In March 2009, a number of people in Mexico City were diagnosed with a weird new strain of the influenza virus made from swine, bird and human DNA. Fast forward to the end of the year and we are now in the midst of a global pandemic that has infected millions and killed nearly 10,000 world wide, causing widespread panic and putting pressure on our medical services. But fear not, at the end of the day it’s largely just like getting a nasty bout of flu, but if you’re worried, contact NHS Direct for more info.

Financial woes of 2009
2009 was definitely the year of economic turmoil, where we saw the dramatic collapse of Northern Rock and the government bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. Not one week has gone by without reports of job losses, banks going bankrupt and public services being cut. This year the economy shrank by 4.9%, with thousands of UK jobs lost as a result. Who knows what 2010 will bring?

Moats, tampons and duck houses
Revelations that MPs have been milking the expenses system resulted in national outrage, and even threatened to bring down parliament. Claims for pay-per-view porn, duck islands and moat cleaning services all became symbolic of the expenses saga… and caused our blood to boil.