So, welcome to 2016...

As those you who know Ros and I on Facebook may have noticed, we saw in the New Year somewhat more dressed up than usual (certainly for me, at any rate...), at the Pier at Harwich. And yes, it was very nice, and I didn't drink too much champagne, and behaved like a moderately sensible person (but not too sensible, after all, there are standards to be maintained...).

It was nice to see that a lot of people seemed to be enjoying the New Year come in too, including my far-flung family, who cover twenty-one time zones. Indeed, I spent some time this morning online with my cousin Kim, in Auckland, catching up on family affairs, which was nice too.

Apparently, New Year's Day is a day for resolutions - I will do this, won't do that, you know the drill - but I don't have any in mind this time. Given my fairly catastrophic failure rate for resolutions in the past, that's probably a good thing.

But 2016 will be a busy year, with the wedding of my stepson Jamie to his partner Bethany scheduled for the autumn, and Ros off to who knows where in her capacity as an ALDE Vice-President (I may have to accompany her, you know, because...). Work will doubtless be busy, because it should be, and even though we don't have council elections here, planning for 2017 is already underway, so there'll be more liberal democracy to do.

The new country for the year will be Lithuania, as the Spring ALDE Council meeting will take place there. That will be country number sixty in my effort to visit more countries than I have had birthdays. Compared to the likes of Jonathan Fryer, however, I am a mere amateur...

So, 2016 beckons. With a likely European referendum in the autumn, it is unlikely to be dull politically, even if the tension caused by the closeness of the polls will be unsettling, both personally and for the British economy. As an investor, albeit on a small scale, I am risk-averse for the most part. The future status of the United Kingdom within the European Union wouldn't necessarily encourage me to invest. I can only hope that I am in a minority in that respect.

Time then, to buckle up for another rollercoaster of a year. Let's just hope that the result isn't as grim for my beliefs as 2015 was...