You’ve mostly been reading about films.


The visual arts entertained you in (as you might expects) the arts and entertainment pages of the Independent site during 2009. Not surprisingly, the 100 best films of all time (ever) topped the list, with the trill of the illicit, the banned, the scary and the illegally downloaded just below. History and music were spliced with the exotic sights of South American beaches, and the weird (very weird) world of bodybuilding.


The 100 best films

Banned: The most controversial films

Scene-stealer: The Axxo files

The ten best suspense films

The ten best history books

Shots of the century: From seaside fun to national disasters, an unparalleled photographic archive of the past 100 years opens to the public

NME names the top 50 albums of the decade

Bodyworks: Photographs from the weird world of bodybuilding



Seaside exposure: Martin Parr turns his lens on the densely crowded beaches of South America

The 20 best rock star offspring

 

Is the murder mystery story the favourite genre for Britain's readers? Without it, where would we be without the enigma of Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Watson? Agatha Christies famous characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, would never have graced the pages of tens of millions of books, and the various TV series and movies portraying clever detectives and their mind-boggling skills that always unearth the killer.

And weve all joined in in the creation of the mystery in playing Cluedo, the famed board game of murder and mayhem in a country house.To celebrate the board games 60th anniversary, Barry Forshaw from the Crime Writers Association recounts the evolution of the murder mystery and gives some great tips on how to write your own.

If the news and opinion sections tell us what you read, then perhaps the life and style sections tell us what you are actually like. In, brief, therefore, the Independent reader of 2009 likes sex games, wears a nice watch, has a tattoo, lives in a nice house, drinking whisky, seducing either men or women with gadgets or software from their laptop.

Is that you? Whatever, these were the stories if the life and style section read the most in 2009.


The ten best sex toys

The 50 best watches

The world’s most bizarre tattoos

Private viewing: the pick of the property

The ten best scotch whiskies

An invention that could change the internet forever

The ten best seduction techniques

The 50 best Christmas gifts for men

The 50 best gadgets

The ten best laptops

The 50 best Christmas gifts for women

In The Independent today:


OBAMA'S CLIMATE ACCORD FAILS THE TEST
World leaders late last night agreed a hugely watered-down version of a new global pact on climate change, after an astonishing day of deadlock, disagreement, misunderstandings, walkouts and insults at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. By Michael McCarthy in Copenhagen. Here, Chris Green, looks back at the snubs, skullduggery, and sleepless nights on the road to resolution.


INSIDE POLITICS: PERHAPS LABOUR IS WORKING AFTER ALL
Amid the winter gloom, a few rays of hope for Labour. The opinion poll gap seems to be closing. The Conservatives have lost five seats in council by-elections this month. Gordon Brown played the world statesman in Copenhagen. And the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance fell for the first since February 2008. Andrew Grice asks if the tide is turning for Gordon Brown.


SNOW COMES DOWN - AND BRITAIN GRINDS TO A HALT
Staff at Luton airport had been insistent: this time they would still be open despite the snow. They would bring in extra staff, they had tonnes of salt to grit the runways and they had been preparing for this since the summer.  But yesterday, it was the same old British story: unable to cope as the snow fell, they cancelled flights and shut their doors to shivering travellers yet again. By Kevin Rawlinson and Lydia Warren.

The battle for your mind in the statistics for the most viewed opinion/commentary articles in 2009 was fought mainly between Johann Hari and Robert Fisk, with a couple of cartoonists for light relief. And mostly it was the Middle East that gripped readers, hence Mark Steel’s entry with his views on Palestinians.


No point commenting on commentary, so the list is…

The Daily Cartoon



Johann Hari: The Dark Side of Dubai



Tim Sanders cartoons



Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much they will ask



Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates



Johann Hari: Republicans, religion and the triumph of unreason


Johann Hari: Jade Goody showed the brutal reality of Britain



Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?



Robert Fisk: Wherever I go, I hear the same tired Middle East comparisons


Johann Hari: Dear God, stop brainwashing children



Johann Hari: Why should I respect these oppressive religions?

And we have a winner…

The mystery of a treasure trove of First World War photographs discovered in France and published for the first time captured the imagination of readers in 2009, easily topping the most viewed chart for the year. They show British soldiers on their way to the Somme. But who took them? And who were these Tommies marching off to die?


Elswhere, the daily photographic gallery easily held off the claims of the dollar (or claims about the demise of the dollar) and the annual Independent on Sunday Pink List of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain today. It ended the year significantly higher than the IoS list of the smuggest people in Britain, despite the crossover of some of the names.


Readers from the United States drove the page views up on our story of those on Jacqui Smith’s banned list – those not allowed to enter the UK – as well as the expose of undesirables on the other side of the Atlantic – the Ku Klux Klan. And perhaps it was American curiosity which made users pore over the things that made Britain great.


Elsewhere in the top ten, panic about oil and nuclear weapons flanked an odd story about Japan’s first lady. She was abducted by aliens, of course…


The unseen photographs that throw new light on the First World War

The past seven days in photographs

The demise of the dollar

The Independent on Sunday Pink List

16 banned from Britain - the named and shamed

America unmasked: the images that reveal the Ku Klux Klan is alive and kicking in 2009

Notes on a small island: the things that really make Britain great

Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast

I have been abducted says Japan's first lady

North Korea would use nuclear weapons in a merciless offensive


The Independent on Sunday smuggest Britons list
 

Today, we officially joined Google’s Fastflip, joined by The Telegraph and the Express as the UK additions to 24 more publications that have joined the Google experiment.

FastFlip is Google’s toy to try and find new ways for print-based news organisations to find new readers, part of the delicate ecology of Google’s relationship with news providers. FastFlip has been (perfectly reasonably) criticised for giving readers an even more ephemeral relationship with news providers than ever, making it more difficult for the news providers, and their advertisers, to create a direct (and monetisable) relationship with their readers.

That is true, but for an organisation like ourselves, broadening the audience is an attractive option. While web-heads are a little sniffy about FastFlip’s presentation and engagement, there’s likely to be a sizeable audience which find it a neat and attractive way of viewing our content. So we might as well let them. I charmingly  and generously gave Google a quote for their blog (and the Guardian called me circumspect on the back of it while is oddly pleasing, as well as saying I was editorial director for THE digital)
And that’s where we are. It’ll help grow the audience, that’s got to be a good thing. We can worry about how to make more of the zillions of people that Google sends us next year …

In The Independent today: BA STAFF: WE GOT IT WRONG OVER STRIKE Cabin crew who voted for walkout fear union tactics will lead to defeat. By Andy McSmith and Lewis Smith NEO-NAZI THGUS LEFT ME BRAIN DAMAGED, TATCHELL REVEALS Gay-rights activist forced to step down as election candidate. By Andy McSmith 15 CIGARETTES: ALL IT TAKES TO HARM GENES Study reveals the genetic mutations suffered by smokers who go on to develop lung cancer. By Steve Connor, Science Editor

In The Independent today:


EXCLUSIVE: SCARLETT ACCUSED OF MISLEADING INQUIRY
Former MoD expert contradicts claim that Iraq evidence was reliable. By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent



THE GILLRAYS THAT WERE TOO RUDE FOR THE VICTORIANS
Cartoons that fell foul of 19th-century censors are put on display. By Andy McSmith



CLIMATE CONFERENCE: "MAKE THE BANKERS PAY FOR DEAL"
Britain and France back tax on financial transactions to support poor countries while Ethiopian plan would also impose levies on airline and shipping industries. By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor

In The Independent today:



THE BATTLE FOR BRITISH AIRWAYS
Loss-making airline warns of 'fight to the death' after unions vote for 12-day strike, wrecking Christmas travel plans for a million people. By Simon Calder, Travel Editor



DUBYA: THE SURREAL AFTERLIFE OF AN EX-PRESIDENT
What has the most unpopular US President of all time been doing during his first year of retirement? Telling bad jokes – and defending his reputation, discovers Alex Hannaford in Texas



SHORT CUT TO LITERATURE FOR iPOD GENDERATION
Website aims to rekindle interest in classic works by giants of European literature. By Jonathan Brown

In The Independent today:



RED FACES AS LATEST CLAIMS ARE REVEALED
Invoices for roof repairs and garlic peelers, and a paint job for a summerhouse. The latest Additional Costs Allowance details show maximum claims were the norm for MPs. By Nigel Morris and Michael Savage



COULD THE MANAGERESS SHATTER FOOTBALL'S GRASS CEILING?
After success with the England women's side, Hope Powell is now attracting interest from the men's game. By Cahal Milmo



THE INDEPENDENT'S CHARITY AUCTION OF THE YEAR
From tea with the queen of BritArt to a catwalk-side seat at London Fashion Week; from lunch with the editor to a night out with Pandora. There's a sensational selection of treats, treasures and unique experiences up for grabs in our annual charity sale. John Walsh wields his gavel and introduces the lots. Starts at noon.

In The Independent today:



PRE-BUDGET REPORT: PAIN POSTPONED
The Chancellor's electioneering budget yesterday put off difficult questions about cutting debt. Will it work? By Steve Richards


'ONLY 50/50' THAT 2°C COPENHAGEN CLIMATE TARGET WILL BE MET
Limiting the global temperature rise will require a huge effort By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, in Copenhagen



HAVE NO FEAR - BREAKTHROUGH OFFERS HOPE TO PHOBIA SUFFERERS
Scientists manage to block scary thoughts selectively – without the use of mind-altering drugs By Steve Connor, Science Editor

The estimable Tweetminster, with whom we are very friendly in this parish, have taken another step forward.

In a development, which rather unfortunately coincides with Google’s real time search (which is very impressive, but overwhelming in the tide of information it gives), Tweetminster have launched theior own search engine.

For those who don’t know, Tweetminster has been an information source based around the tweeting surrounding Westminster (the clue is in the name). Their avowed aim is to make politics more open and social.

Part of the problem with simply re-delivering information is that a lot of it is insidery (that is a word) and difficult to interpret if you aren’t in the Westminster loop. So they’ve moved it up a notch with Tweetminster Search – a sentiment search engine, designed to show how people feel about the issues of the day - as expressed through the thousands of messages posted to Twitter by politicians, news sources, journalists and the public. It’s still an insidery view, but its an interpreted insidery view, which is useful indeed.

It works in real time, shows what people think at the time, and tracks how their sentiment has changed over time.

So chuck in a search term and you get:

• The number of relevant tweets about the subject over time (frequency)

• How these tweets break down into positive, negative and neutral opinions (your actual sentiment)

• How many people have been reached through tweets about the topic/s

• The individuals with the most impact on the subject

• Plus lots of related information - associated terms and issues, links to relevant URLs and a location breakdown for where the terms are being discussed the most.

There’s all sorts of nuances to play with and its currently in beta so there’ll be more added, most to increase the ability to re-analyse data.

A joy for political geeks

In The Independent today:

'WE WON'T LET SCEPTICS HIJACK CLIMATE TALKS'
Global warming scientists join attack on email theft as Copenhagen summit begins. By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor in Copenhagen


HAS THE WEB REALLY BROUGHT US CLOSER TOGETHER?
Over the last 10 years, the internet has utterly transformed the world. But as we embrace this new-found connectedness, asks Johann Hari in the second of our essay series, are we losing our culture?



WINE-TASTING CLUB IS THE TOAST OF TOP INDEPENDENT GIRLS' SCHOOL
Out-of-school sessions designed to educate teens and curb binge drinking. By Richard Garner, Education Editor

Sports Illustrated (seem to) have produced this vision of how their content and the longed-for game-changing device for digital publishers, thought of as The Tablet for now. Looks nice, aside from the bored voiceover - and notable for the only time you'll get three quarters of the way through a Sports Illustrated piece of any kind before they mention 'the swimsuit issue'.

In The Independent today:

£850bn: OFFICIAL COST OF THE BANK BAILOUT
(and still RBS is demanding another £1.5bn in bonuses). By Andrew Grice, Political Editor


GOING HOME: ORPHANS OF THE GORILLA MASSACRE THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD
Two baby gorillas who survived a vicious attack in a Congo national park have made their first move back to the wild. By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent



ALISTAIR CAMPBELL: HE'S BACK
Labour closes the gap on the Tories in the polls. Gordon Brown is reinvented as a class warrior. David Cameron is given a hiding at PMQs. It can only mean one thing, says Andy McSmith

There's a time and a place to update your relationship status on Facebook, surely....

WARNING: DO NOT TAKE THIS PICTURE
Police warned over misuse of terror laws to stop innocent photographers. By Mark Hughes and Jerome Taylor



RBS BOARD MAY QUIT IF £1.5BN BONUS PLAN IS VETOED
State-owned bank in turmoil over government threat to pay-outs. By Nick Clark



ROBERT FISK: THIS STRATEGY HAS BEEN TRIED BEFORE - WITHOUT SUCCESS
Could I ever have imagined that a young black American president would do exactly what the Russians did in Afghanistan all those years ago?

I’ve blathered on before about a lack of enthusiasm for charging for news content and whether Mr Murdoch, in particular, would get away with it.

A report by Oliver and Ohlbaum (reported here by MediaGuardian) provides little succour, suggesting that few subscribers would pay much more than £2 a month -which won’t pay for much more than the guard dogs around the content.

But a heartening statistic did stand out – The Independent’s readers are the most likely to put their money with their mouth is. Twenty nine per cent of those who cited the Indy as their favourite news source would pay £2 a month for it (next up, The Guardian and Times at 26%, with The Sun at 15%).

Even better, 20% of you would pay a fiver a month (only 15% for the Guardian and Times – and a teensy 2% for the Sun).

So the sums don’t look great for News Corp, who publish the Sun and the Times, but what we’ve always said round here is true: The Independent has the most loyal, discerning and generous readers*.




*(not sure it’s a business model, mind)