So 2006 shapes up as the year of ends, and for the most part the end of things that we would rather continue, and things continuing that we would rather see end.

• Shane Warne calls it quits on Australian international cricket, domestic cricket etc.;
• Glen McGrath too announces he will retire;
  
• Ian Thorpe retires from competition;
• Michael Schumacher also retires. Competition in F1 racing resumes;
• Andre Agassi calls it a day. Everyone is still wondering why he married Steffi Graf;
• Thankfully Damien Martyn ends his cricketing career as well;
• Arrested Development sadly comes to an end;
• Commander in Chief, after a single season, is given the boot;
• Republican majority in the Senate comes to an end after so many years of hellish rule when they lose the 2006 General Elections;
• Donald Rumsfeld resigns from his post as Defense Secretary. We are all still waiting for Dick Cheney to invite him, and not just his career, hunting;
• Ariel Sharon's tenure as Prime Minister comes to an end;
• YouTube, as a unique, individual and non-corporate 'entity', ends upon being bought by Google;
• John Bolton's short-lived position as American representative to the United Nations;
• Steve Irwin, Peter Brock, Richard Carleton, Milton Friedman, Augusto Pinochet, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Slobodan Milošević all ended;
• Silvio Berlusconi is ousted, by the voters, as Italian Prime Minister (though doesn't seem to get the hint and still wants back in);
• Mark Foley's political career, well, effectively his life comes to an end. If it's not bad enough that he was a pedophile, but he was a gay Republican! It's not a good year for the G.O.P. is it?;
• The end of the world (according the The Bible Code, which is of course as reputable a source of predictions for the future of the world as the horoscopes and tarot readers, and certainly not based on circumstantial and flimsy evidence whatsoever);
• The last active battleships in the world, part of the United States' navy, is scratched;
• God's grip on the U.S. House of Representatives comes to an end as a black muslim, Keith Ellison, is elected. Republican are encouraged to attend the KKK's Washington protests;
• Bob Barker retires. He features in the next episode of The Price is Right as part of the end prize showcase;
• Common sense came to an end as very few people were able to accurately report, read, pick up a paper or do any research on what Pope Benedict XVI really said about Islam in his lecture;
• At common sense's funeral, a fitting reminder of how abused it was in its life and use in society was brought up as no one was able to see the true meaning behind John Kerry's comments of:

"Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.";

• N.S.W. dominance of the N.R.L. comes to an end after 98 years with out one N.S.W. team makes the final;
• Serbia and Montenegro files for divorce, thus ending the union of the countries;
• The end of the Fox Footy Channel ... wait, you didn't notice that it was missing did you?;
• Pluto's status as a a planet comes to an end as it is demoted to 'dwarf status'. The Union of 'Little People', calling for equal rights, is still fighting on its behalf;
• The Israel/Lebanon conflict starts ... then ends ... then goes back to normal (that being unofficially started);
• B.B.C.'s Top of the Pops comes to an end after 42 years of broadcast. Not since The Beatles
• The Transatlantic Aircraft Terrorist Plot doesn't even get off the ground (no pun intended ... of course there was a pun intended! It took me ten minutes to think of it!);
• Military commissions that are trying detainees at Guantanamo Bay should have come to an end after they are found illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court. But who's going to stop them?

have they shown a popular home-grown musician or group;

Next, a look at 2006's delivery of movies and television shows. What was good? What was good? What was even on? Luckily I was on the pulse (well, on the chair in front of the T.V. for all hours of the day and night) and can give you an unbiased and opinion-free summary of what happened. And if you believed that then you need help. Help I can provide for a low low fee ...

Thomas.