AND so here we are at the very end of 2007!
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FIRST, we thank our hundreds of regular readers who make writing Column One a true pleasure. Without your support, your ideas, quips, cranks and on occasion grumbles and niggles your columnist’s life would be dire indeed.
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THE Column began at the tail-end of 1995 and through the past 11 years, we’ve acquired a core of faithful readers. Some have been among our champion Quizzers – to pluck out one or two names would be unfair. Suffice it to say that our contributors and Quizzers hail from every likely – and wildly unlikely – nook and cranny on our globe.
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WE never cease to be delighted by the arrival of e-mails from Lima, Peru; from Tokyo and Beijing; from students in a host of US cities, and Papua New Guineans studying in the UK. Then there’s our loyal brigade in New Zealand, our Indian friends, a professor of mathematics in South Korea, and Aussies from Yamba and Brisbane and Canberra and everywhere else bar the Black Stump.
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THERE’S a small bunch of dissolute Scotsmen, a scattering of Scandinavians; a couple of regular Poles, some Belgians, an Argentinean or two and a brace of Africans from a variety of countries on that continent.
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AS for our PNG readers – you come from every province and just about every occupation. We have professionals from the public and private sectors, a judge or two, a brace of assorted mining and oil executives, teachers, students, secretaries – and from time to time, politicians, ranging from the contented to the irritated.
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ALL in all, we’re an international bunch – and one held together by fun and a love of PNG. The Quiz has always been without prizes and we’ve met – and that by accident – no more than a handful of our correspondents. But we feel we know you very well indeed.
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AND so we wish you all an unforgettable New Year 2008, filled with all you most desire. We’ll join you on Wednesday – and we’ve some bright new ideas to keep you on the ball in the months ahead. Happy New Year!

– Dee Nesenolis