Last year was a long one, literally. It was 366 days and one second long, to be precise. We launched Touchpoint on a leap day, 29th February (see our newsletter archive), exploring the custom that women traditionally propose to men on this day (I later discovered that a friend did just that and is now married!). But not content with being a day longer, 2008 was also a second longer than a typical leap year, with the addition of a "leap second*". (Only leap year 1972 was longer, when a second was added in both June and December.)

All this goes to underline the arbitrary nature of our time-keeping. There isn't really anything special about the change from 2008 to 2009, other than the earth has completed one more rotation around its star. No matter, such is the nature of human existence. Turn this celestial punctuation to your advantage. Bury whatever you like with the label "2008". Refresh your life or your brand with the New Year. The label sounds similar, but it's a new, updated, fresh product straight off the line. Predictions may be all doom and gloom for 2009, but the year will be what you make of it. There will be winners and losers, like in any other year of whatever length. Resolve to make it a winning year for you.

Happy New Year!

Nigel Penn-Simkins 0118 951 9450

*A leap day is added to adjust for the fact the earth takes about 365.24 Days to orbit the sun. In contrast, a leap second is added to adjust for the fact the earth's rotation is slowing, due to tidal friction, by about 1.7ms per century. (Although strangely, the earth has sped up since 2000, for unknown reasons, and thus fewer leap seconds have been needed this century.)