I am sure like me you want it to be a year in which loved ones remain happy and healthy. That’s a hope we can all share for the next twelve months.

Some of course will have other wishes. The safe arrival of a new baby, a new job, a new home. Maybe a new hobby or just hoping that the children make the progress at school you hope they can achieve.

A new year brings hope. I think we should all embrace it.

Of course, it looks like the COVID-19 threat will remain with us through early 2022 at least. People are weary. We all crave a resumption of the things we once took for granted, to consign the face masks to the dustbin of the past. To feel safe again, without threat nagging concern of contracting or passing on the latest strain of coronavirus.

So 2022 is going to be like every other year. With challenges. But our response is to embrace the challenges and work to overcome them. To cling to hope.

Politically I have several issues I hope we can make real progress on.

The Northern Ireland Protocol – let us hope the disruption and distortion caused by this ludicrous system is ended and our full place in the UK restored.

With an Assembly election due in the Spring, my hope is that Unionism can unite and work together to ensure the maximum number of Unionist representatives are returned to Stormont.

I hope too we can change hearts and minds on the issue of the unborn child. We ended 2021 with the Northern Ireland Assembly approving the right to an abortion at full term on the grounds of disability. Let us hope that in 2022 those MLAs who backed this see the error of their ways, that they learn to respect life and disability, and change this terrible law to better reflect the life affirming will of the majority in Northern Ireland.

My last hope is that respect and tolerance is more evident in public discourse. For example, the Online Harms Bill, an issue I am working on for some time, must address the cesspit of vile online abuse and harm. Likewise, we must learn to respect difference of opinion. Those who claim to be liberal seem intent on ostracising those who hold a different opinion to them, shutting down debate. I hope 2022 can be the year where they willingly engage in respectful debate, from which there is nothing to fear.

Those are just some of my hopes for 2022. I know you will have many, and I wish you and your loved one’s health and happiness as you pursue them. Happy New Year one and all.