AS you'd expect, it's been a pretty quiet week in the world of politics, so let's take a look back at what's been a tumultuous year in Wales, the UK and across the world.

The first few months of the year were spent building up to May's Assembly election, which saw Carwyn Jones and his Labour colleagues down just one seat and, despite being two short of a majority, clinging onto power.

But that one loss was not insignificant, with former minister Leighton Andrews, who seemed as much as a permanent fixture of the Senedd as the groups of tourists sitting on the steps in front eating their lunch, losing the Rhondda seat he had held since 2003 to Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood.

And this wasn't the only big change in the Senedd.

May saw no less than seven Ukippers elected to the Assembly, including former Conservative MP and quiz show contestant Neil Hamilton.

But this was nothing compared with what was coming.

Ukip and its omnipresent sometime-leader Nigel Farage have rarely been far from the headlines over the past couple of years, and never more so than during the lead-up to the long-promised referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.

Although it became increasingly clear the vote was going to be closer than anyone could have anticipated, the Leave campaign was surely the underdog. Even Mr Farage himself seeming resigned to lose when he made what was essentially an "Oh well, we tried", speech as polls closed.

So it was a bit of a shock to see him make a very different speech just six hours later when it became clear the Leave campaign was going to win.

What followed was weeks of confusion as it was revealed the UK Government had no plan for this eventuality, most of the promises made by the Leave campaign were very quickly revealed to not be worth the paper - or, in this case, bus -they were written on, David Cameron quit in disgrace and Boris Johnson, surely his heir apparent, announced he would not put his name forward to replace him, presumably sensibly having absolutely no desire to attempt to take control of a ship veering wildly out of control.

In this light it's hard not to feel a bit sorry for Theresa May, who was eventually handed the keys to Number 10.

In the midst of the madness the most powerful country in the world was gearing up for a little election of its own, which saw Hilary Clinton, long tipped to be the first-ever woman President take on reality TV show presenter and fake tan enthusiast Donald Trump.

While just a few months earlier the idea of Mr Trump beating the former first lady was almost laughable, sure enough 2016 had even more surprises in store and he pulled off a shock upset.

Needless to say political hacks such as yours truly have had a busy old year. I haven't even mentioned the Labour leadership contest, which saw Jeremy Corbyn, as unpopular with his MPs as he is adored by the party membership, cling onto power.

Although at first glance 2017 doesn't look like it will be quite as eventful, with May's council elections the only big mark on the calendar, if this year has proven anything it's that we have no idea what's just around the corner.

See you there.