Opinion: top in 2008

It probably says something (though I don't know what) about our visual medium that the most viewed pieces in the Opinion section of the website this year were cartoons - The Daily Cartoon and Tim Sanders News Cartoon. In more prosaic reality, it just shows the value of pages that last 12 months on the web and are updated very day.

The more traditional prose items we ran on the opinion pages were topped by a piece that got huge traction in America - Dominic Lawson's question Why should anyone trust Joe Biden?, with his view that Joe Biden might be a less than impressive figure, not least for plagiarising Neil Kinnock.

Mr Lawson didn't spare the Democrats either in his view that Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis

A column that Johann Hari says he seriously considered not writing about the right and strength needed to hold up religious beliefs to examination, and especially Islam - We need to stop being such cowards about Islam - had a considerable impact.

Robert Fisk's piece on The tragic last moments of Margaret Hassan caused much disquiet, not least to Mr Fisk who knew Margaret Hassan. It is a truly harrowing piece, and there was some discussion about whether it should be run, but it is a remarkable insight into a horrifying situation.

Mr Fisk's dissection of the US role in Iraq and how Obama has to pay for eight years of Bush's delusions. Yasmin Alibhia-Brown also looked upon the president-elect, but her issue was Calling Obama black is an insult to his mother. Earlier in the election process, Sarah Churchill made a rather doomed plea to Obama's Democratic rival - Hang in there, Hillary. It's too soon to quit.

And the last in our most read opinion pieces this year concerned perhaps the biggest single event of the year - the Beijing Olympics, asking On the brink of historic change, but will China see the light?

The top ten most viewed in Opinion in 2008

1. The Daily Cartoon
2. The News Cartoon
3. Dominic Lawson: Why should anyone trust Joe Biden?
4. Johann Hari: We need to stop being such cowards about Islam
5. Robert Fisk: The tragic last moments of Margaret Hassan
6. Robert Fisk : Obama has to pay for eight years of Bush's delusions
7. On the brink of historic change, but will China see the light?
8. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Calling Obama black is an insult to his mother
9. Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis
10. Sarah Churchill: Hang on in there Hillary, it's too soon to quit