If you are an optimist, you will be waiting excitedly to see the new year in. If you are a pessimist, you will be waiting nervously to make sure the old year disappears. Either way, the odds are that you will be making a resolution or two.
We have all made resolutions and broken them before the Christmas decorations have been taken down. There is one indisputable truth - 99.99 per cent of resolutions have about as much chance of changing our lives as Osama bin Laden has of being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Look at the evidence. According to research by a reliable source (me), the 10 most popular resolutions are to lose weight, cut alcohol consumption, quit smoking, exercise more, get a new job, reduce debts, be more environmentally friendly, relax more, take up a hobby and generally be nicer to everybody.
They aren't working.
The diet pledge is the funniest. The Western world has never been so obese. Have you been to the United States recently? It is like walking around the set of the Teletubbies. Of the US population of 305 million, 64 per cent are classed as overweight or obese. That figure is expected to rise to 75 per cent by 2015. Americans are clearly making weight-loss resolutions in between scoffing supersized Big Macs with fries.
As for cutting down on alcohol, binge drinking is now almost a way of life in many countries, particularly during the festive season when some people get so drunk that they even kiss their wives and husbands.
