• Our end-of-year double issue is a long-established Economist tradition. Every December we publish a collection of “Christmas specials”—pieces that allow my talented colleagues to stray from the news agenda and write about other events, people, animals and places that have captured their attention. The topics vary wildly—this year’s include wine, tractors and gay penguins—but they are always a great read.
• We have also published a leader naming our country of the year—something we first did in 2013. The editorial discussion behind that piece spawned another, on how to detoxify the politics of migration. Our take: doom-mongers on both the left and the right are wrong.
• There will be no print edition next week but we’ll continue to publish online and in our app every day—and send you our newsletters. If you subscribe to The Economist, I’d like to thank you for your support this year. Happy reading.

Edited By
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Editor-in-chief