It was the year when US president Donald Trump continued to divide international opinion and the year when Theresa May continued to survive as Prime Minister in a way that Houdini would surely have admired.
A year when climate scientists warned it was now or never to save the planet and a year when Brexit, and all the confusion surrounding it, increasingly dominated the national news agenda.
National and international pictures of the year
Welcome to 2018 – a year when, despite the ever onward march of technology and human capability, thousands of British families – including the working poor – remained dependent on foodbanks while reports warned that a million Scots live in “Dickensian” poverty – including 230,000 children.
A year when 383 million football fans from around the world took to Facebook to cheer on their favourite teams through 2.3 billion posts during the Russia World Cup.
And a year when, 100 years on from the end of the First World War, we remembered the millions of people who made the ultimate sacrifice.
From Honduran asylum seekers detained near the US-Mexico border, to poppies being laid ahead of Armistice Day, it’s often said that a great picture is worth a thousand words, and the year gone by was no exception with thousands of images from home and abroad capturing a moment that told a story.
