2012 is right around the corner. So we've gathered some strange bedfellows to talk about the year that was in politics. We'll talk about the highs and lows and what we can expect ahead.

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Today's guest host was Piya Chattopadhyay.

Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Friday, December 30th.

Thousands of despondent North Koreans fill the streets of their cities in a display of inconsolable grief and weeping.

However, when told Kim Jong-il was dead, most cheered right up.

This is The Current.

Year-end panel on politics

It's the time of year when Canadians look back and try to make sense of it all. We aired a few of the political moments to remember from 2011. A survey of newsrooms across the country named the Conservative majority as story of the year . We heard Stephen Harper on election night last May, followed by Michael Ignatieff announcing his departure as Federal Liberal leader. And finally that was Jack Layton on the night the NDP became the official opposition, and then news on the night Canadians mourned his death.

By any measure this was a historic year, both at home and around the world. To help us look back on 2011 we were joined by Olivia Chow, the NDP member of parliament from the Toronto Riding of Trinity-Spadina. Dean Del Mastro is the Conservative MP for Peterborough, Ontario riding and he is also the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. And Scott Brison is the Liberal member from Kings-Hants, Nova Scotia and is the Liberal Party Critic for Finance and National Revenue.

Other segments from today's show:

• After the Storm (Documentary Repeat)
• Beerology