That’s your ignorance that will be on parade unless you can answer a respectable number of the following questions about 2011. But then, if you do know any answers, then you should seriously contemplate a change of lifestyle. Such as getting one.

1. Who put a US Congresswoman in the crosshairs before she was shot in the head in January?

2. Which country went to court in January to obtain access to the personal messages of an MP in Iceland?

3. Two football commentators in England lost their television jobs in January for making comments about an assistant referee that were described as unacceptable and inexcusable. What did they say?

4. The 5-star Sheraton hotel in Shenyang, Liaoning, China, was destroyed by fire in February. What caused the fire and why didn’t they put it out?

5. In the middle of mass protests in Egypt, with over 800 deaths, indiscriminate attacks on local and domestic media and attempts by the government to shut down all communications, who decided in February to call then President Hosni Mubarak a “peacemaker” whose “contribution to peace would never be forgotten”?

6. Which country threatened in February to boycott the 2012 London Olympic Games because it claimed the official logo represents the word ‘Zion’?

7. Which country’s Prime Minister in March registered gifts from Bono of tickets to a rock concert and an i-Pod?

8. Which country’s parliament voted in March to impeach its ombudsman for failing to investigate corruption charges against a former president?

9. In its largest overseas operation in recent history, which country successfully repatriated 35,860 of its citizens in March? And from where?

10. In April, French military aircraft were used in two African countries to attack one side in an internal political conflict. One country was Libya; what was the other?

11. Which country in April ordered all households and organizations to report all computers, mobile phones and other IT gadgets that they own in order to control access to news about demonstrations in the Middle East?

12. A member of which country’s royal family declined an invitation to a wedding in April? And why was his absence welcome?

13. In which international event were representatives from Trinidad, Brazil, Paraguay and Thailand accused in May of corruption?

14. Four people were injured and a store window was smashed in a fight in Beijing in May. What caused the commotion?

15. A woman was arrested in May on a train travelling from California to Washington State for using her mobile phone. Why was this an offence?

16. Where did the daughter of a former president imprisoned for corruption and organizing death squads lose a presidential election in June to an ex-soldier accused of human rights abuses, who once rebelled against her father?
17. A Democratic Congressman for New York resigned from the House of Representatives in June after sending photographs to women and then lying about it. What did the photographs show?

18. Which country issued a health warning in June when temperatures rose to 33 degrees, limiting outdoor activities in schools and issuing ice packs to the elderly?

19. The Health Minister of which Asian country was condemned in July for comments that homosexuality is a disease which came from other countries but is now spreading fast?

20. What disappeared one Sunday in July with the message ‘Thank you and goodbye’?

21. It was announced in July that the annual German Quadriga award for those whose ‘commitment builds bridges’ would not be presented in 2011 after this year’s nomination was heavily criticized. Who was going to get the award?

22. Where did an anti-government protestor refuse to leave jail in August after mass demonstrations had forced the police to decide to release him?

23. Where did 200 unpaid employees go on strike in August against mostly bankrupt employers, causing disappointment to thousands?

24. In an emergency measure, the entire US Second Fleet was ordered to leave its home port in August. What caused this evacuation?

25. Which former president, accused of corruption in 1995, asked in September for his trial to be postponed because he is too old to remember anything?

26. Which visitor to New Zealand was returned home in September after a 3-month stay which involved a surgical operation?

27. According to wiretaps published by a court in September, which Prime Minister boasted of having a queue of eleven women outside his bedroom but could only do eight?

28. Something happened to one of the three winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine before the prize was announced in October, which created a problem for the Nobel Foundation. What happened?

29. Where was an exchange arranged in October at the rate of one thousand and twenty-seven to one?

30. What arrived in Hong Kong in October, only 3 years later than expected?

31. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in comments in a private conversation with US President Barack Obama which were caught on a live microphone in November, called someone a liar. Who was it?
32. What did 45,000 people do for over 8 hours in New York on a November Sunday, helped by 130 music bands?

33. An 80-year-old Indian passenger on a plane waiting to leave New York in November was searched in his seat and had his jacket and shoes taken away because security staff had not checked him before he boarded the plane. Why hadn’t he been checked?

34. Belgium got something on 6 December that it hadn’t had for 541 days, setting a new world record. What had been missing?

35. The head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, responsible for safety in the skies, suddenly resigned from his position in December. Why?

36. 25 trucks sounding their horns crossed an international border at dawn one Sunday in December, ending 9 years of what?