If there is one hotspot in the world that can be described as ‘the region of the year’, it has to be the Middle East for 2011.

The tumultuous year began with Zine El Abidine ben Ali fleeing Tunisia, followed by the forced resignation of Hosni Mubarak, who became president of Egypt when I was still a primary school kid back in 1981. Who would have thought the iron man would end up behind bars a year ago today?