Dear Reader,

To all those who have followed the Financial Times coverage in print and online, I would like to offer a hearty thanks and a promise for 2009.

In the coming 12 months, the Financial Times will renew its efforts to cover the major business, financial and political developments with authority, judgement and imagination. Make no mistake: next year will be just as challenging as 2008.

This year has been a tumultuous year for news: the most serious financial crisis since the Great Crash of 1929; a roller-coaster ride for commodity and energy prices; and the election of the first African-American, Barack Obama, to the White House.

Much of the developed world will be in recession, but all eyes will be on the US. How will the incoming Obama administration fare as it seeks to turn around an economy facing its most serious challenge in a generation, if not since the Great Depression? And how will China respond to its own slowdown, which threatens the ruling elite’s historic project of urbanisation? How will commodity prices react? And will the Asian and Middle East countries be seized with the same worries about food security which struck in 2008?

Turning to geo-political trends, the FT will be watching events in the Middle East closely. Can Iran be pressured or persuaded to abandon its nuclear ambitions? What will be the outcome of the Israeli general election and the impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? In Europe, energy and environmental issues will weigh heavily, shaped in part by relations with Russia. And what prospects for a revival of the Lisbon treaty which is seen by Brussels as vital for an efficient European Union with its 27 members?

For business, too, 2009 will prove testing. The FT will be paying special attention to those nimble and resourceful enough to exploit a challenging environment, whether in banking, manufacturing or technology. For 2009 will be about winners as well as losers in a challenging economic environment. We will be alert to the threat of a regulatory backlash as well as the threat to competition posed by the likely increased government role in the economy.

And, above all, we will continue to give our global audience the global view.

Thank you again for your support.

Lionel Barber