As we reminisce on what was a turbulent 12 months, we can take some comfort in the familiarity of much of what unfolded – or rather remained stubbornly unmoved.

Having had a look at last year's review of 2020, the recurring issues mentioned were some classics.

The much-trumpeted multi-billion pound London Resort had, by the end of 2020, still not seen a stone at the proposed site on the Swanscombe Peninsula turned over in terms of construction.

Well, guess what, 12 months later, the diggers are still conspicuous by their absence. But as least we had some new artists' impressions of what it could look like.

But there has been some movement. Firstly, plans were, finally, submitted to the Planning Inspectorate earlier this year.

However, as is proving a growing trend with this project, the six-month review of the plans – due to commence in September – have now been pushed back to April.

Those leading the project insist it will materialise...eventually. We can only hope the queues for the rides, if and when it finally opens, move quicker than the proposals are taking from getting off the drawing board and into reality.

Another recurring classic is that of Manston Airport, which started the year as a make-shift lorry park, and its perennial 'will it, won't it, take off again' debate.

Well, after being given the OK in 2020, the decision was then quashed in the High Court in February, ruling the transport secretary's previous decision to allow the Thanet site to reopen as a freight air hub does not possess adequate justification.

Which means the whole issue is being examined by the Planning Inspectorate again. And, quelle surprise, the consultation into that has been delayed, so we enter 2022 no nearer knowing what its future will be.

However, giving the nod to an airport in this era of cutting emissions is going to be a tricky one to justify – as highlighted in a report by a government-appointed investigator. But we'll see.

As for the Lower Thames Crossing near Gravesend? Well that's still on track...but work isn't due to start on that until 2024, so its place in future annual reviews seems assured. Where would we be without these long-running sagas eh?

The summer may not have quite delivered on its promise of unrelenting sun (typical, as many of us opted to holiday on these fair isles due to Covid), but it did deliver plenty of bright spots.

England's success in the Euro 2020 tournament (which will confound all in the future, given it took place in 2021) was unprecedented for more than 50 years as Gareth Southgate's men actually reached the final.

The team's success sparked a huge level of excitement and the likes of Dreamland in Margate was rammed as it broadcast the games on the big screen.

Mind you, let's just say the enthusiasm of many got the better of them as goals were celebrated with up-turned tables and rather chaotic screens as England beat the old foe of Germany.

It resulted in plans to show the quarter-final against Ukraine being axed.

But they were back in place – with some rather more stringent security measures in place – to watch England lose on the inevitable penalties to Italy.

In typical England fashion though, the week following the team's remarkable run was almost entirely consumed by the vile racist abuse several of the team received after they missed their penalties.

It took the gloss off an otherwise memorable tournament.

Prior to the summer, tragedy gripped the nation with the death of Sarah Everard.

With the nation still under lockdown, the 33-year-old marketing executive had been walking home from a friend's house in south London in March when she was approached by Wayne Couzens – then a serving member of the Met Police's elite diplomatic protection unit, who lived in Deal.

He had stopped her using his warrant card and performed an 'arrest' quoting coronavirus rules.

She stood no chance. Kidnapped, raped and murdered, her remains were found in woodland near an abandoned golf complex in Great Chart, near Ashford.

Her death – once again exposing the vulnerability of women on Britain's streets – sparked heated debate and an outpouring of sorrow.

As the year drew on, the far-reaching debate, which included attitudes to women among many men and the suitability of police officers – far from resolved – fell from the spotlight.

Couzens, on the other hand, eventually pleaded guilty to her murder.

In September he was sentenced to a rare whole-life term behind bars - meaning he will never be released.

He has said he intends to appeal the sentence.

No sooner had we come to terms with Sarah's death, another brutal killing saw Kent once again under the spotlight.

This time it was PCSO Julia James, 53, found dead in woodland in Snowdown, between Canterbury and Dover, with 'significant head injuries' in April. She had been out walking her dog.

She had worked with the domestic violence unit at Canterbury police station.

A 21-year-old man is due in court in May charged with her murder – he is pleading not guilty.

After a 34-year wait for justice, the families of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, victims of the so-called 'Bedsit Murders' in Tunbridge Wells in 1987, saw the man responsible admit his guilt.

David Fuller, 67, from Heathfield in Sussex, admitted not only killing the pair but sexually abusing more than 100 bodies in the mortuaries of the Kent & Sussex Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.

His sickening crimes prompted a review into how, as an electrician, he'd been able to gain access to the bodies, crimes against which he had recorded at his home and were seized by police following his arrest.

He was sentenced in December and will spend the rest of his life in jail.

Talking of hospitals, the East Kent Hospitals University Trust – which runs three of Kent's biggest hospitals in Canterbury, Margate and Ashford – had another torrid year.

In April, it pleaded guilty to the unsafe care and treatment of a baby which resulted in his tragic death.

Harry Richford died following a traumatic birth involving a catalogue of failures by medics at the QEQM Hospital in Margate in November 2017.

A month earlier it had paid back £2.36m to a regulator after falsely claiming it had met all safety standards in its maternity services.

And in November, it was revealed the death of two young mums could have been caused by the same surgeon who performed caesarian births on both.

The trust's CEO, Susan Acott, announced in September she would step down in spring 2022, after four years in the job.

Tributes poured in for four young men killed in a car crash as they travelled to watch boxer Tyson Fury's heavyweight bout on TV when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a tree in Headcorn.

Only one passenger, teenager Jerry Cash, survived and remains in hospital.

Tomorrow: Read our third and final take on the events of 2021