So as the countdown to Christmas begins, as we rush around in a mad frenzy pushing our way through shopping crowds and as we anticipate the day that Santa Claus squeezes his way down the chimney, or through the cat door, it's time to reflect on those who've done their best to represent us in Parliament's bear pit over the past year.

It's a brutal arena and it's seen many crumble under the vitriol. It's the nature of our style of knock 'em down and drag 'em out politics that doesn't leave a great deal of room for prisoners.

But one politician, who's been an inmate longer than any of them shows no sign of taking his foot off the pedal anytime soon, is Luigi Peters who outside the bear pit is unfailingly polite but inside is a grizzler. But at 70 he's a prizefighting pensioner and he deserves credit for what he's achieved this year.

When he put up his hand for the blue ribbon Northland seat, few gave him a chance of breaking their hold on it. The win potentially puts his party in a much more powerful position than it was as a list only party. If he can hold on to the almost nine percent of the electorate he secured at the last election and keep his seat, The Greens could once again find themselves on the outside looking in.

The other politician who's played a shrewd game this year year is Labour's Andrew Little, even though he's made little difference in the party's poll rating, he's made a lot of difference to the party itself. They're now more unified than they've been since Helen Clark lost to Key seven years ago. Next year he's got to deliver, to come up with policy that can convince the public they're ready to tackle the Treasury benches.

Firmly occupying that place at the end of the year though is John Key whose Teflon coating shows little sign of wear, despite a questionable year. Pony tail pulling and initially refusing to back down from accusing his opponents of backing murderers and rapists would have had a lesser leader on the ropes. But Key ends the year as the undisputed political leader, frustrating his detractors but impressing those on the international cocktail circuit, like his old buddy Barak Obama and the ocker shocker Malcolm Turnbull.

The other leader who's managed to become a blip on the political radar screen is Act's David Seymour who's done something that few other politicians have ever done, refused a seat in Cabinet, saying he wants to concentrate on his euthanasia bill and rebuild his party.

The latter definitely needs a lot of work, with the latest opinion poll giving Act a rating of half a percent.