What will 2013 be remembered for?

We asked our columnists this question and here's what they had to say

Sunday 29 December 2013 10:42 EST

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Grace Dent: Gay marriage, the rise and rise of Twitter, Miley Cyrus bent forwards with her tongue lolling out, porn-filters, Russell Brand's revolution, and an all-new chilled out Pope.

Jane Merrick: The death of two icons of the 20th Century - Thatcher and Mandela. Even though the last century ended 13 years ago, it felt like the door closing on another era.

Archie Bland: Boring answer, but the death of Nelson Mandela, the last universal hero.

Lisa Markwell: The year of selfishness – from the shallow obsession with ‘selfies’ to the more corrosive “I’m all right, I don’t care about you” attitude that has become widespread. Austerity has led to socially inclusive policies becoming unfashionable.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The year the Tories began to slowly strangle the welfare state and the Lib Dems did nothing to save it.

John Rentoul: Probably for the end of the recession.

Andreas Whittam Smith: For the outbreak of a civil war within Islam - Sunni versus Shia.

Ellen E Jones: Twerking, unfortunately.

Stefano Hatfield: The deaths of Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher and my personal heroes Peter O’Toole, James Gandolfini and Lou Reed; the terrible disaster in the Philippines; the scandalous deadlock in American politics; Sir Alex Ferguson winning that final title and retiring, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, Twitter becoming a mainstream medium, the gorgeous summer, the ubiquitous Olivia Colman, and – sadly – Miley Cyrus.

Owen Jones: Probably Get Lucky by Daft Punk? As well as an economic crisis grinding on five years after Lehman Brothers went kaput, North Korea's ruling thugs being as unpleasant as ever, Miley Cyrus twerking, selfies, and Tom Daley sharing his love with the world and giving bigotry a kicking in the process.