That is it from me, Martin Belam. We will be closing this live blog shortly. Thank you for joining me to see in the new year, and again I wish you all the very best for a happy and more peaceful 2024.
Details of the archbishop of Canterbury’s new year message have been released, with Justin Welby asking people to “seek to make peace” in 2024.
In a message to be broadcast on New Year’s Day, the archbishop says:
Wars seem everywhere at the moment. Wars we know about, wars forgotten.
I’ve seen for myself the ongoing human cost of war. In Ukraine I went to Bucha where evidence of atrocities was found. I’ve meet Ukrainian refugees, most recently in Georgia and Romania: families having to start again in a new country.
I’ve met refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh after they left their homes because of conflict. And in Jerusalem last October I sat and listened to some of those traumatised by war, Palestinian and Israeli.
Jesus Christ tells us to stand with those suffering because of war, and to seek to make peace.
