The New Year got off to a violent start when two people were stabbed within a week of each other over the festive period.

A doorman at the Chicago rock bar in Sutton was stabbed in the arm and a 19-year-old man in Cheam was attacked with a sword raising fears about knife attacks in London .

Hundred-and-two-year-old Wallington resident Doris Hawkins brought back some festive spirit when she celebrated her birthday on New Year’s Eve.

Sutton’s visiting German Market was next to wade into the headlines when UKIP councillor David Pickles likened the event to World War invasions.

But business seemed unharmed by the unsettling comments, as customers increasingly moved away from processed turkey in favour of pretzels, Bavarian beer and Bratwurst.

Later in January Sutton residents were left wondering why it had taken two months for the union flag to fly above Sutton Council offices after the proposals were voted for by members.

A delighted Sutton Conservative opposition group branded the fiasco a “triumph of Kafkaesque bureaucracy’’.

The month ended with disqualified councillor Eleanor Pinfold vowing to make a return to town hall politics after a 12-month ban.

A standards board meeting in December ruled that she had disrespected police and council officers, had upset a police officer, referring to him only by his surname, and had accused council planning officers if racial bias.