There's a reason why the maxim "a week is a long time in politics" caught on: it's true.
From NHS data sharing, bullish Tory backbenchers and a lobbying scandal, this is our pictoral guide to anything you may have missed over the last seven days.
Christmas came early for the children of MPs and parliamentary staff at a festive Westminster gathering. Most notably, Ed Balls made the papers by dressing (once again) as Santa and George Osborne allowed himself to be photographed with what we believe to be a Power Ranger.
After starting the week promising a shake-up of life sciences regulation to boost the industry in Britain, the PM jetted off to Brussels where he made headlines across the globe by vetoing a proposed treaty.
It wasn't so quiet on the home front for Cameron either, with the small matter of a lobbying scandal and backbench tensions over Europe.
Meanwhile Labour leader Ed Miliband and David Cameron both unveiled their Christmas cards, with the prime minister going for a markedly less traditional card than the opposition leader.
Overseas, the run-up to the 2012 elections continued with our colleagues in the US documenting the race to gain the GOP nomination.