DAN SHAUGHNESSY
Can’t trust them
Count me as a guy with zero faith in the immediate future of the New England Patriots.
Patriots 49, Bills 21
Patriots lock up top seed, home edge in AFC playoffs
jim davis/globe staff
The Buffalo Bills scored on their first three possessions, but the Patriots stormed back to claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Word
Twenty-what? Two thousand who?
Most of us have said “two thousand eleven,” not “twenty-eleven.” But 2012 may mark a tipping point, says Ben Zimmer.
exclusive monday preview | g cover
Are you ready for wellness coaching?
Increasing numbers of health care officials are recognizing the benefits of prescribing individual counseling to treat some conditions, including obesity and diabetes.
opinion
Control yourself by monitoring your bad habits
Even if you’ve tried a thousand ways to drop pounds, it’s doubtful that you have tried the Other Hand Diet, writes Gareth Cook.
Romney pits business background against rivals
Calling himself a “conservative businessman,” Mitt Romney today chided rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as career politicians.
Laden with baggage, Newt Gingrich tries to defy odds
As Gingrich seeks the GOP presidential nomination, he is fighting not just for the country’s future, as he often proclaims, but also against his past.
“Negative advertising is popular among campaign strategists because it works. So what it says about us is that we pay attention to it, even as we decry it.”
Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University political science professor
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
December wraps up as second-warmest on record
There has been no measurable snowfall in the area since late October, a rare stretch making for gleeful golfers and a dramatic change from last winter.
Business
Product Reviews
Getting the credit card you are due
As the economy improves and new credit card rules take effect, now is a good time to look at your choices.
Politics
Obama to escalate assault on Congress
President Obama plans to step up his offensive against Congress, concluding he cannot pass any major legislation in 2012 because of Republican hostility toward his agenda.
Nation & World
With bees dying off, a search for solutions takes on added urgency
Scientists are trying to find the cause of colony collapse disorder, the five-year-old phenomenon of worker bees suddenly disappearing
Sports
Celtics 94, Wizards 86
Celtics win second straight, first on road
Kevin Garnett finished with 24 points and nine rebounds as the Celtics defeated the Washington Wizards tonight.
Arts
As Boston museums surge, galleries struggle to keep up
Contemporary art is surging in Boston. So why is the gallery scene here so often overlooked? Commercial galleries are struggling in a weak economy and in a city that has not been viewed as supportive.
Travel
In 2012, the best place to . . .
It’s the little things that matter, so resolve to make the most of them in 2012 - starting with our micro sampler of random hot spots around the world.
Books
‘Pity the Billionaire: The Hard Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right’ by Thomas Frank
It’s a mordant study of how the right deflected blame for economic calamity and turned it to its own advantage.
Opinion
“History not only demonstrates that candidates are strengthened by primaries, it also reveals that there is no such thing as an ‘unelectable’ nominee.
John E. Sununu
Ideas
“Recent years have seen an explosion of interest and creativity in the realm of data-driven soothsaying, and some in the field predict—well, they think—that they are on the cusp of something big.”
Leon Neyfakh, on the future of prediction