It IS the season of goodwill, so let me fill this column with bonhomie — even in the direction of Tesco, whose proposal to take over the ground floor of Helmsley Town Hall I wrote about last month.

Helmsley has been in uproar since then, and we are assured that there will be no further talks between the town hall and Tesco for the time being.

Meanwhile, the supermarket chain has withdrawn plans for a big new store in Scarborough, has gone quiet on its proposals for Kirkbymoorside and Malton, and is battling opposition in Easingwold.

Once regarded as a beacon of British business success, Tesco has seen profits fall as it loses market share to Aldi and Lidl at one end of the spectrum and Waitrose at the other. It has responded by opening more and more of its smaller Tesco Extra outlets — and has met fiercely hostile responses right across the country.

So I wish its senior executives a restful break, and I hope they return to work with a fresh strategy that will win back customers on the strength of quality, choice and price, but without trying to cannibalise the commercial heart out of market towns like ours.

Next, a greeting to fellow members of Thirsk and Malton Conservative Association, who have the task ahead of voting whether to de-select the sitting MP, Anne McIntosh, as their candidate for the 2015 General Election.

As the Gazette & Herald’s letters column shows week after week, this is a hugely divisive argument which Conservative Party headquarters in London has done its utmost to suppress — with the result that many voting members are still in the dark as to what it is all about.

But as I wrote in February, in one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, the outcome of the de-selection process is highly likely to determine who will be our MP in the next parliament. So the members carry a responsibility on behalf of everyone in the district, and they should demand to know both sides of the argument before they return their ballot papers.

Third, a cheery wave to everyone who works in the NHS. Having just spent a week in the Friarage, at Northallerton, with appendicitis, I had a vivid glimpse of some of the issues that have lately drawn criticism in the national media — the shortage of scanners and weekend staff, for example, which in my case meant a 60-hour wait for a final diagnosis.

But what I also saw was how hard nurses and healthcare assistants work within a system that is so short of resources and so bound by bureaucracy; I did not see anyone, from consultant surgeon to catering assistant, who was not doing his or her personal best, and I saw remarkable examples of empathy and kindness. So I salute them all, and I thank them for what they do.

And finally, to the Gazette & Herald’s readers — whatever we may disagree about in 2014 — a very happy and healthy New Year to you all.