For some people, last year finished on what could rather charitably be called a somewhat selfish note.

A look through some pages of today’s Telegraph & Argus sadly reveals several examples of the worst of human nature, most notably the thieves who stole a family car containing specially-adapted equipment for a severely-disabled three-year-old child.

There are other, perhaps less dramatic, examples of selfishness, such as the woman who took it upon herself to cause disruption at hospitals and charities by making groundless and malicious hoax bomb calls.

And on another, much lower, level – but selfish nonetheless – are those who present themselves at the accident and emergency departments of hospitals with problems that really should not be taking up the time of staff who are on duty to deal with emergencies and life-and-death situations.

At the one end of the spectrum, there are examples of rank criminality which deserve only the harshest punishments available. At the other, it is thoughtlessness and self-centred-ness which causes people to act without any care for others.

While criminals will be unlikely to change their ways merely because they’ve been asked to consider the impact of their actions on others, for some of the rest of us we could perhaps do worse than to try to think less about ourselves and more about others in the coming year.

Wouldn’t it be nice if 2014 was the year when we all gave a little more consideration to other people and thought less about what we could get for ourselves or how we could just sort out our own problems, and more about what makes life a little better for everyone?

And that could make this a happier new year for all of us.