Top 10 news stories of 2021

Trump supporters storm the Capitol building

The year started out with an almighty bang on 6 January. Thousands of Trump supporters broke down barricades, fought with police and broke into the Capitol building following Joe Biden’s Presidential election win. The madness perfectly encapsulated the Trump administration, and as a fitting punishment it (finally) led to Trump being banned fromTwitter for inciting violence. This truly was one final injection of insanity that solidified the political radicalisation and division found in the United States.

It was an awful year for the Royal Family

On 9 April, news broke that Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, had died following a series of health issues and hospital visits. Although it was expected, the news certainly swept the nation. Prince Philip had been the Queen’s consort for 69 years, making him the longest serving consort in British history. The funeral was held on 17 April, where the Queen had to sit socially distanced from loved ones, in line with Covid-19 restrictions at the time.

However, the death of Prince Philip wasn’t the only adversity the Royal Family had to overcome this year. Off the back of the vitriol aimed at both Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, the pair very publicly renounced their royal titles and decided to move to America, where they then had a dramatic and widely publicised interview with Oprah. Harry stated the decision was taken as a result of racism within the Royal Family, and then he and Meghan are now financially independent. 

Separate from this, the drama surrounding Prince Andrew continued to rumble on, triggered by the arrest and death of the insanely rich convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, and Andrew’s disastrous BBC interview in 2019. Since then Ghislane Maxwell has been arrested, and alleged victims of the sex trafficking ring are starting to come forward. One alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, has brought a lawsuit against the Prince, which will be heard at the start of 2022. The Prince denies the allegations, and has requested the lawsuit be thrown out – in part because of a settlement Giuffre accepted with Epstein that Prince Andrew claims prevents her from going after Epstein’s associates.

COP26 fails to make the tough decisions

Leaders of the world, from countries both big and small, all descended upon Glasgow in October with the expectation of making big decisions and commitments around tackling the climate crisis that becomes more threatening each day. The talks were meant to represent a real step forward, and a continuation of the climate meetings held in Paris in 2015. Many had high hopes for the event, believing it to be an incredibly important, historical moment that could dictate the future of our Earth – with disastrous events such as the forest fires that rampage across Queensland and California, and the flooding apparent in indeginous countries around the world, there is less and less time available to make changes. Yet, the resounding response of the event was anger and disappointment. Leaders criticised larger countries like Russia and China for not even attending, and the deals made between those involved left much more to be desired. The fact that these issues are finally being seriously discussed is definitely positive, but the overwhelming consensus is that much more needs to be done, rather than “blah blah blah”, as Greta Thunberg aptly put it.

England’s football team get to finals of the Euros, racist abuse followed the result

Even the most positive national news this year was somewhat marred with disappointment, as England got to the final of the Euro 2020 football competition – rescheduled from last year. The country seemed united in a shared excitement after our success, and the joy felt nation-wide prior to the final was palpable. This happiness was quickly replaced by disappointment, and was not necessarily down to England’s eventual loss to Italy via penalty shootout. Unfortunately, we were forced to bear witness to the disorderly and racist way in which football hooligans reacted to the defeat afterwards. A mass amount of abuse was hurled at players like Saka, Rashford and Sancho, and proved that our country still has a long way to go in terms of our handling of racist behaviour.

Afghanistan withdrawal

One of the longest running wars of human history publicly ended this year, as Biden followed through on Trump’s decision to pull remaining American military forces out of Afghanistan and conceded defeat to the Taliban. Afghanistan, after 20 years of Western occupation and constant war, is now under the jurisdiction of the Taliban, and it is uncertain just how detrimentally that will impact those living in the country – especially women. 

Biden’s withdrawal saw widespread criticism from the whole world, as the shambolic evacuation left thousands stranded for days. Chaos erupted around the airport areas, resulting in many deaths and horrific scenes of people desperately attempting to cram themselves into airplanes.

Facebook whistleblower, outage and Meta

Never without a heap of controversy each year, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg yet again made headlines for two separate reasons. Firstly, a former employee at Facebook approached senators about the immoral way in which Facebook advertises and uses it’s algorithm for social media platforms like Instagram. The claims made by data scientist and whistleblower Frances Haugen spurred a response from Zuckerberg himself denying any wrongdoings. He instead attempted to trivialise the safety concerns raised, saying that harmful content was only promoted due to it’s ‘meaningful social interaction’ value, i.e. controversy. Shortly after the news broke of Facebook knowingly promoting harmful content, the company went down for hours, leaving apps like Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp all inaccessible. The outage further highlighted the company’s control over the social space.

Then, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing its name to Meta, in lieu of technological advancement and a move toward a virtual reality ‘metaverse’. The news excited some, but scared most, as Facebook controlling a widely used digital realm seems like a villainous endeavour. Other companies such as Epic are also looking into creating their own virtual reality digital spaces. With such a heavy focus, this could be technology we will be seeing in the very near future, as dystopian as it all seems.

Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics wrapped up in August, and turned out to be a resounding success, despite the lack of viewership and fans in attendance at events. The Games even added multiple new sports to its competition, such as skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, BMX and surfing. The Olympics was overall a positive affair and a nice escape after the dire pandemic months that had come before, however every Olympics is not without its fair share of controversies. This year’s came in the form of American gymnast Simone Biles exiting the competition on mental health grounds, the addition of the first transgender athlete, and the sexism surrounding women’s volleyball uniforms.

Astroworld tragedy

Britney free from conservatorship

The Free Britney movement has been the hashtag heard around the world since 2019, when it first gained internet popularity. Singer Britney Spears had been bound to a conservatorship by the hands of her father Jamie Spears since 2008, when Britney had her highly publicised ‘breakdown’. The conservatorship dictated everything Britney could and couldn’t do, from the money she spent to how often she saw her children. After numerous court appearances and fans lobbying for her freedom, Britney was finally released from her conservatorship in November. Not only did the movement save Britney, but it put conservatorships under a microscope, with many questioning their validity and their use on vulnerable people.

Squid Game took over the world