Interesting Times

As I said yesterday, we do live in interesting times. In the last 5-and-a-bit years we’ve seen …

In the UK

  • Three Prime Ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss
  • Two General Elections in 2017 and 2019
  • 2016 to 2020: just how are we going to leave the EU?
  • June 2017: Grenfell Tower fire
  • May 2018: Royal wedding of Harry & Megan
  • Prince Harry & Megan relinquish royal duties and abscond to California
  • January 2020: finally leave the EU
  • March 2020 to date: SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 (in UK) including lockdowns, an over-stressed NHS etc.
  • March 2021: census
  • April 2021: death of Duke of Edinburgh
  • Late 2021 to date: seriously escalating energy prices
  • February 2022: Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
  • February 2022 to date: discovery of polio in London’s sewage
  • May 2022 to date: monkeypox
  • September 2022: death of Queen Elizabeth II and accession of King Charles III

Worldwide

  • Three Presidents of the USA: Barak Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden
  • October 2017: ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object, identified
  • November 2018: Gilets Jaunes protests in France
  • April 2019: fire almost destroys Notre Dame
  • May 2019: Naruhito becomes Emperor of Japan on the unprecedented abdication of his father Emperor Akihito (who had ruled for 30 years)
  • December 2019: US President, Donald Trump, is impeached
  • January 2021: US President, Donald Trump, is impeached for a second time
  • March 2021: container ship Ever Given blocks Suez Canal for a week, causing massive disruption to trade routes
  • December 2021 to January 2022: eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcanic island in Tonga, currently the largest eruption of 21st century
  • 2022: attempted invasion of Ukraine by Russia and resultant war

That’s what I can remember. And we haven’t even mentioned climate change, or a rash of celebs being arraigned for sexual abuse!

I challenge anyone to find me a more “interesting” 5 years, excepting around WWI and WWII.

Interesting times, indeed.