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.