Let’s forget politics... and celebrate all that was good about 2019!
AS we enter Christmas week and start planning journeys to meet loved ones, and checking out cooking times for turkeys and recipes for stuffing, people could be excused from turning over every time the news comes on TV.
Frankly, from wild bush fires to civil wars, street protests to the continuing bin fire which is most of politics these days, no blame would attach itself to those who simply prefer to have a quiet Christmas.
So, as we hurtle towards the 25th, I wanted to look at some of the good we’ve seen this year.
From medical breakthroughs to individual acts of courage, sporting wonders to animal preservation and a huge dollop of human kindness, 2019 hasn’t been all bad. Even some of the more tragic stories had happy-ish endings.
In April, the architectural wonder which is Notre Dame cathedral caught fire. The blaze lit up the skies of Paris and firefighters battled the flames through the night. The damage was incalculable.
But the clear-thinking professionalism of those in charge meant that a huge number of artworks, relics and artefacts were saved – including the Crown of Thorns said to have been worn by Christ at His crucifixion.
The other miracle on the Seine was the survival of Notre Dame’s 180,000 bees. Three beehives had been put on the cathedral’s roof as part of a project to repollinate the city. Despite nine hours of inferno, and a partial roof collapse, all the hives survived and the bees continue to help Paris flourish.
Also in Paris, a lost masterpiece was discovered in a city apartment.
Eugene Delacroix’s Women of Algiers had been missing since 1850. The painting is said to have inspired Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gauguin, and had attained almost mythic status. It was found when gallerist Philippe Mendes visited the home of a collector and recognised the piece.
Sticking with artefacts, a Lebanese businessman bought Adolf Hitler’s top hat this year in order to fight antisemitism and the rise of far-Right populism.
Abdallah Chatila forked out more than £500,000 at auction for ten items, including the Fuhrer’s typewriter and cigar box, specifically to stop them falling into the hands of neo-Nazi propagandists.
HE donated the items to a Jewish charity and the head of the European Jewish Association described his actions as ‘a noble act of kindness, generosity and solidarity’.
A more prosaic act of kindness occurred at the side of the road in Teesside in March.
Sharleen and Ron Gillies were driving 350 miles from Edinburgh to Cambridge to see her terminally ill mother when their car was damaged in an accident.
As dozens of drivers flew past, good Samaritan Dean Moore stopped to help. Hearing their story, he drove them more than 200 miles, allowing Mrs Gillies to arrive in time to say her goodbyes. ‘I just can’t put into words what that lad did for us,’ said Mr Gillies. Amen. Meanwhile, a new phone app is trying to organise the way other good Samaritans can help in times of trouble and has saved lives.
GoodSAM issues an alert to any first responders or medically trained civilians that someone nearby is in difficulty.
The app made headlines in Australia after an off-duty paramedic received a GoodSAM message about a 49-year-old man having a heart attack.
It was near her home, in the dead of night, so the paramedic sped to his side – while still in her pyjamas – and kept him alive with CPR until an ambulance arrived.
In fact, this year has been a superb year for medical good news. Malaria has been eradicated from
Algeria and Argentina, an Ebola vaccine has been licensed in the United States for the first time, and a drug has been found which can slow the advance of Alzheimer’s.
Scientists also believe they may have found an end to Aids.
An eight-year study showed that proper anti-retroviral treatment suppressed the virus to undetectable levels. The findings give scientists hope that by preventing the spread of HIV through treatment, the virus can be eliminated.
It’s not only medical researchers who have been busy this year, but astrophysicists, too.
The first probe to land on the dark side of the Moon touched down in January, while the world’s first image of a black hole was unveiled in April, after being captured by the Event Horizon telescope.
The black hole is about three million times larger than Earth and 300 million trillion miles away in the Messier 87 galaxy.
Slightly closer to home, this year featured the first all-female spacewalk. Nasa astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir spent seven hours outside the International Space Station carrying out maintenance work on a power issue.
Other female firsts could be found at the Women’s World Cup in France. Not only did Scotland qualify for the first time, but the tournament ignited interest in the women’s game across the globe. It is estimated that more than a billion people tuned in and players such as US co-captain Megan Rapinoe became household names.
A special mention goes to Brazilian legend Marta. The six-time World Player of the Year’s goal against Italy was her 17th in World Cup competition, achieved over five tournaments. She is now the record World Cup goal-scorer for either men or women, beating German Miroslav Klose’s tally of 16.
When it comes to competitive women, beauty pageants are hardly the cutting edge of female empowerment. This year’s Miss America may be changing that.
For the ‘talent’ section, Miss Virginia eschewed the usual singing, dancing or gymnastics. Camille Schrier, 24, put on her lab coat and conducted an on-stage science experiment instead.
Ms Schrier – who has undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and systems biology and is studying for her PhD in pharmacy – demonstrated the colourful results of catalytic decomposition.
Beating Miss Georgia to the crown, Ms Schrier said her year as Miss America would ‘create a mind shift’ about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and encourage more young girls to get into science.
Other stories that caught my eye included the 89-year-old ladies from Mansfield, best friends for 78 years, who moved to the same care home so they would not be apart.
THE world’s tiniest surviving baby was released from hospital in San Diego, California, in May, five months after being born weighing less than an apple, while Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge became the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours, covering the 26.2 miles in one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.
The most uplifting stories have been from the animal kingdom – from the government of Denmark spending more than £1 million to buy the country’s last circus elephants so they can have a peaceful retirement, to the Galapagos tortoise, which has been seen for the first time since 1906.
Then there’s the Ikea manager in Sicily who welcomes stray dogs, feeding them and allowing them to sleep among the store’s living room displays; the new protections for giraffes to stop them being hunted; and the New Zealand dad who opened the first ‘stick library’.
Chopping and smoothing branches into convenient lengths, Andrew Taylor deposited a box of throwing sticks at a park for dog owners.
But my favourite tale is the army of people knitting mittens for koalas. Firefighters in Australia have saved dozens of the animals from bushfires in Queensland and New South Wales.
Koala hospitals have been treating the animals for burns but before they can be returned to the wild, their paws have to heal. That means gloves to stop further injury.
One Dutch group of crafters has knitted more than 400 pairs. Knitting groups worldwide have posted patterns online for others to copy.
The world feels a better place knowing there is a global effort to get Australia’s koalas on the mend.
Merry Christmas.