Flickers of hope amid the gloom of a dismal year
SO LONG then, 2022. It has not been a vintage year, has it? War in Europe, three prime ministers in two months, the death of our beloved monarch – and Scotland wasn’t even in the World Cup. And you thought 2021 was bad!
Yet still, among the gloom, there have been chinks of light. Moments, dare I say it, to give you hope. Here then, are my bright spots of 2022. I hope that in among it all you have found your own.
A very happy New Year when it comes. Let’s hope that, for all of us, better days lie ahead.
A FALTERING SNP: It has been a year of reckoning for the SNP. Nationalists have abandoned the party in droves, as it dawns on them that the dream of independence has slipped from their grasp thanks to the party’s continuing obfuscation. The SNP’s dangerous Gender Recognition Reform Bill has also seen them lose the support of thousands of women, young and old, who are horrified that the SNP is putting women and girls at risk.
Meanwhile, the party remains mired in disasters, from the ferries scandal to the shambolic state of the NHS. As the SNP limps into its 16th (16th!) year in power, it has never looked so weakened, or quite so out of touch with the rest of the country. Perhaps, in 2023, the party might be forced to look in the mirror.
NO MORE LOCKDOWNS:
Covid continues to stalk the land but, thank goodness, the days of full lockdowns, tier systems and local pub opening hours so complex you’d need a degree in advanced mathematics to work them out, are thankfully gone for good. 2022 brought with it more vaccines, better treatments and the dawning realisation that Covid is something that we can, for the most part, live with. Thank goodness for that.
THE RESILIENCE OF UKRAINE: The world watched in horror when, in the last week of February, Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine. A war in Europe? In the 21st century? It seemed unimaginable. But Russia had not counted on the might of the Ukrainian people when it rolled its tanks across the border.
From their tireless president Volodymyr Zelensky to the old ladies barricading their homes, Ukrainians have shown us that defending your land and fighting for what you believe in gives you extraordinary strength and power.
Their courage has been a shining light in this dark year, and an example to us all. And I hope that, in 2023, it will lead them to victory.
OUR BELOVED MONARCH: The death of the Queen on September 8 at Balmoral was a shock for us all. Her Majesty was our steadfast rock, our point of immovable light. Even though she was 96 she had seemed, somehow, eternal.
And yet the deep outpouring of love that followed her loss was extraordinary. People who never thought they would cry, wept openly. Millions queued for long hours in the heat to pay their respects. The country came to an emotional standstill.
Among it all her death brought to the fore our own losses, her life a mirror in which we saw our own reflected, one last time. The national grief shows that the monarchy still has its place in 2023. A cheering relief for many, I imagine. Not least our new King.
FOREIGN HOLIDAYS ARE BACK:
Hooray! After two years in which a trek to the supermarket bore all the hallmarks of a Polar adventure, 2022 saw the return of foreign holidays in the sun. While many of us took advantage of the relaxation in Covid rules to jet off abroad, there was also a twist, because those two years in which we were confined to our own country made us appreciate Britain, in all its glorious technicolour, even more. 2022 taught us that staycations are, well, here to stay. Just as well, given the cost of living these days.
BYE BYE NICOLA?: 2022 was the year when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon dropped her biggest hints yet that she may be eyeing the exit door. She has talked about fostering children, has at times seemed distracted and almost – whisper it – disinterested in the job, and at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August told actor Brian Cox that she can’t wait for the day when she doesn’t give a f*** any more. Will that day come in 2023? I wouldn’t put it past her.
LARRY THE CAT: Prime ministers come and go, more this year than ever before, but happily, 15-yearold Larry, the Downing Street cat, remains. Now on his fifth PM, Larry spends his days in No 10 ignoring cameramen, getting into scraps and generally behaving like he owns the place. Frankly, after this long, he probably does.
LOOK FOR THE HELPERS: The cost of living crisis has knocked us all for six. Energy prices continue to rise. And the war in Ukraine has left millions across Europe displaced. And yet wherever there is crisis there are those who step in to help. Whether it’s Martin Lewis, the money saving expert, holding the energy companies to account, the individuals who have thrown their doors open to Ukrainian refugees, or those who have donated to charities of all sizes during the cost of living situation, many have stepped up to help. As always, tough times are a reminder that, fundamentally, most people are good.
WOMEN UNITED:
The Gender Recognition Reform Bill that passed in the Scottish parliament just before Christmas is an assault on the rights and safety of women and girls across this country. And while I am horrified that we are entering 2023 living in a nation where it is now a hostile act to declare ‘I am a woman’, I have been deeply heartened, moved and even empowered by the women’s movement that has sprung up in protest.
Powerful voices such as JK Rowling have led the way, while women from every walk of life have given time, energy and expertise to safeguard and protect their sisters. Women won’t wheesht, they say. And as we go into a new year, they won’t go down without a fight.
WE ENDED ON A HIGH NOTE:
Well, sort of. But look, in January 2022 a scandal-mired Boris Johnson was still in power, trying to explain away his No 10 lockdown parties and suitcases full of booze, while being utterly distracted from the job in hand. Now we have someone in charge who seems to understand the economic pressures and appears to be a grown-up, too.
Rishi Sunak might have about as much charisma as a bath brush but he seems genuine, hard-working, and as if he’s doing his best. And after a year like 2022, can we really ask for anything more?
AN ACADEMIC has questioned whether Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, may have been transgender or identified as non-binary. As someone who has read most of her work, and always considered her a strong female voice at a time when there were few, I say this: no she bloomin’ wasn’t. And please, for the love of God, can we stop robbing women of their heroines by arguing that powerful women in history were actually men? It sounds like pure misogyny.
SCIENTISTS have discovered that babies prefer the racket made by seagulls to the gentle melody of garden songbirds. Is that because, at their most up-all-night, won’t-settle-for-love-normoney vocal, they sound so similar?