Brexit, Donald Trump, Syria and celebrity deaths — 2016 year in review

Those smug bastards below won and no-one is happy about it

Many have called 2016 the worst year ever. In the last 12 months we have lost countless cultural icons, have seen Britain commit an “act of self-harm” by voting to leave the European Union, and seen America elect the dodgy quiffed, fake tan wearing, fascist Donald Trump to the biggest office of state. Then there were more terrorist attacks in Europe and the escalation of the Syrian Civil War, including the Siege of Aleppo, which led to countless civilian deaths. 2016 was the worst year ever! Well, except for the years between 1914 and 18 and 1939 and 45, and probably countless other periods. The Black Death of the 1340s and 50s probably wasn’t a great time to be honest. But anyway, I think we can agree this year has been pretty bad.

Brexit

In June British voters did what historian and writer Simon Schama referred to as “an unnecessary act of self-harm” when they voted to leave the European Union. The in-out referendum, promised by the then Prime Minister David Cameron in his 2015 general election manifesto, was won by 52 per cent of those that voted, and has led to what at times seems like an irreparable split between those that voted leave and those that voted to remain.

The campaign was characterised by the rise of post-truth politics, with prominent Vote Leave politicians like Michael Gove proclaiming “ People in this country have had enough of experts”, and the Vote Leave campaign group adorning their battle bus with the completely bogus assertion that we would have an extra £350million a week to spend on the NHS if we were outside of the EU.

The Brexit vote fallout led to Cameron’s resignation and the subsequent Tory leadership election that brought former home secretary Theresa May to the premiership. Oh and also the devaluing of the pound and an increasingly unstable economy.

Donald Trump

The second major political shock of the year came in November when Donald Trump defied pollsters, who also failed to accurately predict the Brexit vote and the 2015 UK general election, and defeated Hillary Clinton to become America’s president-elect. This was despite a campaign typified by blunders, misogyny and even racism.

Like the Vote Leave camp on the other side of the Atlantic during the Brexit referendum, Trump’s campaign was typified by post-truth politics, with the Republican candidate often repeating entirely false statements, which due to false balance news reporting, was given equal weight to the more factually correct statements of his democratic opponent.

But Hillary was also badly hurt in the campaign by revelations that she had used a private email server to send official State Department emails during her tenure as Secretary of State, and by leaked emails purportedly released by Russian intelligence hackers in order to swing the election in Trump’s favour.

To complete the triumvirate of influences that helped secure the White House for Trump, Facebook, which became a dominant source for information during the election, and was often utilised more than traditional news sources, was beset by a plethora of fake news articles that made a host of bogus claims about Hillary Clinton, from allegations of corruption to being part of a paedophile ring.

Syria

The nearly six-year-long Syrian Civil War intensified following Russian and Turkish intervention which supported the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and led to key victories for government forces, most notably in the country’s former economic capital Aleppo.

With government reprisals often leading to extra-judicial killings and other atrocities (such as barrel bombs) targeting civilians, an estimated 6.1 million people have been internally displaced within Syria, with over 670,000 deaths so far. 4.8 million people have fled to neighbouring countries and scores have attempted to cross into the European Union, leading to the migrant crisis which began last year. 13.5 million people are currently in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, at an estimated cost of around $7.7 billion.

Terrorism

There was a new wave of Islamist terror attacks in Europe this year, starting with the Istanbul bombing in January which killed 14 people. This was followed by the Brussels bombings in March, the deadliest terror attack in Belgium’s history, which killed 32 and injured 340. It shut down sections of the city and led to a manhunt and raids all over the country.

In July a truck ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille day in the French city of Nice, killing 86 and injuring several hundred. And in December, in a similarly styled attack, a lorry drove into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring 56.

In June, in a murder which shocked Britain, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen Jo Cox was killed by Thomas Mair, a white supremacist who opposed Cox’s pro immigration views and her work with Syrian refugees.

Celebrity Deaths

And then there are all the celebrity deaths, of music legends like David Bowie, George Michael, Prince and Leonard Cohen. From the acting world, we lost Alan Rickman, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jean Alexander, Kenny Baker and Gene Wilder.

British cultural icons passed like the veteran broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan, TV magician Paul Daniels, and comedy legends Ronnie Corbett, Caroline Aherne, Victoria Wood, Frank Kelly, Andrew Sachs, and Liz Smith.

Boxing champion Muhammed Ali died aged 74 in June.

Author Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, died aged 89 in February.

Nancy Reagan, the actress and former first lady of the United States, died aged 94 in March.

We also lost Dead or Alive singer and television personality Pete Burns, Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt, Sunday Times journalist AA Gill, and Watership Down author Richard Adams.

Looking forward

But at least next year will be better, right? With Britain gambling with the UK by triggering article 50, Trump taking control of the nuclear codes, and Russia likely to meddle in the upcoming elections in France and Germany, 2017 might make 2016 seem rather mild.

Oh well… see you on the other side of the apocalypse!