Good news: ten positive developments this year
The festive mood is a little off this year. Whether your plans have already been cancelled due to testing positive for Covid, or you’re living with the fear that a second line will show up on a lateral flow any day now, thanks to Omicron, it’s hard to embrace the usual Christmas joy.
Ending the year on a bad note makes it all too easy to write off the year as a whole. And while Covid-19 did its best to ruin things, believe it or not, there was good news in 2021.
Here’s my list of ten positive stories from the last year, for anyone in need of a little Christmas cheer.
1. The vaccine roll-out
A silver lining to the pandemic is the exceptional scientific breakthroughs that have enabled 57 per cent of the world population to receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine worldwide. Around 8.78 billion doses have been administered globally, and 36.07 million are now administered each day.
2. Emma Raducanu
Off the back of a crushing (for England fans) Euros football final, 18-year-old Emma Raducanu appeared out of nowhere to win the US Open, uniting the country in a much-needed moment of British pride. Raducanu was the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1977 and the youngest player since 2004. Last week, she was named Sports Personality of the Year, which in true 2021 fashion, she accepted from a hotel room where she was isolating after contracting Covid-19.
3. NASA extracts oxygen from Mars
In a milestone development for future human exploration of the red planet, NASA’s Perseverance (a six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface) converted some of the planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen using an instrument called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment or MOXIE. The technology is just getting started but could pave the way for the future of astronaut exploration of Mars.
4. Chile voted for same-sex marriage to become legal
Earlier this month, Chile, a historically socially conservative country, approved landmark legislation allowing same-sex marriage. The law had previously been stalled by congress since 2017, but campaigners persisted. Despite criticism from some of his conservative coalition, President Sebastián Piñera supported the bill which also enables gay couples to adopt children.
5. NICE approved a drug to reduce miscarriages
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved the use of progesterone for pregnant women experiencing bleeding who have previously miscarried. It is thought the hormone drug could prevent more than 8,000 miscarriages a year.
6. The Met removed the Sackler name from its galleries
For years there have been calls to hold the Sackler family (once owners of Purdue Pharma) accountable for the company’s role in the opioid crisis in America, but until 2021 little was done. In May, Patrick Radden Keefe’s gripping expose of the Sackler family, Empire of Pain, was published and by December, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it would remove the Sackler’s name from its galleries.
7. Britney Spears was freed from her conservatorship
One for fans of economic freedom. After almost 14 years living under a conservatorship (usually reserved for the infirm or elderly), Britney Spears finally regained control of her life in November. The Princess of Pop had been living under the control of her father, unable to make her own decisions on her career, finances, and personal life, after suffering apparent mental health issues amid intense paparazzi scrutiny back in 2008. Fans who had been campaigning to #FreeBritney for years celebrated across social media and planned a “freedom party” in LA.
8. Several species returned from the brink of extinction
Tuna, Siberian tigers, European bison and the saiga antelope all made a comeback from their critically endangered status. The progress shows the impact of conservation attempts and the importance of careful rules around over-fishing, poaching and hunting.
9. Zambia reclaimed democracy
In August of this year, the Zambian government attempted to rig an election in its own favour. But to the regime’s surprise, Zambians voted for Hakainde Hichilema, a liberal businessman, by such a landslide that the rigging failed. The self-proclaimed “cattle boy” had run for presidency five times previously before finally being elected.
10. A deaf contestant won strictly come dancing
In December, EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis became the first deaf contestant to win BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing. Ayling-Ellis wowed viewers by using counting and vibrations to perform difficult routines on the show. The final was watched by 11 million viewers.
It is all too easy to get pulled into the negative news cycle and be swallowed by feelings of doom and gloom. But let these positive news stories serve as a reminder that there are always people and initiatives out there that are working to make the world a better place.
Merry Christmas!