The Written Podcast: Friday - 01/01/2021

And so begins another year around the sun - for the Northern Hemisphere, anyway. Last year was an historic year for one major reason. Many years before have secured their spot in the historic history books for one reason or another, but last year was certainly perched on its own podium, away from all the other years. Those previously historic years have one thing in common, that whatever happened between January 1st and December 31st is usually what is talked about, not necessarily the year itself, whereas 2020 will be the thing that people will talk about within that year. If my manager were to come up to me on January 1st 2020 and said that the company is going to shut down for 3 months of the year, of course I wouldn’t believe him. Most probably I would question why. But that is what happened. For 3 months of the year, not only did the company shut down, nor did only the country shut down, but the entire world came to a standstill. By early April, 3.9 Billion people, more than half the world’s population, was under various levels of lockdown.

For us UK residents, and probably, for the most part, Europeans as well, Brexit dominated the news since 2016 when the residents of the UK voted to leave the EU. Ever since then, without fail, every single day, Brexit was mentioned at least once. Leaving an entire continent of countries sounded easy to some people, was an agonisingly difficult job for a lot more, because making sure everyone’s happy is not an easy task. The Government struggled to keep everyone happy long before Brexit was a thought in David Cameron’s mind, but here we are, going into 2021 with a long-awaited deal that was made late last year, practically at the very last moment. Coronavirus, lockdown, tier systems, the furlough scheme; they became the new talking point for everyone. At the pandemics full strength, Brexit seemed like something that was pushed to one side. When the deal was finally reached between the UK and the EU, who the heck thought that it would be seen by many as secondary.

Now that we’re firmly in the grasps of 2021, if last year proved anything that we should definitely expect the unexpected. The global pandemic and Brexit will forever change the way the UK functions from this moment on, and probably the entire world, too. Last year was definitely a decade defining year, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that the 2020s is a millennium defining decade. When the world looks back at this millennium, I would be very surprised if 2020 wasn’t at the top of everyone’s list of major moments. Although, to be perfectly honest, I would be very surprised to be very surprised at all within the next millennium, considering it’s just under 980 years away. A lot can happen in that time, but the year 2020 may be overshadowing many more events to come - unless we finally make contact with extraterrestrials this year, then that might just take the top spot, or we finally successfully develop time travel and send people back in time, which could lead to many rewrites and major catastrophes.... I think I’m straying a bit too far from my initial point, but I think you understand enough to know what I’m talking about.

Last year will live on in infamy, that’s for definite: documentaries will be made about it, conspiracy theories will spread all over the world, historians will discuss what happened on TV, and multiple books both nonfiction and fiction will be written about the year - it will be the talking point for many years to come. I will be fascinated to consume as much information as I can possibly get hold of relating to the events of last year, whether true or not, to give a true perspective on how the world was truly affected by that historic year.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)