We will never forget 2021. The streets were empty, shops shuttered and classrooms quiet.
Boris Johnson called a third lockdown just four days before the start of the new year to combat the new Alpha form of Covid. Addressing the nation on TV, he promised this would be the ‘last phase of the struggle’. ‘Not only is the end in sight,’ he said, ‘we know exactly how we will get there.’
These words still have an ironic, blackly comic ring twelve months later. Tragically, another 70,000 Britons died from HIV after being tested positive. The death toll worldwide has now reached 5 million.
And although Boris this week resisted the scientists’ siren calls for more restrictions, and the data suggests Omicron is considerably milder than Covid’s previous incarnations, we are still entering the new year with the end of the saga frustratingly elusive.
The story of 2021 can be described in many ways as dark and sad. There was much more to life than just the beat of infected. This was an year full of hope and light, thanks to many scientific breakthroughs and inspirational victories.

For me, the year’s most resonant image was that photo of the Queen at his funeral, a small, stooped figure in black, isolated from her family by Covid restrictions, alone with her grief and her memories
When the year began, we had just embarked on the most remarkable public health crusade in our history, with Margaret Keenan, 90, receiving the world’s first Covid vaccine on December 8, 2020. This was just one of almost three quarters of all the 132 million vaccinations that the NHS has given to date.
And although naysayers in the media love to tell us what Britain can’t do, perhaps we should remind ourselves about the herculean achievement of the spring, when we led the world in vaccinations while Europe dithered and squabbled.
Remember, also, that Britain has weathered the economic shock much better than anyone expected. In a post 18 months back, I suggested that there might be unemployment levels comparable to those of the late 1980s.
But I’m glad to report that, so far, I have been proved wrong. Retailers and restaurateurs have been crying for new workers since the current unemployment rate of 4%. That’s not ideal, of course — but it’s not the worst problem in the world.
Even the death toll, dreadful as it is, has been nowhere near the apocalyptic scenarios outlined by some of the Government’s advisers.
That’s testament to the miracle of the vaccines, the hard work of NHS staff and the good sense of so many ordinary people, who wearily obeyed the rules even as their supposed betters flagrantly disregarded them.
Then, light and shade. And that’s been the picture in other areas, too. Just think of the summer’s great sporting saga: England’s thrilling run to the final of the European Football Championship, led by their courteous, old-fashioned and enormously impressive coach, Gareth Southgate.

After a stunning Wimbledon debut, she then suffered from respiratory difficulties that led to her defeat. She became the U.S. Open’s first qualifying player.
Many of us put the pandemic in the background, while the Wembley crowds cheered on their champions to win over continental foes. It was sunny, the Germans had been defeated and St George’s flag flew once more proudly.
After that, the shadows returned. A crushing shootout failure, horrendous scenes of lawlessness, overcrowding and violence at Wembley’s turnstiles, and perhaps the most disappointing, an avalanche of racist abuse directed at players who failed to score the critical penalties.
A few weeks later came an even more dazzling sporting story: the spectacular rise of Bromley’s Emma Raducanu, the tennis teenager who captured the hearts of the nation.
Then came the sensational Wimbledon debut and then she suffered from breathing problems. She became the U.S. Open’s first qualifying player. She won the title and was cheered by more than 9,000,000 Britons. It wasn’t surprising that she was named BBC Sports Personality the Year.
This charming, polite teenager could not have been created by any advertising agency. How refreshing it is to see so many embrace the child of Romanian-Chinese parents. It’s a counterpoint to those woke activists who whine about how racist everyone is.
All of this brings me to that other inevitable face of 2021 — another former Middle England favourite, whose rollercoaster ride now seems perilously close to the final plunge into political darkness.

In the U.S., the year began with Donald Trump bitterly contesting the result of the 2020 presidential election, falsely claiming that even Republican-controlled states had rigged the vote in favour of his Democratic rival Joe Biden
Boris Johnson would be laughed at by anyone. After a harrowing December, seven of ten People tell YouGov the Prime Minister is ruining the premiership.
At the PDC World Darts Championship before Christmas, the crowd rose in a chant of ‘Stand up if you hate Boris Johnson’. One fan even held a picture of wine and cheese and the slogan ‘This is a business meeting’, in a reference to the interminable revelations about Downing Street’s alleged lockdown-busting parties.
If nothing else, it’s a compelling lesson in how quickly political fortunes can change.
Even as recently May, it appeared that the Prime Minster could not do any wrong. He basked in the glory of the vaccine rollout before leading the Tories into a crushing win in Hartlepool’s by-election.
But since then, almost every month has brought new disasters — catastrophic by-elections in true-blue Chesham and North Shropshire, the shameless attempt to block the suspension of former MP Owen Paterson, ongoing revelations about Tory donations to pay for redecorating the Downing Street flat, Matt Hancock and Lord Frost resigning… the list goes on.
After political fortunes start to plummet, it’s very difficult to reverse this slide. Each small error is added to this charge sheet.
When, for instance, the Prime Minister misunderstood in his speech to CBI, and began a strange digression about Peppa Pig World it only reinforced the perception of incompetence.
Johnson has climbed out of similar pits before. He’s a powerful campaigner. He is regarded as a formidable campaigner.
He can’t reinvent himself. He can he let go of the exaggerated talk, dissembling and slapdash indecision and become a true leader with integrity and seriousness. If 2022 brings the third Tory leadership contest in six years, I won’t be at all surprised.

When the year began, we had just embarked on the most remarkable public health crusade in our history, with Margaret Keenan, 90, receiving the world’s first Covid vaccine on December 8, 2020. This was just one of almost three quarters of all the 132 million vaccinations that the NHS has given to date.
In some ways, though, Boris’s ordeal is part of a wider story. It has been a year filled with discord, disunity, and near-terminal discord for most Western democracies.
In the U.S., the year began with Donald Trump bitterly contesting the result of the 2020 presidential election, falsely claiming that even Republican-controlled states had rigged the vote in favour of his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
This latest twist in Trump’s soap opera appeared absurd at first. Then, events turned sinister when the former president incited a mob of people to seize the U.S. Capitol.
Five people died and over 140 officers were injured in scenes of anarchy and violence that are hard to believe. One time, the rioters invaded the Senate chamber. This is the holy hall of U.S. democracy.
Unrest subsided and Trump left a short time later. However, the next few days were a miserable disappointment.
Not even the most charitable observer could describe Mr Biden’s first year as a success. Biden is just too old to handle such a stressful office. He dithers and diddles his way through speeches, public events, and other duties.

Britain’s government is incapable even of controlling our own borders, with more than 27,000 people attempting to cross the Channel on rickety boats in the past 12 months
For decades, the West will be haunted by the humiliating fall from Afghanistan to Taliban forces in August.
It’s true that the seeds of disaster were sown at least a decade ago — not least by the messianic hubris of our own Tony Blair. There is no more telling symbol of Western incompetence or weakness than Mr Biden. What makes Mr Biden’s fragility all the more alarming is that no other Western politician seems capable of assuming the mantle of leadership.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was officially replaced at December’s beginning by Olaf Scholz.
The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen has all the gravitas of an inept supply teacher trying to quell a raucous class. And France’s Emmanuel Macron seems more interested in posturing than serious politics — never better evidenced than in the spring, when he deliberately spread misinformation about the AstraZeneca vaccine, motivated by sheer pique that Brexit Britain had beaten his own scientists to it.
With such flimsy leadership, it’s no wonder the West has proved conspicuously unable to rise to the challenges of the hour.
Indeed, Britain’s government is incapable even of controlling our own borders, with more than 27,000 people attempting to cross the Channel on rickety boats in the past 12 months.
It was the reminder of how much human suffering the people-smuggling network can cause. 27 migrants drowned in the sinking of their boat on November 24. They still came by their thousands almost unchecked, even though they were a large number.
While democracies struggled, the autocrats in the East were stronger than ever. From China’s crackdown in Hong Kong to the suppression of protest in Belarus, 2021 was a good year to be a bully.
There was also an awful lot of self-indulgence in the year. From the self-pity of Harry and Meghan to the shocking footage of Mr Hancock, unlamented health secretary, breaking Covid rules with the wedding vows, it was a year full of self-indulgence. He’d be an unpopular favourite if there was a Creep Award of the year.
It was also a year to honor those who gave so much for the benefit of all. Nurses and doctors at the NHS who worked hard throughout this pandemic. The Liverpool taxi driver David Perry, who locked a terrorist bomber inside his car to prevent him blowing up the city’s Women’s Hospital in November.
Or the Tory MP Sir David Amess, killed by an Islamic extremist at his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex — a dedicated and dec-ent parliamentarian, who lost his life in the line of democratic duty.
It was also the year Britain said goodbye to Prince Philip (99), a long-standing symbol of honor, responsibility, and service to this country.
For me, the year’s most resonant image was that photo of the Queen at his funeral, a small, stooped figure in black, isolated from her family by Covid restrictions, alone with her grief and her memories.
The mood in the last two years has been captured better than any picture, as many felt overwhelmed by depressing news.
The Queen continued to go on, just like we should. We can only hope for better news in the new year. And here’s to a brighter, sunnier and, above all, healthier 2022.