Twelve months ago, who would have envisaged millions of oppressed Arabs finally rising up and smashing the shackles of dictatorship throughout the Middle East? Who would have put money on the US assassinating mortal enemy Osama bin Laden after 10 years of hunting? And who would have guessed that Shane Warne would start dating the smoking-hot bird from Austin Powers and begin to resemble a drag queen as a result?
2011 was one hell of a year – 365 days featuring riots, natural disasters, premature deaths and sporting ups and downs. Here, we relive our pick of the events that shaped our world, for better and for worse.
The Arab Spring
The revolution that convulsed the Middle East and north Africa – from Tunisia, to Egypt, to Libya, to Bahrain and on to Syria – was the biggest political story of the year, but the long-term implications of the so-called Arab Spring are still unclear. Indeed, there are radical differences between the countries and in the range of possible outcomes in each.
The tinderbox was first lit in Tunisia at the end of last year when Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor frustrated by the corrupt government, set himself on fire; subsequent protests ended the regime of president Ben Ali. Egypt followed, with 18 days of protest forcing the resignation of president Hosni Mubarak after 32 years in charge. In both countries, the overthrow of the old regimes opened the way for Islamist parties to fill the vacuum and, in Egypt, a second revolution may be required to prise the levers of the state out of the hands of the armed forces.
In Libya, civil war, with western powers intervening on the side of the rebels, was required to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi and, for six months, fighting continued throughout the country before the regime capitulated and Gaddafi himself was captured and killed. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the leader of the Libyan rebels, is the country’s caretaker head-of-state but whether a new civil society can be fused from the ruins of the old one remains to be seen.
In Syria, uprisings continue despite brutal repression authorised by president Bashar al-Assad. Even if his regime is doomed, as it appears to be, there is more bloodshed to come and, at the end of it, the Shia majority may be unwilling to reconcile with the Alawite minority.
These variations in local power structures, bound to ethnicity and tribe, mean there is no guarantee that, once this seismic recalibration of the Arab world’s politics is complete, autocratic rulers will have been replaced with representative democracy or that these countries will even survive in their current borders.
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Riots grip the UK
Ostensibly, the riots that scarred the UK in August were sparked by the police shooting of Mark Duggan during
a botched arrest in Tottenham Hale. But, within days, the riots had spread to different corners of London – Brixton, Bayswater, Hackney, Clapham, Peckham – and beyond. Whatever the cause – some saw it as criminal opportunism, others as the dispossessed kicking against the system – it was clearly not confined to the city’s northern boroughs.
Stores were looted and set alight; police cars were torched and the Met seemed powerless to contain the crowds, the illusion of law and order stripped away entirely. Those who were apprehended and convicted of offences received harsh sentences, but the root causes of the riots remain undiagnosed, let alone seriously addressed.
‘Did you smash it?’
In January, Sky Sports pundits Richard Keys and Andy Gray found themselves in a firestorm of their own making after they were recorded agreeing that assistant referee Sian Massey couldn’t possibly understand the offside rule because, “Women don’t know the offside rule”.
Outrage ensued and more footage emerged of the pair chatting off-air, but with their mics turned on. Keys was recorded in conversation with former player Jamie Redknapp, talking about his ex-girlfriend and asking whether he had “smashed it”, before apparently going on to offer his own answer: “Mind you, that’s a stupid question, if you were anywhere near it, you definitely smashed it. You could have gone round there any night and found Redknapp hanging out the back of it.”
Harry Potter’s final curtain call
It was more than 10 years ago that the first Harry Potter film arrived on the big screen and this year, the franchise, having grossed almost US$8bn (£5.12bn), drew to a close. The seven books spawned eight films – the final instalment, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, split into two movies to wring the maximum drama and takings.
Since the first book was published 1997, Harry Potter has ballooned into a remarkable publishing phenomenon and, although plenty have pooh-poohed the whole thing – too derivative, not literary enough – the final film, released in July, earned better reviews than any of its forerunners. The last scenes, in which Harry throws down against Lord Voldemort while Hogwarts lies smouldering, provided a suitably epic climax to a saga that has captured the imaginations of millions.
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Uncle Sam gets its man
For years, US military personnel insisted Osama bin Laden was either dead already or hiding in a cave somewhere. But, in May, members of the super-secret, super-elite SEAL Team Six found him living in relative luxury in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, within sight of the country’s main military academy.
The Clinton administration tried to catch Bin Laden and failed; the Bush administration gave up, renewed the pursuit after 9/11 and then pretty much gave up again – it fell to a president who, according to his most vituperative critics, was a secret Muslim who was soft on terrorists to catch the man held responsible for the attacks of the World Trade Center in 2001.
The rise of Novak Djokovic
It is wrong to say Djokovic came from the clouds to win three of tennis’s four majors, usurping Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to become the sport’s dominant player. It is wrong, because Djokovic had been an outstanding player for several years. That said, the impetus with which he cleared that final hurdle, burning off two of the all-time greats, was still dramatic.
Federer and Nadal were always going to be surpassed one day, but it could easily have been by a bunch of faceless, topspin-heavy baseliners. Instead, it was by a man who has learned from the masters and, by combining Federer’s all-court game and composure with Nadal’s sheer grunt and athleticism, has further elevated the sport en route to becoming the best player in the world.
Shane 4 Liz
What do we call this celebrity couple? Liane? Shiz? Warley? Hmmm – can’t see those sticking. Given Warnie’s bogan leanings, though, there’s every chance that, should they procreate, these could be potential names for their kids. It’s only 12 months since the first indications that these two had been getting it on but, in October, Shane popped the question and now they’re getting hitched.
Since those opening fumbles, Shane and Liz have been tweeting madly about their blossoming love and Warne (below) is a new man – thanks, supposedly, to male skincare products from Estée Lauder. The highlight – or lowlight – of their courtship was probably the media scrum that gathered outside Warne’s Melbourne home leading up to one of Liz’s visits; in full glare, Warne, ever the gentleman, arranged for a new mattress to be delivered.
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Charlie Sheen goes off the rails
Sheen began the year as the highest-paid actor in television for his leading role in Two And A Half Men but, after being packed off to rehab, he decided he’d had enough of towing the line. In February, in an interview with US network ABC, Sheen, having spoken about the tiger blood in his veins and the magic in his fingertips, spewed forth some of the year’s most quotable quotes, including, “If you borrowed my brain for five seconds, you’d be like, ‘Dude! Can’t handle it, unplug this bastard!’” And, when questioned about his substance use, Sheen replied, “I blinked and I cured my brain”. He was replaced on his show by Ashton Kutcher, but, in the eyes of the millions who followed him on Twitter, Sheen was still “winning”.
Aussies lead world on carbon tax
Julia Gillard government’s decision to pass a landmark carbon tax was the biggest political story to come out of Australia this year, and is one that will have repercussions all the way through to the next election in 2013. The tax, passed in October, will be levied on dirty industries and some of those costs will be passed on to the general public – the average household is estimated to incur extra costs of $10 (£6) per week. But households in low- and middle-income brackets will be subsidised with $15bn (£9bn) worth of tax-breaks during the next three years. For those who believe that governments must intervene to make it more expensive for high-emission industries to do business, it was a courageous step in the right direction.
Rory McIlroy’s record win
It was bumper year for British golf, Englishmen Luke Donald and Lee Westwood occupying first and third spots on the world rankings and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy splitting the pair in third. It was, of course, McIlroy’s record-breaking triumph at the US Open in June which delivered the year’s biggest surprise and the most vivid indication of McIlroy’s sky-high potential.
At 22, he was the youngest winner since 1923 and, in finishing -16, came in further under-par than any other player in history. The rest of his year was slightly indifferent by comparison – he injured his wrist and appeared all at sea in tough conditions at The Open – but his performance in Maryland ensures he will be one of the most closely watched golfers in years to come.
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Occupy movement catches on
In September, protesters from the Occupy movement set up camp in Wall Street, New York, demanding the financial institutions whose egregious risk-taking sowed the seeds of the global financial crisis be held accountable. Their mantra – “We are the 99 per cent” – spread like wildfire and other Occupy demonstrations sprung up in other cities around the world. In London, protesters camped outside St Paul’s cathedral, claiming sacrifices, in the form of public-spending cuts, are being extracted disproportionately from those least able to bear them and that the influence of corporate wealth on electoral politics is profoundly undemocratic. Protesters were evicted in most US cities and, in London, their presence forced the clergy to re-examine their own values. Undoubtedly, a spark has been lit.
Steve Jobs passes away
A computer whiz with a flair for design, Jobs profoundly changed the face of communication technology – when he died of pancreatic cancer, aged 56, in June, geeks all over the world lost their most influential standard-bearer. Jobs co-founded Apple in the 1970s with Steve Wozniak but, after falling out with the board, struck out on his own in 1985. But, by the late Nineties, Jobs was back at Apple, where he became CEO in 2000 and oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and the company’s retail stores. Although Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, he held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney, which he received in Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, which he also co-founded.
Amy Winehouse dies
Winehouse’s singular talent helped reinvigorate British music after the Nineties’ explosion of Britpop and blaze a new trail for female singer-songwriters in this country. Her powerful vocals and willingness to fuse RnB with soul and jazz made her the perfect antidote to manufactured pop tarts but, for years, stories emanating from Camden painted a disturbing picture of Winehouse’s substance abuse. Her appearance changed alarmingly; her live gigs were often erratic; and she was hospitalised following overdoses and mental health issues. And then, in July, she was found dead in her home, the coroner determining alcohol poisoning as the cause. If her death, at age 27, did not come as a complete surprise, it was no less sad a loss for those who loved her music.
Amy Winehouse dies
Winehouse’s singular talent helped reinvigorate British music after the Nineties’ explosion of Britpop and blaze a new trail for female singer-songwriters in this country. Her powerful vocals and willingness to fuse RnB with soul and jazz made her the perfect antidote to manufactured pop tarts but, for years, stories emanating from Camden painted a disturbing picture of Winehouse’s substance abuse. Her appearance changed alarmingly; her live gigs were often erratic; and she was hospitalised following overdoses and mental health issues. And then, in July, she was found dead in her home, the coroner determining alcohol poisoning as the cause. If her death, at age 27, did not come as a complete surprise, it was no less sad a loss for those who loved her music.
Occupy movement catches on
In September, protesters from the Occupy movement set up camp in Wall Street, New York, demanding the financial institutions whose egregious risk-taking sowed the seeds of the global financial crisis be held accountable. Their mantra – “We are the 99 per cent” – spread like wildfire and other Occupy demonstrations sprung up in other cities around the world. In London, protesters camped outside St Paul’s cathedral, claiming sacrifices, in the form of public-spending cuts, are being extracted disproportionately from those least able to bear them and that the influence of corporate wealth on electoral politics is profoundly undemocratic. Protesters were evicted in most US cities and, in London, their presence forced the clergy to re-examine their own values. Undoubtedly, a spark has been lit.
Steve Jobs passes away
A computer whiz with a flair for design, Jobs profoundly changed the face of communication technology – when he died of pancreatic cancer, aged 56, in June, geeks all over the world lost their most influential standard-bearer. Jobs co-founded Apple in the 1970s with Steve Wozniak but, after falling out with the board, struck out on his own in 1985. But, by the late Nineties, Jobs was back at Apple, where he became CEO in 2000 and oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and the company’s retail stores. Although Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, he held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney, which he received in Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, which he also co-founded.
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Christchurch torn apart
In February, New Zealand was struck by its worst natural disaster, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that ripped through Christchurch, claiming 181 lives and inflicting about NZ$30bn (£14.7bn) worth of damage. So far, more than 1200 buildings have been demolished and Christchurch’s city centre has ground to a halt as a consequence. The Rugby World Cup matches that had been fixtured for Christchurch were relocated because of the damage incurred by AMI Stadium, and before rebuilding could begin, the salvage and clean-up went on for months. The New Zealand Defence Force staging its largest operation on home soil, providing logistics, equipment, transport, evacuations and support to other agencies.
Cadel Evans wins Tour de France
There are few more unforgiving sporting events than the Tour de France and Evans looked condemned to finished his career as a nearly-man after placing second in the general classification in 2007 and 2008 before falling away in the subsequent years. But, in July, the 34-year-old Australian became one of the oldest winners in history and the oldest in the post-war era. For once, Evans had a team capable of supporting him and that proved vital as he was forced to hold off the Schleck brothers and three-time champion Alberto Contador, whose horror Tour seemed just deserts for a man with a questionable doping record. Evans does not have the gregarious personality of Australia’s favourite sportsmen but his feat was one of the all-time great performances by an Australian athlete.
Foxy Knoxy off the hook
In October, four years after her flatmate, Meredith Kercher, was brutally killed in her bedroom, Amanda Knox walked free, her murder conviction overturned. According to police in the Italian town of Perugia, Knox, now 24, and her one-time boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, along with a local homeless man, Rudy Guede, had slashed Kercher’s throat in a violent sex game. There were, undoubtedly, improprieties in the case against Knox and Sollecito and, as such, the prosecution’s evidence was eventually deemed insufficient to support a conviction. Still, the nagging question remains – no, not ’did Foxy Knoxy do it?’, but rather, ‘who will pay her in the inevitable Hollywood biopic?
Poms’ Ashes romp sets the tone
The damage was done by the end of 2010 but the last rites were delayed until January. And it set the tone – England went on to conquer all before them en route to becoming the world’s No 1 Test side for the first time, although 50-over cricket remained a mystery. Australia, meanwhile, after appointing Michael Clarke as captain but allowing Ricky Ponting to play on, regained a measure of respect by beating Sri Lanka and managing a miraculous draw against South Africa, before losing a Test to New Zealand on home soil for the first time in 26 years. On the upside, Australia have managed to uncover some promising youngsters, raising hopes that 2012 will be rather less fretful.
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A bit on the side?
Ever since England captain John Terry’s super-injunction preventing media reporting his affair with the ex-girlfriend of a teammate was lifted at the start of 2010, the tabloid press have been snooping around for their next big fish. And, in Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs, they hooked a monster. Initially, they had to tiptoe around identifying Giggs but the allegation that he had an affair with Imogen Thomas, a former Miss Wales and Big Brother contestant, was soon republished on Twitter before being made, and then made, in May, under parliamentary privilege, in the House of Commons. A custom-made red-top scandal, the episode illuminated the use and misuse of superinjunctions. Do they have valid applications or are they merely levers for wealthy footballers to suppress details of their infidelities?
All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup
The All Blacks may have been perpetually excellent for as long as anyone can remember but they’ve always managed to make a hash of it at the World Cup. This time around, though, in front of an adoring home crowd and despite losing star flyhalf Dan Carter to injury, there was no such self-destruction. They flirted with it against the French in October’s final, which was far closer than anyone expected. In the end, for all the reliability of Richie McCaw and Kieran Reid and Jerome Kaino, it fell to the much-maligned Stephen Donald, the fourth-choice flyhalf, to kick the decisive points.
Japan hit by quake, tsunami and meltdown
In March, after Japan was rocked by its most powerful earthquake, which measured 9.0 on the richter scale, its coast was battered by tsunamis, waves reaching heights of 40m in some places. The initial damage was severe enough but the situation became even more perilous when cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant shut down. Although the plant leaked radiation into the air, nuclear catastrophe was largely averted and the engineers, known as the Fukushima 50, who stayed on base to stabilise the plant emerged as heroes. In the final analysis, nearly 16,000 people died, with hundreds of thousands more affected, and overall costs could yet exceed US$300bn (£192bn).
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The royal wedding
Undoubtedly, the hype was over-the-top and induced wedding fatigue in plenty of people. But, in April, the crowds dutifully descended on Westminster Abbey to watch Prince William get hitched to Kate Middleton. About one million people lined the route between the abbey and Buckingham Palace, with millions of others glued to TVs around the world. And afterwards, almost as though the tabloid press realised it might be unbecoming to ogle the future queen, they settled on the next-best thing, elevating Pippa Middleton’s arse to the status of national treasure.
Eurozone crisis
There had been signs of trouble in Greece for the past two years. But, by May, Greece’s debt had continued to soar and its credit rating had been downgraded to CCC, the worst in the world, and the government’s move to impose sweeping austerity measures provoked angry protests. To varying degrees, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Belgium became embroiled in the sovereign debt crisis, prompting some economists to call for the Eurozone, with its shared currency, to be disbanded. Governments scrambled to stabilise the regional economy, leading to the Brussels summit earlier this month, where, by rejecting certain financial regulations as part of a new EU treaty, David Cameron isolated the UK from the rest of Europe. Z
Phone hacking
The whiff of dodginess about the UK tabloid press is nothing new and, certainly, claims that the News Of The World had overstepped the mark while trailing celebrities had been hanging around for ages. No one seemed to care too much, apart from the celebrities – the public, by and large, saw it as part of the Faustian pact between famous people and the media.
By the public mood underwent a seismic shift when, in July, The Guardian reported that Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator hired by the News Of The World, had, in 2002, hacked into the voicemail of missing teenager Milly Dowler, whose body was found six months later. The claim brought unprecedented pressure to bear on Rupert Murdoch’s News International, the proprietors of News Of The World, which was closed as a result.
Murdoch and his son, James, then appeared before a Parliament committee to answer questions about the extent of phone-hacking at their papers and how much they knew about the practice at the time. In a bizarre sideshow to proceedings, Murdoch Sr, who appeared to know little about the way his papers were run, had a shaving-cream pie smashed in his face by an activist.
The fall-out from the phone-hacking scandal continues in the form of the Leveson inquiry into the ethics of the British press – whatever the upshot, politicians from both parties once curried favour with the Murdoch empire but that level of influence will never be restored.
