Many of us can find only one silver lining when we look back over the past year – the fact that it’s almost over.

For many in Britain, 2017 has been marked by tragedy.

Manchester, London Bridge, Westminster and Finsbury Park became targets for terrorst attacks with dozens of people losing their lives and many more being injured.

Everyday heroes – including emergency service workers, taxi drivers, restaurant owners and neighbours with open doors – became beacons of light when they jumped in to help in some of the country’s darkest moments.

The Westminster Bridge attack in March saw PC Keith Palmer knifed to death by Khalid Masood as he guarded the Houses of Parliament.

Masood, who also killed four pedestrians as he drove across Westminster Bridge, was shot dead by armed police just feet from Big Ben.

Three months later, 71 people died when flames engulfed Grenfell Tower in what was the deadliest fire in London since the Second World War.

Six months on from the disaster, more than half of the 223 residents who escaped the fire are still in emergency accommodation and will be homeless for Christmas.

In June a snap election saw Theresa May lose her Tory majority, despite weeks of intense campaigning. Three people in her constituency voted for a man dressed as Sesame Street character Elmo.

She announced the vote as the country faced growing uncertainty over Brexit.

It saw awkward photo opportunities outside chip shops and at children’s centres – always a risky business for politicians desperate to secure votes.

In May, campaigning was suspended in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing which claimed 22 lives – many of them young pop fans – after an Ariana Grande concert.

The Queen led the royal family’s response to the attack, visiting survivors being treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

But as well as showing their solidarity with the victims of the tragedies that took place across the UK, the royals were busy making news of their own.

In September Kensington Palace announced the Duchess of Cambridge was expecting her third child but a bout of severe morning sickness meant she was unable to take Prince George to his first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea in London.

But Kate was back on hand to help Princess Charlotte when the little girl took a tumble on the tarmac during a visit to Hamburg, Germany.

Prince Harry’s engagement to actress Meghan Markle was finally confirmed in November after months of speculation.

And in August, the Duke of Edinburgh attended the Captain General’s Parade at Buckingham Palace as his last solo public engagement.

The case of Charlie Gard attracted much attention as the baby’s parents battled with the courts to allow them to take him to New York for experimental treatment for a rare inherited disease – infantile onset encephalomyopathy mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS).

Charlie died on July 28 shortly before his first birthday, after his parents lost the high-profile legal fight.

Five months later another baby was making the headlines, but this time with good news.

Baby Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who was due to be born on Christmas Eve, became the first baby in the UK to survive being born with her heart outside of her body.

The year also saw the death of a number of well-known faces including Sir Bruce Forsyth, aged 89, and former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness, aged 66.

Globally the news has been similarly chaotic.

It has been less than a year since Donald Trump was inaugerated as President of the United States in January.

In Spain, violent clashes and protests broke out following Catalonia’s vote of independence – which was later deemed illegal.

While allegations of sexual assault and harassment – which began in Hollywood – launched a global #MeToo movement, giving voices to victims of abuse from across the World.

It also engulfed Westminster, where the sexual harassment scandal saw an unverified list documenting harassment by senior MPs inclduing some cabinet members began being circulated on social media.

Tory Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon resigned as a result after admitting his behaviour had ‘fallen below the high standards required’ of his role.

At the beginning of the month, Time magazine announced its prestigious Person of the Year award was going to all the people who stepped forward and spoke up about sexual assault in the weeks following the breaking of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Named the ‘Silence Breakers’, the men and women were honoured as ‘the voices that launched a movement’.

Original Article

METRO

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