2022 in Review

It's been a strange year again, with not enough live performances in the mix yet.  I've already given my Awards for Film, Television and Theatre for 2022 here, so this is about other stuff that happened this year I didn't want to forget (and some things I maybe did).   The year started off with pretty low expectations and in many ways it managed to underdeliver, but there were some high spots too if you look hard enough.

My fantasy children

This was the year that I discovered mum-crushes.  I'm used to the usual sort, but I now follow more actors with a proud parent vibe than I do with any light lusting.  This is a worrying development and I fear it confirms that I have got old.  The main objects of my new affections this year have been the casts of Stranger Things and of course Heartstopper.  It's so exciting watching actors at the beginning of their career, when you can see all the potential starting to be realised.  For example, Joe Locke absolutely killing it in his first job as one of the two leads in  the multiple award winning Heartstopper,  in his second job he is award nominated for his performance in The Trial at the Donmar, his third job is male lead in a new Marvel production alongside Kathryn Hahn at just 19 years old.  And just as an aside in his spare time, persuading the Manx government to scrap some outdated anti-gay legislation.  So proud!!   And Yasmin Finney moving on to play the new Rose in Dr Who or William Gao playing sellout gigs with his band.   

And then, there are the ups and downs of watching your babies fly and sometimes getting into scrapes; the prime example of this has been Kit Connor .    At just 18, he is boyband famous, GQ Man of the Year alongside Joe Locke and an Emmy award winner for his Heartstopper performance so I imagine his agent's phone has been ringing off the hook, but he is also just a teenager, trying and failing to keep his private life private as he tried to stay unlabelled.   I am still quietly cheering to myself at his playing of social media in the midst of the storm about his sexuality, posting a clickbait photo of himself (ripped and at the gym) on Instagram late at night, causing a huge internet ripple so that no-one noticed him deleting Twitter and Spotify. If that wasn't a 'Fuck you' at the trolls I don't know what is.  It was a master stroke so while I will continue to follow at a safe distance, I think/hope this one of my many fantasy children will be ok.  

Music

This was the year I finally converted my ancient free Spotify account into a subscription, and I haven't looked back since.  Although the Spotify Wrapped feature is very creepy re data-mining, it correctly showed that I had been dashing about wildly recollecting music all over again to recreate my playlists.  As a result, my Kitchen Dancing and Kitchen Karaoke has increased in frequency and volume, which I think is a good thing but the cats and neighbours may not.

I've discovered plenty of new music, although as it is far too easy to just click the 'like' button, I often can't find it again as I don't know who it was by.  Having said that I have added a new band called Wasia Project to my frequent listening list - if they become famous you heard it here first.    Having never paid attention before I found that Taylor Swift has witty lyrics that are good for Kitchen Karaoke, and I have a new rhyme that makes me laugh every time it pops up 'You gave her your sweater, it was just polyester'.  Let me know if you find out which song it is from!

Books

I've had a bit of a mixed year in reading - is it just me that has phases where I just can't do it?  But anyway, this year there have been a few standouts.  

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead :  I loved this meandering great novel, with Marian and Hadley's intersecting stories.   Marian is such a great character, and it reminded me a bit of Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger, in highlighting how little we all know of each other's lives really, and what is lost between generations.  Lovely.

Book of Dust 2: The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman:  This series is filling in gaps in Lyra's life.  Where book one, La Belle Sauvage, was a prequel, this picks up in the aftermath of His Dark Materials.  There's loads to look at in terms of new adventure and things to explore, but what continues to grab my heart is the relationship between Lyra and Pantalaimon.  Still waiting for that happy ending.

Hagseed by Margaret Atwood:  A reworking of The Tempest in the form of a vengeful bereaved and slightly ridiculous director, I loved the sensitive look at grief but also, perhaps a bit cornily, the limits and power of redemption to be found in theatre and stories.  It was funny too!

English Pastoral: An Inheritance by James Rebank:  A close up look at a family farm over three generations, this is an indictment of the way farming and treatment of the environment has developed over the past century.  Powerful, sad and beautiful, a call to arms to find a better way of doing things, and with practical ideas about what that would mean.  I keep going back and rereading bits which make me sad and angry in equal measure.  

The Incredible Human Journey by Alice Roberts:  This book is probably a bit out of date now in terms of research and current thinking but I loved this exploration of how humans spread, retreated, regrouped and reinvaded around the world.   

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers:  A story about an apparent virgin birth in post war suburbia in the days before DNA testing.  Quietly funny and moving in exploring the limitations of women's lives in this period, but also has a sweet romance as well as the underlying mystery to be solved.

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez:  The subtitle is 'Exploring data bias in a world made for men' and this amazed and made me angry.  From the irritations that phones are made for men's hands as the standard, to the fact that women are still often excluded from medical trials, with men as the default, with the result that not only might drugs not work on women, but drugs that might be effective for women are excluded at the early stages.  Which leads to thinking about the default white male that the world has been built for and the pushback against any challenge  to that. Also, what about race and age too?  Still so much to do and so many angry white men to get past.

Crossfire by R D Nixon: We read this thriller as one of our book club reads and most of us have gone on to read the next in the series.  Great characters and a suitably complicated plot meant it was devoured far too quickly.

Travel

This was the year I got to go on holiday again.  I just had two trips but it was amazing to get away from home again.  

My trip to Florence was my first time to the EU since you know what happened.  Arrival wasn't too messy, but the departure was a bit grim, being banished to the non-EU departure area at the airport.  Apart from being slightly embarrassed to be British, we had a lovely time with art, architecture, food and generally wandering about.  I hadn't expected to be moved by Michelangelo's David but I was, and loved coming face to face with Caravaggio's Medusa.  I have to say though, that I have seen enough Madonna and Child paintings to last me a lifetime. 

Please can we just have free movement again though?  I can live with the blue passports if that's what it was all about.

UK politics 

Despite having a keen interest in politics, this year it has felt like these are the dog days and I've found it hard to find the effort to fight as much.  So,  I deliberately turned my view to fuzzy to save my sanity.  I do still watch the news but in carefully measured portions.  The ongoing language around immigration still makes me shout at the radio and tv every time a journalist or politician says 'illegal asylum seekers' (I will say it AGAIN, there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker, and the reason for the boats is because there is no safe legal route for asylum seekers to use).   Across the world it's clear that governments have no appetite for real protection for the environment or slowing of climate change.  In the UK despite three prime ministers in a year, all of them awful, the shitshow that is Brexit continues, only now apparently nobody is allowed to mention it.  The NHS is in tatters and the largely government made cost of living crisis is bringing huge numbers of families back into proper poverty.  The fact that is is largely only a UK problem is hardly ever mentioned.  You only need to take a quick look at the bonfire of EU regulation and the move to introduce 'Charter cities', plus the nonsensical voter ID legislation to see that our hard won rights are under a determined assault, presumably to grab as much money and power as they can in case they are kicked out in 2024. 

Gender politics and Culture Wars

And then there is the ongoing war against gender and sexual freedom, usually on some spurious 'traditional values' or 'family/women’s safety' nonsense.  To quote the Manic Street Preachers  'If you tolerate this then your children will be next'.  I think we have, and will continue to tolerate it.  The World Cup was a good example of this in 2022, and although I didn't watch the matches, and donated to a few charities in protest, and cheered on Joe Lycett's stand, overall, the media furore vanished far too quickly once the football started. I do shout my outrage fairly regularly on social media, join the odd march, donate to suitable charities and organisations, and I haven't been able to watch the latest iteration of Strike on the telly, because every time I try I am reminded of J K Rowling's enabling of anti-trans hatred.  Not sure that's going to be enough though.

What's coming in 2023?

Let's see what 2023 brings in the way of organising a resistance.... People at an individual level are usually lovely, so I am holding onto that.  Plus, I look at the younger generations who are better educated and more social media savvy than those before.   I am pinning my hopes on Greta Thunberg with her mix of wit, dogged determination and pursuit of the facts, together with the science community and the whole of Gen Z to have the ability and common sense to tidy up the terrible mess that previous generations have left.  In the meantime I just hope to earn my ankle tag under the changes in the Public Order Bill doing something worthwhile.