ANNUS INCREDIBILIS

The first day of 2022 was marked by the funeral mass of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. And what an emotional year it's been since. We continued to move into a post-COVID world, and we got ready for another FIFA World Cup (no less controversial than the last). But mostly, we watched the United Kingdom as drama after drama unfolded.

There's no doubt the UK dominated world headlines in 2022. The influx (and outflux?) of Prime Ministers gave new meaning to the words "high staff turnover", with Liz Truss being the quickest in and out (so far). One wonders whether they had enough time to change the linen at 10 Downing Street.

In addition to these antics, there was the emotional rollercoaster of the Queen celebrating her Platinum Jubilee - the first British monarch to do so - just months before her passing. The British coin people started making new money with King Charles's face on it, while the American coin people made Maya Angelou the first black woman to appear on US currency. And in the midst of all the changing of leadership (and linen), the UK was also hit with heatwaves unlike anything experienced before.

And to add to its sorrows, the Royal Family had to contend with the latest season of a certain Netflix show… and critics were not amused.

While we weren't watching the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II - the most watched television event of the century - we watched as CODA won Best Picture at the Oscars and Jane Campion became the first female director to receive multiple nominations. But many people will never remember those achievements, thanks to Will Smith walking onto the stage and slapping Chris Rock. He later won an Oscar himself, making his overshadowing of the ceremony and the Academy itself a bit of a… well, a slap in the face.

Speaking of Oscar winners, our very own Charlize Theron made headlines herself this year. In a rather un-award-winning moment, she commented that "about 44 people" still speak Afrikaans. Which is strange, because her comments caused an uproar from many more people than that. Our Elon Musk also gave us reasons to cringe, following mass resignations after his very expensive acquisition of Twitter. And our Trevor Noah announced that he's leaving The Daily Show to focus on his stand-up comedy - which means we'll be seeing him back in Mzansi soon.

To put celebrity slaps and language debates in perspective, we were sobered by the news that the world population reached 8 billion on November 15. New research on the lost continent of Balkanatolia surfaced, reminding us that our planet is more mysterious - and literally even bigger - than we thought.

So what lies ahead in 2023? With a war still going on and growing concern around climate change, there are reasons to look on the serious side of life. But as long as there are celebrities and social media platforms (if Twitter makes it to 2023), there will always be reasons to enjoy the ride.

So happy holidays, stay safe, and let's see what happens next.