Personally, it has been a challenging year with my lovely rescue black Labrador, Norm, nearly crippling me. As I contemplated the importance of quadriceps being attached to kneecaps during four months of immobility and ongoing physio eight months later, it has at least allowed me to put some things in perspective…
Meet Norm; he would say it’s a dog’s life…
The terrible backdrop of events in the Middle East, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the potential resurrection of Trump (it won’t happen by the way but more of that next year…) make you despair about the drivers of human nature. So, as we relax into the festive season, I have reminded myself of some positive news with a little help from http://www.positive.news. It is worth a read on dark days.
2023 saw some major breakthroughs in health. mRNA technology, crucial in combatting Covid, is now driving advances in treatment for a host of illnesses, including eradicating certain types of cancer. 3D printing and the power of AI will hugely speed up drug discoveries with development times falling from decades to just c 3 years. There is now a clear pathway for ending Aids transmission by 2030, and the approval of a new malaria drug could save thousands of lives annually, many of them children. Finally, there is now real optimism for a new generation of treatments for Alzheimer’s.
On climate change, each COP gathering shows some teeth in combatting global warming, this year even when held in the oil rich United Arab Emirates. An explicit statement about transitioning away from fossil fuels was agreed, and climate reparations became a reality with the launch of a loss and damage fund. Even China’s emissions are forecast to start falling in 2024. Nobody benefits from climate change, even the most competitive of global superpowers.
In Brazil, there has been a huge turnaround in reducing deforestation now the vile President Bolsonaro has gone, and whilst the list of endangered species continued to grow, several species stepped back from extinction. The golden lion tamarin in Brazil, the scimitar-horned oryx in Chad, tigers on the rise in India and Nepal, golden eagles soaring in Scotland and blue whales returning to the waters off Seychelles. Finally, under the auspices of the UN, after 20 years of negotiation, 200 nations signed a legally binding agreement in September to protect 30% of oceans outside national boundaries.
Lastly on basic human rights, as some parts of the world go crazy, notably Russia, barriers were broken down to same-sex partnerships in Nepal, Latvia, Peru and South Korea. More work needed in Africa though…
So, 2023 was not all bad and let’s hope that continues into 2024 with three quarters of the democratic world facing elections. Norm and I will be watching events closely with predictions shared in January. Obviously, the correct ones will come from me and the bad calls from Norm. It’s a dog’s life…
Merry Christmas!
Inside Right Politics 