Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

In defence of 2018

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of Elon Musk, it was the age of Mark Zuckerberg. It was the season of Novichok, it was the season of the backstop. We had WTO terms before us, we had our hoard of food and medicine before us. In short, 2018 was a year as wretched as the one that preceded it.

That’s only half the story, though. As in 2017, there was plenty of good news over the past 12 months. Some of it made the headlines, most of it didn’t. We are on a declinist kick at the moment and nurse our gloom from the intrusion of optimism. By way of a psychic corrective, here are 18 positive stories that came out of 2018.

1) India unveiled the world’s biggest healthcare programme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s free medical scheme, inevitably dubbed ‘Modicare’, will cover the poorest 40 per cent of India’s 1.25 billion population. In a country where the average family spends 60 per cent of its income on healthcare, and where a lack of basic provision is estimated to kill 1.6 million every year, Modicare marks a major stride towards first-world status.

2) In more and more places, love was love

This year saw the state’s claim over the private lives and personal choices of its citizens reduce further. Homosexual activity was decriminalised in India and Trinidad and Tobago. Same-sex marriage became legal in Jersey and civil unions in San Marino while courts in Bermuda and Costa Rica struck down anti gay-marriage statutes and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that member states could not restrict the benefits of marriage to opposite-sex couples. Elsewhere, a referendum to ban gay weddings failed in Romania after only a fifth of the electorate turned out to vote and Hong Kong recognised same-sex partners for visa purposes.

3) The weed got freed

The costly and calamitous War on Drugs continued its slow march to surrender.

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