Portrait of the year: Lockdown, protests, parties and Matt Hancock’s kiss

January

The United Kingdom found itself in possession of a trade agreement with the EU. Coronavirus restrictions were tightened. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was administered with authorisation for the first time; retired doctors could not vaccinate before undergoing ‘diversity’ training. To prevent vaccines being exported from the EU to Northern Ireland, the EU prepared to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, but soon changed its mind. The Capitol in Washington, DC was overrun by weird people, one with horns, supporting President Donald Trump, despite his electoral defeat. Joe Biden was inaugurated as President a week later.

February

The government promised to legalise the drinking of coffee by two people on a park bench. Captain Sir Tom Moore, aged 100, who raised £32 million for NHS charities, died after catching Covid. The Queen confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could not ‘continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service’. They responded: ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.’ After a military coup in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi was detained. More migrants crossed the Channel on small craft. A meteor flashed through the night and fell apart near Stow-on-the-Wold.

March

The Duchess of Sussex and her husband shared their sufferings with Oprah Winfrey on television; the Duchess said that, three days before her wedding at Windsor, she had been married ‘in our backyard’ by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Buckingham Palace commented: ‘Some recollections may vary.’ Children returned to school. The government annoyed nurses with a 1 per cent pay rise. In a protest in Bristol called Kill the Bill, 500 people set fire to police cars. Greensill Capital went bust; it had backed Sanjeev Gupta, whose Liberty Steel owns 12 plants in Britain. The 1,300ft Ever Given, loaded with 18,300 containers, was freed after a week wedged across the Suez canal.