Portrait of the year | 17 December 2011

January

The government introduced a Health Bill to give control of the NHS budget to GPs. Andy Coulson resigned as head of communications at Downing Street. Prisoners set Ford open prison on fire. Gerry Rafferty, the singer, died, aged 63. Nigel Pargetter fell to his death from the roof at Lower Loxley. A fox weighing 26.5lb, suspected of having killed a cat, was trapped at Maidstone. President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled Tunisia in the face of a popular uprising. Crowds rioted in Cairo. Floods drove people from their homes in Sri Lanka, Brazil and Australia. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman, was wounded by a shot to the head at Tucson, Arizona. Three thousand dead blackbirds fell on the city of Beebe, Arkansas.

February

The government dropped plans to sell off woodland. The Queen caught a train from King’s Lynn to King’s Cross. MPs rejected a European Court of Human Rights ruling giving prisoners the right to vote. NHS provision for old people was ‘failing to meet even the most basic standards of care’, the Health Service Ombudsman said. Downing Street acquired a new cat, Larry. Hosni Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt after protestors occupied Tahrir Square in Cairo. Colonel Gaddafi, the ruler of Libya, called protestors cockroaches, cowards, traitors and rats. Iran said that the 2012 London Olympics logo spelt out the word ‘Zion’. A man eating popcorn noisily was shot dead in a Riga cinema.

March

A small riot followed a TUC demonstration against spending cuts. The Royal Mail issued stamps depicting Lord Voldemort. Dame Elizabeth Taylor died, aged 79. Benghazi broke free from the rule of Colonel Gaddafi. HMS Cumberland, on its way to Britain to be scrapped, rescued people from Tripoli. American, British and French aircraft began to attack targets in Libya following a UN Security Council resolution authorising ‘all necessary measures… to protect civilians’.