Reflections on the Year in Review
Another year over, and a new one just begun. My opening line is the first and last reference to John Lennon of this piece, and I expect any other. Yet, this was a year in keeping with the current trajectory: overwhelmingly bleak with a few currents of hope sprinkled in as a lifeline to those who do not like what they see.
I hosted the latest episode of our podcast series, and while my regular co-pilot, Luke Perry, was otherwise engaged, it was Mario Laghos who carried the discussion.
Mario and myself are prone to healthy disagreement. The sort that makes for good viewing, and does not harm the friendship we've formed. Any regular listener of the podcast would know this by now.
And so, when we sat to record the end of year special, The Year in Review, I was aware that at some point in the road ahead sat a mild landmine (though where, I did not know).
It could have been the general retreat of the Covid regime, in the name of a new current thing, said new current thing, the uncertain future of cryptocurrency, or any other matter that we discussed.
Rather, I found the session to be business as usual. In a mirroring of the recent online clashes between Peter Hitchens and Carl Benjamin; the centre of our differentiation was to be the solution to Britain's seemingly existential decline, her loss of faith.
While I am of the opinion that England is my home, and the home of my forebears; he is of the view that England is to be treated like a sinking ship, with a tropical, high-trust lifeboat mere feet away.
It has been a year since the last restrictions against Covid were walked back, and it seems that at long last the public appetite for legal and social masochism has subsided. The war in Ukraine has dominated headlines, and seemingly the American federal budget, since February, and will likely do so long into 2023.
This year saw three prime ministers and two monarchs. Cryptocurrency felt its biggest blow yet, with the dreaded 'central digital currency' now in gestation.
An early tangent in the show, as we are wont to do, was into the question of polarity and multi-polarity. Every year, it seems, does more to undermine and disprove the 'end of history' narrative. And while the 'clash of civilisations' approach may too be folly, it is clear that the American century is limping to a close.
While Mario and myself disagreed in good faith on the ramifications of the Covid regime, what rests on the conflict in Ukraine, and how seriously one should take the prospect of digital currency, we do agree on one salient thing; things might get worse before they improve.
Listen to The Year in Review here.
