Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner reflects on how a newspaper founded two centuries ago chronicled the particular ups and downs of 2021
2021 was supposed to be the year when vaccines brought an end to the cycle of lockdowns – a year of parties, concerts, family reunions, weddings, and hugs. And in some ways, it was: freshly armed with shots from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna, many people were finally able to reclaim something of a social life. But 2021 was also a year of highly transmissible new virus variants, governmental indecision, and continued pressure across the economy. In 2021, the much-awaited return to normal proved elusive.
What’s more, the very idea of “normal” was thrown into question. Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner joins Michael Safi to look back on lessons from the year that happened to mark the paper’s 200th anniversary. It was a year when a twenty-year war in Afghanistan came to a cataclysmic end; a year when UK women took to the streets to demand justice after the gruesome murder of Sarah Everard by an off-duty policeman; a year when the English football team surpassed expectations but still faced ugly racist abuse; and a year when nations gathered in Glasgow to push for solutions to the climate crisis.
