Sky News editors pass judgment on 2022 – and what’s next | UK News

It’s been a year of tumultuous change in politics, global relations, science, economics and, of course, the royal family.

But what stands out, and what’s next?

Sky News editors gave their verdict.

Beth Rigby, Political Editor

I’ve been Sky News’ political editor since May 2019, and when I took the job I thought, if I was lucky, I might see a transition or two. Unexpectedly, I saw three prime ministers from Gate 10 in four months. This gives you a perspective on the turmoil.

Collins Dictionary Revealed that the word of 2022 is permacrisis. Which basically means what it’s like to live in a time of war, inflation and political upheaval in 2022.

The past 12 months have been politically insane. I never knew such a thing. But you have to put the political crisis in the context of external global events.

First COVID, then ukraine warand what you can’t predict is what might happen outside of the domestic politics that in some ways define our era.

So, from my perspective, I don’t think we’ll have the same political chaos in 2023 that we had in 2022. But you can’t discount anything about this game anymore. Let’s see what happens with the local elections in May as well.

Listen to Beth’s Year in Review podcast:

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Tom Clarke, Technology Editor

It’s been a bad year for the climate. UK temperatures hit 40CAtlantic hurricanes, catastrophic floods in Pakistan, and a global energy crisis that failed to broker a global climate agreement in Egypt.

The UK even managed to damage its international green reputation by approving a new coal mine – our first in 30 years.

In Silicon Valley, 2021 The Hyped Vision of the Metaverse Almost universally underwhelming.

If Cryptocurrencies Unravel Amazingly, So Too Confidence in Elon Musk as Twitter’s well-known new owner.

But major advances in artificial intelligence, such as OpenAI’s GPT3 DeepMind’s AlphaFold reminds us that technology still has a future.

If COVID subsides, 2022 will prove the power of the vaccine. The greatest vaccine breakthrough of the year was the emergence of a vaccine that was 80% effective against malaria, a huge advance in global health.

But outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and bird flu challenge any suggestion that we can let our guard down to prevent future epidemics.

Listen to Tom’s Year in Review podcast:

Dominic Waghorn, International Affairs Editor

2022 is the year everything changes.

This is not just a war in Ukraine. NATO is effectively fighting Russia with nothing but its own military. No matter how the war ends, this will have huge ramifications.

What is happening in China may be more important. Xi Jinping is now a veritable emperor, to consolidate power indefinitely. A man with a sense of destiny. He wants to reshape the world order in China’s image, replacing the liberal world order that has prevailed under US hegemony since the end of the Cold War.

Battle lines are drawn between East and West, fighting by force in Ukraine, and so far diplomatically between the United States and China, but with Worried it will be upgraded in Taiwan. Dealing with this state of affairs requires the most diplomacy.

A huge struggle is going on. Democracy versus autocracy, freedom versus autocracy. Started by diplomats and thinkers, but also briefly erupted on the streets across Iran and in China.

Its outcome will define the world we live in.

Listen to Dominic’s Year in Review podcast:

Ed Conway, Economics and Data Editor

This has been an extraordinary year – in many short and long term terms.

Whether it is what happened to liz trusswhat happened in Ukraine, and more broadly the question of whether globalization as we know it, How China will achieve zero COVIDand of course energy.

But looking to 2023, I think things will improve because we are (probably) past peak inflation. We may have passed the peak of the Bank of England raising interest rates. The recession might not have to be that bad.

The concern, though, is how it feels in the pockets of specific households — especially when it comes to energy crunch. I don’t know how to solve it now.

But it won’t be grim forever. There’s a huge opportunity here that the world will make it possible to build all these new technologies. We recently heard about nuclear fusion. We hear about all these different ways of making the world a better, cleaner, faster place.

But it takes some work. So it takes a lot of building, it takes a lot of mining to get there.

Listen to Ed’s Year in Review podcast:

Royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills

Looking back on the past three years, they have been extraordinary: the death of Prince Philip, everything that happened to the Sussexes, and the story of Prince Andrew. It’s a roller coaster.

This was supposed to be the year when things returned to normal as COVID restrictions eased, allowing the royals to travel. But the stories and events that unfold, many of us cannot predict.

I’ve talked to people in the palace and there’s a sense of fatigue, a sense of sadness and maybe a sense of anger, Prince Harry and Meghan made their Netflix series.

make an effort to make them feel included death of the queenIn his address to the nation, King Charles spoke of the Queen’s ability to unerringly see the good in everyone.

In the weeks before and after her death, it felt like they were saying, “Look, we’re going to put everything aside … we’re going to form a family united front.” And then Harry and Meghan did just that.

Someone at the palace said to me the other day that in some ways the family is now guided by a motto that the Queen has always lived by: “Look not at your feet…look at the horizon.”

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