Farewell to 2024: a stupid, awful year

2024 was quite a ride – 2025 could well bring an entirely new sort of madness, given that Donald Trump will return to the White House, France and Germany’s governments have collapsed into dysfunction and Georgia seems to have two presidents. Democracy: you have to love it.

In 2024, governing parties across the world lost vote shares, while populist parties benefitted from the growing disillusionment with mainstream and traditional parties. The Reform party, Germany’s AfD and the Chega Party in Portugal have all made steady gains in membership.

Young people and their participation in politics will be something to keep an eye on. Slowly and steadily, there has been a rise in young men supporting right-wing, populist parties, while young women favour left wing, Green parties. Nigel Farage’s social media videos decrying the availability of oat milk at hotel tea bars may be cringe-worthy but, as Reform apparently seems to be beating the Conservatives in membership numbers, the strategy of displaying relentless outrage at the modern world might actually be working.

It would be nice to think this was only a short-term boost for populism. Then again, inflation, frustration with immigration and culture war idiocy all contribute to the rise of the populist parties, and these things don’t seem to be going away.

Alongside the nauseating rise in populism, the socio-political battles will continue. The French may have codified abortion rights in the constitution, but the argument over whether a woman should have the right to choose continues to be pushed by commentators on the right. Panic over fertility rates in Europe is driving the use of pro-natalist rhetoric, particularly in Hungary.

It won’t all be bleak, of course. There is momentum for so many rights movements. Gisèle Pelicot’s case, and the trial of her rapists, highlighted the flaws in France’s consent laws, and set off a wave of self-examination in French society. The almost unbelievable horror of what was revealed at the trial will continue to motivate campaigns for legal change, both in France and elsewhere.

Buffer zones introduced in Britain outside abortion clinics show progress in protecting a woman’s right to choose. However, abortion is yet to be decriminalised in the UK, and with abortion rights backsliding in Poland and Italy, it is easy to retreat into cynicism, and into the view that there may not be the political will to push for full British decriminalisation.

And here again is a theme that will arise throughout 2025: establishment politicians will want to fight for progress, but will be constrained by the constant need to fight off populism and social conservatism. In this way, the British government, like governments across Europe, will be pushed and pulled.

Much like 2024, 2025 will be a year of whiplash. A constant tug of jubilation and sorrow. It always feels as though we celebrate a victory, no matter how minor, only for a loss to take its place. Sure, there are more women in politics, but when we are represented by the likes of Kemi Badenoch and Marie La Pen, can that truly be considered a victory? Representation is only effective when those in power wish to benefit the group they represent, and it is unlikely that this will form part of either Badenoch or Le Pen’s New Year resolutions.

2024 was, frankly, a stupid evil year and it felt as though a number of stupid, awful things just kept happening. Will 2025 be the same? My journalist’s instinct tells me we will be kept busy. As a woman – and a black woman at that – I will also be very busy. I do not approach the new year with optimism, but with the feeling that I am a passenger on a plane and the fuel is running low.

All I can say is this – 2025, do your worst.