INN’s 2022 End of Year Retrospective!

BRIAN SOCKINGTON: Well, 2022 was certainly a year. And while it might not have had the excitement of lockdowns like the previous two, there were more than enough stories to make this year as memorable as any.

SANDY HOSIER: It sure was Brian. So this year, we asked our hard-working INN reporters Rupert Holesworthy, Christina Soleitch and  James Plushfoot to recap their most memorable moments of 2022, as we head into the new year, destined to be just as exciting as this one. 

JAN: The unvaccinated Novak Djokovic was granted a travel exemption to play in the Australian Open, before complaints about double standards by ‘Karens’ all over Melbourne prompted a decision to send the 9-time champion to immigration detention before deporting him from the country, ensuring citizens were kept safe and effective once again. A volcanic eruption near Tonga caused tsunamis around the world, NASA declaring it ‘hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb’, upsetting Al Gore who uses similar comparisons when explaining the effects of climate change.

FEB: Evil Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised ‘military operations’ against Ukraine, for reasons nobody cared about and totally ignored. Millions were displaced and thousands killed in the ongoing war, due to end any time now thanks to unprecedented funding and lethal military aid from all the countries ok with NATO’s encroachment on Russia’s border. Canadian Truckers took to the streets to protest against covid mandates, although people INNformation like myself and Canadian heartthrob Justin Trudeau, had no idea what they were protesting about. The PM showed no sympathy, freezing the bank accounts of protestors until they went home or were imprisoned.

MAR: Actor Will Smith storms the Oscars stage to slap out host and comedian Chris Rock, who made a wisecrack about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head. Big Willie was clearly not amused, even if his wife clearly was. Smith pounced on the opportunity to signal his virtue, committing blatant assault and totally getting away with it, winning the best actor award 40mins later and receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

APR: After a six-week televised trial circus, a jury ruled in favour of Johnny Depp in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife and actress Amber Heard, who claimed the decision “set back the clock” to a time where women who spoke out about violence “could be publicly shamed and humiliated”. Depp’s lawyers suggested that violence needed to actually occur first, and were awarded a total sum of $US10.35 million in damages. 

MAY: Anthony Albanese restored Labor back to power in Australia after almost a decade in the political wilderness. Scott Morrison’s unpopularity pile-on resulted in 17 Coalition seats lost, with treasurer Josh Frydenberg a high profile loser and independent candidates being the real winners. A gunman in Uvalde, Texas killed 19 students and two teachers at an Elementary School. It was the third-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, prompting more much needed conversation and absolutely no gun reform

JUN: The US Supreme Court overturned the ‘Roe v. Wade’ decision which had set a precedent that protected women’s right to have an abortion for almost 50 years. Around half of America’s states are set to restrict abortion rights as protests spread around the country, promoting further political division and absolutely no discourse about the detail or reasoning behind the decision.

JUL: Shinzo Abe was assassinated in Japan by a gunman who walked through a crowd and opened fire on the former Japanese Prime Minister, claiming Abe’s religious beliefs as a motif for the murder, rather than his conservative political ideology. In unrelated news, Covid restrictions (largely avoided by Japan) came to an end in most places around the world, many finding it difficult to return to pre-pandemic life, including the entire United States of America, who continued their travel ban on the unvaccinated – one of the last places on earth to persist with the mandate.

AUG: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is raided by the FBI, looking for classified documents using this heavily-redacted affidavit to obtain a search warrant. The black bars were extremely useful to journalists tasked with interpreting and reporting on the reasoning behind the raids, in much the same way as a choose-your-own-adventure book allows room for interpretation. 

SEP: The ABC’s Stan Grant used the death of Queen Elizabeth II to focus on topics Australians have traditionally been ok with ignoring, such as colonisation, empire, violence, becoming a republic and Aboriginal sovereignty and injustice. It is unlikely that conversations will continue beyond the Queen’s funeral, aside from a scheduled one-day resumption to spoil the coronation of King Charles III next year. Liz Truss’ brief and chaotic tenure as British PM comes to an end after implementing economic measures that led to the world’s 6th largest economy crashing. The Daily Star streamed an unrefrigerated lettuce to see if it would outlast the PM. The lettuce won. 

OCT: Elon Musk takes control of Twitter, initiating one of the greatest examples of INNformation thinking in history. Almost overnight, Musk went from Tony Stark-like, electric car hero, to right-wing, nutjob due to his obsession with freedom and speech and expression, welcoming account back to the platform that had previously been banned for being outspoken on issues such as Covid and Trump.

NOV: The world’s population hits eight billion and counting, but have we hit ‘peak-children?’ Fertility rates are plummeting around the world, with just eight countries projected to be responsible for over half the world’s population increase by 2050. Luckily, 

DEC: The Biden administration released thousands of documents on the President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.  According to the White House, more than 95% of the records are now publicly available, although according to most Americans, this doesn’t include the ones showing Lee Harvey Oswald on the CIA’s payroll. 

BRIAN: Hard to believe we could fit all that into 365 days