2020 HAS been a tough year for many people around the world – not only due to the pandemic, but also continued war, strife and global inequality.
Throughout the year, we’ve aimed to cover as many of these issues as we can here at Redaction Politics.
We’re still a young publication – and we cover issues not for monetary purposes, but to educate on underreported issues.
Thank you so much once again to everyone who has read our work and supported us throughout this year.
As promised in our Christmas newsletter, here are our five most viewed stories of 2020 – starting from the top down.
1) Spitting Image is back – and it’s pulling no punches with its savage satire
After a lengthy hiatus, the popular British political satire show Spitting Image returned to the small screen to lambast the privileged and the powerful with its famous caricature puppets.
Journalist Charlie Smith reviewed the first episode of the revived series – and considered how it compared to its original run.
It was always going to be a tough act to follow. The classic portrayal of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher remains highly iconic.
But in spite of a few hits and misses, the new show is in great form poking fun at the current Conservative cabinet – including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Priti Patel and Matt Hancock.
2) Corbyn warns of looming threat of war between United States and China
Political scientist Graham T. Allison wrote a recent book titled ‘Destined for War’, in which he considers the prospect of the “Thucydides Trap” – the idea that when a rising power challenges a dominant power, there is a high probability it will lead to war. His book focused on whether it would apply to China’s rise and challenge to US hegemony.
Speaking at a Stop the War Coalition webinar, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned about the risk of conflict between the world’s two largest economies and raised several possible scenarios in which such a war could be triggered.
He said: “Anyone who wants to read the history of where trade wars lead to – read the history of the collapse of empires into war in 1914 which was in part about commercial interests around the world.”
3) New party in British Columbia aims to shake up the province’s political establishment
Climate change remains an ever present threat to humanity.
In recent years, as public consciousness for the dangers of global warming have grown, so have political movements aiming to solve the climate crisis through policy action.
Scott Costen reached out to the leader of one such party – the newly founded British Columbia Ecosocialists – who declared that they want to make Greens and New Democrats in the province “terrified that they will lose their job.”
Canada is not the only country to see a fresh regional political party hit the scene in 2020.
Reporter Kit Roberts spoke to the leader of the Northern Independence Party, a political movement that wants to create an independent north of England named after the historic kingdom of Northumbria.
The North/South divide has been a long-running talking point in British political discourse, and the new party’s leader Philip Proudfoot told Redaction Politics that the Covid-19 pandemic has only served to further highlight this social and economic disconnect.
He said: “It’s something that a lot of people from the North feel and experience. For us the North/South divide is a lived reality, something that forms our actual experiences and our encounters with other people in England. It’s always something we know is there but never see it.”
The Covid-19 pandemic hit the world hard and fast in the opening months of 2020, with governments around the world scrambling to work out their response to the crisis.
Redaction Politics spoke to Danny Quah of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, who said, “the US and UK can still go a long way at better protecting their people with thoughtful measures that better safeguard health and public wellbeing, even shy of a total economic shutdown.”
2020 was Redaction’s first full year, and we’ve brought you exclusive coverage of elections, protests and events from all over the world – but we need your help.
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We wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year. Here’s looking forward to a better 2021.
Redaction Report 