Politics:
Ø
The Brexit Referendum was announced by David
Cameron in February 2016.
This was because David Cameron did not agree
with leaving and wanted the people to decide based on their views so he may not
have had to go through with it. In England and Wales the majority voted for
leave which contrasted the majority in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The
referendum was on 23rd June.
Ø
David Cameron resigned on July 13th
2016 leaving Theresa May in office. May was chosen for Conservative Party leader
on July 11th 2016. She is the second woman Prime Minister in the
whole of British history.
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The general election result on 8th
June 2017 resulted in a hung parliament. The Conservatives had 318 seats, with
Labour closely behind with 262.
Royals:
Ø Queen
Elizabeth turned 90 on April 21st 2016.
Ø Meghan
Markle and Prince Harry announced their engagement on November 27th
2017. This was a huge milestone as it was the first person to enter the Royal
Family who was mixed race and from America.
Terrorism:
Ø
On the 16th June 2016, Jo Cox who was
a British Labour Party politician was brutally killed by stabbings and
shootings where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. This was a
political attack as the killer had very far right views, contrasting with her on
the left.
Ø
The Westminster Bridge attack happened on March
22nd 2017. A terrorist drove his vehicle into more than 50 people. 6
people died and 49 were injured.
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In Manchester on May 22nd there was a
suicide bombing using a homemade nail bomb at an arena in Manchester just after
an Ariana Grande concert. 23 people were killed including the bomber, 112 were
hospitalised and 800+ were injured.
Ø
The fourth terror attack of the year was the one
on London Bridge on June 3rd 2017. A van deliberately rammed into
pedestrians and into the Southbank of the River Thames.
The Borough Market attack then happened
minutes after where three people from the vehicle ran to the market and started
stabbing people. 8 people died and 48 were injured. They were all shot dead.
Ø
On 19th June 2017, a vehicle rammed
into pedestrians 100m from Finsbury Park mosque which injured 8 people. One man
died.
Syrian
War:
Ø
In 2016, 3,800 Syrian immigrants died on their
transit to safe countries. It was the deadliest year for them to cross the Mediterranean
as the war is still ongoing.
UK
Issues:
Ø
January 12th was when thousands of
doctors went on strike for the first time in 40 years. Around 4,000 operations
and procedures were cancelled due to this 24 hour walkout. Many more strikes
follow this one to protest for the long hours junior doctors have to work.
Ø
July 3rd 2016, Andy Murray won
Wimbledon. It felt extra special for Murray and for the whole country. It was a
back and forth match with no promise as to who would win so was a surprise when
he did.
Ø
In late 2016 and through 2017, the football sex
abuse scandal developed. It had been found that football coaches to young
players had been sexually abusing them. The abusers were revealed to have been
named and convicted before.
Ø
In 2016 and through 2017, the era who had moved
to Britain through the wind rush generation, were facing deportation. This was
huge throughout the country as these people were the first huge population to
be moved legally to England.
Ø
On 14th of June 2017, in a tower
block in Grenfell, a huge fire broke out. The tower block was 24 storeys high
which resulted in the deadliest structural fire in the UK since 1988. This was
huge news as many all of the people lost their homes and 72 lost their lives.
It also caused outrage because people believe it could have been easily
prevented if the structure and features were different.
Ø
There was a huge controversy on July 28th
2017. This was when an 11 month old boy sadly passed away. It was controversial
because the hospital didn’t agree towards experimental treatment wheras the
parents did. In the end the infant boy had his life support turned off after
his parents losing all of their court battles.
Ø
In 2016, the Olympics proved highly successful
for the GB team as they won 67 medals with the most being gold.
Youth Aggression:
Ø
In 2016, the numbers of acid attacks done by
teenagers had risen significantly with London being the worst city.
Trump election:
Ø
On November 8th 2016, Donald Trump
became the US President. Many people disagree with this as the way he speaks
about women is distasteful and rude and how he has no political past just a
business one.