Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

PoliticsDecember 24, 2021

Politics in 2021: How to describe the year in one sentence?

Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

Last year, we didn’t think it could get any worse … Surprise! As 2021 draws to a close, we asked our pantheon of politics watchers to describe the world this year in one sentence.

Read more from our political year in review here.


The world seems far away.

Gabrielle Baker


Groaning at the seams.

Alex Braae


Increasingly angry, intolerant and hotter than 2020.

Linda Clark


<sips his coffee> “This is fine.”

Andrew Geddis


No energy, not even for sourdough. 

Lara Greaves


*Yelled in an aggressive Italian accent*: Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit.

(Please see this viral meme for the reference.)

Leonie Hayden


I always wondered what it was like to live through the 1970s with inflation, military defeats and a general sense of malaise – and now I know.

Liam Hehir


Polarised.

Annabelle Lee-Mather


The Hangover Part VI.

Toby Manhire


I used an online neural network text predictor to finish this sentence describing the world in 2021 and it said: “I am not going to live to see the world in 2022.”

So lots to look forward to there. 

Danyl Mclachlan


The world became a more unpredictable place in 2021, having failed to learn the lessons of 2020 (providing Covid-19 vaccinations to the world protects everyone) and the lessons of the past 30 years (an economic model based on increasing inequality doesn’t work).

Craig Renney


Upside down and disconnected AF. 

Brooke Stanley Pao


Broken yet fixable.

Shane Te Pou

Keep going!