Review of the Year 2016: a political year like no other

US President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump. Picture: Getty

JANUARY

High winds and heavy rain laid siege to swaths of Scotland as Storm Frank hit. The owner of the historic Abergeldie Castle was forced to evacuate the 16th century tower house after the River Dee swept away land, leaving the property only a few feet from the water.

There was bad news for the North Sea industry after BP announced it was to axe 600 jobs, the equivalent of a fifth of its total workforce in the region. The company said it was taking the step in the face of “toughening market conditions”. A further blow for the economy was dealt by Texas Instruments, the global semiconductor company, which announced a phased closure of its electronics plant in the Inverclyde town of Greenock. The firm said it planned to move production to “more cost-effective” sites in Germany, Japan and the US.

Donald Trump, a man who would go on to dominate the 2016 news cycle, threatened to pull his purported £700m investments in Scotland amid hostility from the British public. Over half a million people backed a petition calling on the billionaire to be banned from travelling to Britain, a protest sparked by his contentious remarks about Muslims.

In a spectacle that had viewers gripped to their televisions, Major Tim Peake stepped out of the International Space Station to complete his first spacewalk. The 44-year-old British astronaut spent nearly five hours in space, although the walk was cut short after US colleague, Tim Kopra, reported water in his helmet. Despite the abrupt ending to his spacewalk, Mr Peake described the experience as “exhilarating”, posting a selfie on Twitter, saying the feat would be “etched in my memory forever”.

Sir Robert Owen’s long-awaited 300-page report following the public inquiry into the 2006 murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko concluded he was the victim of a Russian state-backed assassination and said such an operation was “probably” carried out with a nod from President Vladimir Putin.

The child killer Robert Black, who was convicted of the murders of four children from across the UK in the 1980s, died in prison in Northern Ireland aged 68. The paedophile, originally from Grangemouth, has a long criminal record of sexually abusing young girls.

British Prime Minister David Cameron. Picture: Getty

Tensions among the international community heightened after North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first underground test of a hydrogen bomb, a weapon more powerful than an atomic bomb, although experts cast doubt on Pyongyang’s claim given the size of the explosion.

In a year notable for the losses of major public figures, the month witnessed the death of three of the country’s best loved entertainers. David Bowie, one of the most influential musicians of his era, lost his 18 month-long battle against cancer at the age of 69, Sir Terry Wogan, the radio and television broadcaster beloved to millions, died at his Buckinghamshire home aged 77 and Alan Rickman, a giant of British screen and stage, died in London at the age of 69.

In sport, Serena Williams, one of the most successful tennis players of all time, was at the centre of a major upset at the Australian Open. The US player was defeated by Germany’s Angelique Kerber, denying her an Open-era record equalling 22nd major title. In the men’s final, Andy Murray lost to a dominant Novak Djokovic.

Scotland’s Gary Anderson retained his PDC World Darts Championship title, beating Adrian Lewis 7-5 in the final. The 45-year-old from Eyemouth, known to his fans as the Flying Scotsman, admitted afterwards he may require to have his eyes tested, having twice miscounted scores during the contest.

FEBRUARY

In a historic announcement long-awaited by members of his own party, prime minister David Cameron confirms the UK will vote on whether to remain in the EU in June. “The choice goes to the heart of the kind of country we want to be and the future we want for our children,” he said in an address from outside Downing Street.

A former government minister, meanwhile, was faced with his own challenge after being landed with a legal bill of around £150,000. Alistair Carmichael, the former secretary of state for Scotland, lost a bid to have his legal fees paid after a challenge to his election failed. It followed a court action raised by four of his constituents under the Representation of the People Act 1983, which claiming he misled voters over a leaked memo before the election. Judges ruled it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt he had committed an “illegal practice”.

Bad news also befell Royal Bank of Scotland after it reported a loss of £1.98 billion for 2015, its eighth year of annual losses. The figures also showed that underlying profits at RBS, which is still 73 per cent government-owned, dropped to £4.4bn, from £6bn a year before.

Locomotive enthusiasts gave a warm welcome to a familiar old friend as the Flying Scotsman returned to the West Coast mainline. The famous engine passed through Carnforth and Oxenholme as part of a test run following its decade-long, £4.2m restoration.

In a landmark announcement for British journalism, the owners of the Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers confirmed the titles would cease to print and become online only. At its peak, sales of the Independent stood at around 428,000 copies a day.

One long-running story that has featured in countless pages of newsprint down the years appeared to come to an end in February after a High Court ruled Lord Lucan was now presumed to be dead. A death certificate was issued some 42 years after the peer vanished following the discovery of the bludgeoned body of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett.

Other fantastical news that month came in the form a major scientific breakthrough. A global team of physicists, including staff from the University of Glasgow, announced the discovery of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime that were first anticipated by Albert Einstein a century ago.

The fast-spreading Zika virus led to the World Health Organisation to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

In Hollywood, the drama, Spotlight, which charts the efforts of the Boston Globe newspaper to uncover widespread child abuse by Catholic clergy, saw off the likes of The Big Short and The Revenant to win the Best Picture award at the 88th Academy Awards.

In sport, the footwear manufacturer Nike ended its endorsement deal with the world-renowned Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao, after he made comments about gay people being “worse than animals”.

MARCH

Asad Shah, a shopkeeper in the Shawlands area of Glasgow, was stabbed to death outside his store in a religiously motivated murder. The 40-year-old was an Ahmadi, a minority sect not recognised by all Muslims. His killer, Tanveer Ahmed, a Sunni Muslim, said he killed Mr Shah because he had posted videos online in which he claimed to be a prophet.

Police Scotland launch a murder inquiry after the body of missing 15-year-old Paige Doherty is found in a wooded area in Clydebank.

In Aberdeen, a teenager who stabbed a 16-year-old pupil to death in a school was found guilty of culpable homicide. Bailey Gwynne died after being stabbed in the heart at Cults Academy the previous October. Another 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Aberdeen.

There was troubling news for the economy in the form of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) bulletin for 2014-15, which showed Scotland’s public spending outstripped its tax revenue by almost £15bn. The numbers showed the amount spent per head stood £1,400 per person higher than the UK figure, with the deficit running to almost 10 per cent of Scotland’s output.

With tensions escalating over the Europe question, Iain Duncan Smith dealt a blow to prime minister David Cameron’s government by resigning as work and pensions secretary in protest at cuts to disability benefits. In an attack on chancellor George Osborne’s budget, he said warned of pressure to “salami slice” welfare and said the latest cuts proved a “compromise too far”.

In another horrific terror attack in the heart of Europe, co-ordinated bombings at Zaventem international airport in Brussels and a metro station in the city left 32 people dead and 340 others injured. The militant group IS claimed responsibility for the attacks, which left Belgium reeling. “What we feared, has happened,” prime minister Charles Michel said.

The same month, Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in the jihadist attacks on Paris in November 2015 which killed 130 people, was wounded and arrested in a raid in Brussels. The raid in the district of Molenbeek came after Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found in a flat in another district of the city.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of genocide and war crimes in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. UN judges in The Hague found the 70-year-old guilty of ten of 11 charges, including genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

There were sorely felt losses in the world of entertainment in March. Comedian Ronnie Corbett died at the age of 85, while magician Paul Daniels passed away aged 77. George Martin, the producer of the Beatles and the man Sir Paul McCartney described as a “second father”, died aged 90.

In sport, England claimed their first rugby union Grand Slam in 13 years after holding out to secure a historic victory in Paris in the Six Nations.

With two wins from their five matches, Scotland finished fourth in the standings.

The former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova revealed she had failed a drug test for meldonium at the Australian Open earlier in the year.

APRIL

Seventeen schools in Edinburgh were closed indefinitely over safety fears, leaving more than 7,000 pupils and their parents in limbo. The raft of closures came after new construction issues were discovered in schools which were built or refurbished under a public private partnership (PPP1) deal.

Nicola Sturgeon revealed the deaths of the M9 crash couple, John Yuill and Lamara Bell, were the lowest point in her career as First Minister to date.

As the row over an investment pact between Scotland and China intensified, Ms Sturgeon faced accusations that she had misled the Scottish public

There was further political controversy with President Barack Obama’s visit to the UK as he warned the country would find itself at the “back of the queue” in any trade deal with the US if it chose to leave the EU.

A global story broke in the form of the Panama Papers, an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The data leak engulfed then prime minister David Cameron after it emerged his father ran an offshore fund that avoided ever having to pay tax in Britain. Mr Cameron admitted he owned shares in the tax haven fund, which he sold for £31,500 before entering Downing Street.

Inquests into the Hillsborough disaster concluded that the 96 fans who died in the 1989 incident were unlawfully killed. The jury found the match commander, Chief Supt David Duckenfield was “responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence” due to a breach of his duty of care.

Burdened by debts of £1.3 billion, British Home Stores, one of the UK’s best known high street retailers, filed for administration, putting 11,000 jobs and 164 stores at risk.

There was a major scientific and medical breakthrough in Mexico with the first baby to be born using a new technique that incorporates DNA from three people. The birth of the child, whose Jordanian parents were treated by a US-based team, was welcomed by embryologists around the world.

Professor Stephen Hawking joined forces with Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and billionaire, Yuri Milner, to unveil a £70 million research programme designed to send tiny spacecraft to another star system in the space of a generation. The Breakthrough Starshot initiative hopes to send so-called nanocraft on a journey spanning trillions of miles to our nearest neighbouring star system, Alpha Centauri.

The singer, Prince, widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation, died at his recording studios in Minneapolis. The 57-year-old star, best, known for songs such as Purple Rain and Little Red Corvette, died following an accidental overdose of the painkiller, fentanyl.

At the 80th Masters tournament, England’s Danny Willett pipped American Jordan Speith to the Green Jacket at Augusta, shooting a five under par 67 in his final round to become the first British winner of the prestigious event in 20 years.

MAY

The SNP secured a historic third term in the Holyrood election but failed to secure an overall majority. The SNP won 63 seats, with the Scottish Conservatives replacing Labour as the second largest party.

A mother and her partner were found guilty of murdering two-year-old Liam Fee. Rachel Fee, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 29, denied fatally assaulting Liam, the former’s son. But in a case which shocked Scotland, the jury at the High Court in Livingston found that they had subjected the toddler to an escalating pattern of cruelty during his short life. They were also convicted of a catalogue of abuse against two other children.

The North Sea oil industry suffered another blow after Shell announced it was cutting 475 jobs, with the majority based at its headquarters in Aberdeen. The company said it had taken the decision to reduce its cost base and improve production efficiency.

One of Scotland’s best known golf clubs was widely criticised after maintaining its ban on women members in a vote described as “indefensible” and “embarrassing.” Following the decision by Muirfield’s members, the sport’s governing body, the R&A, said it would not stage the Open at a venue that refused to admit women as members.

Chief Constable Phil Gormley admitted Police Scotland was under financial pressure to provide training for forces in Sri Lanka and the UAE. With the force facing condemnation for its links to countries with poor human rights records, Mr Gormley told the MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee there were “significant” budgetary difficulties.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson revealed she and her partner, Jennifer Wilson, got engaged while on holiday in Paris.

In London, the former Labour MP Sadiq Khan beat the Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith by 1,310,143 votes to 994,614 to become the city’s first Muslim mayor.