Portrait of the year | 8 December 2016

January

The cost of an annual season ticket from Cheltenham to London rose to £9,800. Oil fell below $30 a barrel, compared with more than $100 in January 2014. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that once his negotiations with the EU were done, ministers could campaign for either side in the referendum on Britain’s continued membership. Junior doctors went on strike for 24 hours. In Germany, women protested in the street after gangs of men of Arab or North African appearance assaulted dozens of women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. David Bowie died two days after releasing an album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday.

February

The World Health Organisation declared the Zika virus a global public health emergency. Junior doctors went on strike for another day. Boris Johnson came out in favour of leaving the EU. King Abdullah said that Jordan, with 1.4 million refugees from Syria, needed help. About 110,000 migrants crossed the sea to Europe in the first six weeks of the year. Senator John McCain said that President Vladimir Putin of Russia ‘wants to exacerbate the refugee crisis and use it as a weapon to divide the transatlantic alliance and undermine the European project’. The Pope met Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Havana. Saudi-led coalition forces fought Houthi rebels in Yemen.

March

The Metropolitan Police closed Operation Midland, an investigation since 2014 into alleged child abuse by prominent people, after no evidence was found. The Liberal Democrats embraced legalisation of cannabis. Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart jointly headed the Vote Leave campaign. Iain Duncan Smith resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary two days after the Budget. Tata, the Indian conglomerate, decided to sell its steel business in Britain. President Putin said he was withdrawing the ‘main part’ of Russian forces in Syria. The EU promised Turkey €3 billion for accepting back illegal migrants.