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Welcome to Declassified, a weekly column wanting on the lighter facet of politics.
That is the final Declassified of 2021. See you in 2022, which is able to both be higher or a lot, a lot worse.
What’s one of the simplest ways to navigate a pandemic? Try to fake it’s not taking place, it seems.
This week a survey of the world’s most admired folks had podcaster Barack Obama in first place for males, and the star of Netflix kids’s collection “Waffles + Mochi” — Michelle Obama — within the high slot for ladies (each additionally topped the identical ballot in 2020).
Older readers could keep in mind the time the Obamas spent within the White Home a lifetime in the past (or so it feels).
Sadly for Europe’s political leaders, none of them made the record (though Angela Merkel — who completed eighth — was nonetheless German chancellor when the polling was carried out, simply not when the outcomes had been launched). The lists solely comprise 20 names, so possibly we’ll by no means know if Charles Michel was only a few votes away from making the reduce or if Ursula von der Leyen was oh so near displacing New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern or Chinese language actress Yang Mi and getting onto the record.
Nonetheless, EU nemesis Vladimir Putin — whose sending of troops to the border with Ukraine was on the agenda of not one however two top-level conferences this week — got here in at quantity 9 and world nemesis Donald Trump completed thirteenth.
If ever there was an illustration that we dwell in unusual occasions, it’s that in sixth place on the boys’s record was Elon Musk, who was additionally this week named Time journal’s individual of the yr. That’s proper, a person who as soon as live-tweeted himself taking a shit was deemed a very powerful individual of the yr.
But when not Musk, then who ought to have been named individual of the yr? Dolly Parton certainly must be a contender. All docs and nurses? Everybody who labored on coronavirus vaccines?
There must be a controversial alternative on any record, so how in regards to the Italian man who wished to get his COVID go however didn’t need the vaccine, so turned up for his jab sporting a faux arm! Or maybe the American air passenger who employees consider was breastfeeding her cat on a flight! Or whoever took half in Boris Johnson’s lockdown-busting quiz and determined to call their crew Prof. Quiz Whitty!
A giant spherical of applause for 2021, all people!
CAPTION COMPETITION
“Two cops: one’s idealistic, the opposite’s a rule-breaker. Coming quickly to Netflix … Manu and Vik.”
Are you able to do higher? Electronic mail [email protected] or on Twitter @pdallisonesque
Final week we gave you this picture:
Thanks for all of the entries. Right here’s the most effective from our postbag (there’s no prize aside from the reward of laughter, which I feel we are able to all agree is much extra invaluable than money or booze).
“A giant hand for the brand new chancellor,” by Tom Morgan.
Paul Dallison is POLITICO‘s slot information editor.
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