The Saturday List #359 - Ten things that changed this week

 They say that a week is a lifetime in Politics. A week ago, we had a Queen and Boris Johnson was Prime Minister and Thomas Tuchel was the boss of Chelsea. That seems like a lifetime ago. Whatever Liz Truss thought she'd be doing today, I doubt she thought she'd be chatting to King Charles III today. Her appointment as Prime Minister was perhaps the least surprising event. I've never known a week like it. I honestly thought that the big news this week was Chelsea's sacking of Tuchel, that's what I thought the Mill Hill Boys would be discussing at our Friday night curry at the Mill Hill Tandoori.

I thought that this warrented a list for posterity. Here are the ten things that changed,

1. Boris Johnson resigned as PM.

2. Liz Truss was formally recognised as Prime Minister by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

3. The four great seats of office were announced and for the first time ever, there was not a white man amongst them.

4. Chelsea sack Thomas Tuchel, Champions League winner. 

5. Graham Potter resigned as Manager of Brighton FC.

6. He Majesty Queen Elizabeth passed away.

7. King Charles III becomes king.

8. Prince William becomes the Prince of Wales.

9. The Football Association cancels all Football in England and Wales for the weekend.

10. The Francis Crick institute announces that they've discovered how air pollution causes cancer.

I suspect that you were reading through the list and nodding, perhaps thinking "this guy is too interested in football", thinking "I know all of this", etc. And then you got to point ten. In some ways, this will be the most important news for many of us. This is a crucial breakthrough and hopefully one that will save a lot of lives and alleviate a lot of suffering. So in this tumultious week, when many things were thrown into chaos, there is some very good news. As someone living with cancer, I follow the subject and am always delighted with good news. I daresay that in 50 years time, the events of this week will still be discussed, however this will not be mentioned. Hopefully though the practical effects of it will be the real legacy of the week.