Reaction 2020 awards: the winners unveiled
For weeks now I have been preparing a newsletter for Reaction subscribers on the denouement of the Brexit negotiations. And for weeks the two sides talked on, with the British and EU negotiating teams trying to get a deal over the line. This was the political equivalent of a final push by the forwards in rugby with 79 minutes gone on the clock after 37 phases of play. It is close, apparently.
So, while we wait for a result, the Reaction team is delighted to present our 2020 awards.
The fiendishly complex judging process, conducted via Zoom, must remain a secret, I’m afraid. The judges insist on privacy. We have opted for a policy of zero transparency.
Politician of the Year
Joe Biden. A clear winner, after several recounts and a failed attempt to take it to the Supreme Court. The judging panel was keen to highlight that although the Reaction editor had expressed scepticism about Biden’s suitability as a candidate, describing the Democrat at one point as “completely hopeless”, Biden is about to become President of the United States. He won. Clearly not so hopeless, after all. The Reaction editor responded that because of Covid making it all but impossible to travel to the US, his judgment had been tainted this time by the inability to do any on the ground reporting in an election year. One of the judges claimed that the editor’s previous trips to the US in earlier electoral cycles had mainly involved hanging out in Washington with politicians and think tank people and in assorted bars in nice parts of Manhattan with Reaction subscribers generally “taking the temperature” over cocktails. The editor denied this. There was then some mild harrumphing about whether Biden would be any good as president, but it was agreed that this question is for next year. In 2020 Biden had overseen a highly impressive campaign effort, raising the money, getting the message right, building a giant coalition of voters and defeating Trump, thus proving that American democracy works. It was also noted by the judges that the US election, for all its flaws, is a damn sight more impressive than the Chinese presidential election. Oh, wait, hold on, there isn’t a Chinese presidential election, because China is run by totalitarians.
Most annoying politician of next year
A lot of contenders and the judges risked being overwhelmed by the sheer range of choice. But Kamala Harris is the clear winner. The judges noted that there is just something self-satisfied about the conduct and social media persona of the incoming Vice President. “Will be mildly irritating by February and then extremely annoying by September,” was how one judge put it. Another judge disagreed, describing Harris as a “superstar.” Our American judge was unimpressed though: “Kamala is a gift to the Republicans, roll on the mid-terms in 2022.”
Unsung national heroes award
The shortlist here included “capitalism”, Dilyn the Downing Street Dog, and 1990s model Caprice for her early call for a lockdown on the Jeremy Vine Show on Channel Five. At the time, Caprice was widely derided for her comments, and then a few weeks later lockdowns and masks and flight bans became the global policy consensus. But the winner is a sub-section of the capitalism nomination. The winner is supermarkets and supermarket workers. It was possible to think, in early March, that the coming Covid apocalypse would bring about the collapse of the food supply system. It didn’t. They got little applause throughout a difficult 2020, yet every day the supermarket teams supplied and stocked the shelves, keeping the country going.
Persons of the year
Everyone involved in the vaccines effort, from the scientists who restored faith in the capacity of humankind to get great things done at speed, to the private Pharma industry, quicker regulators, in Britain the Vaccine Taskforce chaired by Kate Bingham, and now doctors and nurses vaccinating as we speak. God speed.
The Marcus Rashford Award for being Marcus Rashford
Only one possible winner here. The young footballer took on the government on his “free school meals in the holidays for deprived youngsters” and won. “Gives you hope for the future,” said one of our judges. Rashford was wrong on the substance, noted another judge, but sincere and operating in a public-spirited manner. Redesigning the benefit system in this way, said another, was unwise. But what a campaigner Rashford is. Watching him dribble the ball around his opponents, metaphorically, leaving some politicians and journalists so stunned that they made the schoolboy error of criticising him, thus leaving themselves open to opprobrium, was one of the high points of the year.
Matt Hancock of the year
The award can only go to Matt Hancock.
The most infuriating tweet of the year
Perhaps the most hotly-contested category this. The judges were overwhelmed by the volume of entries, and several admitted that they have suffered trauma this year from overuse of social media. Too many winners to list here, but well done to everyone who took part.
Best non-vaccine news of 2020
The steady turning down of the volume on soon to be former US President Donald Trump. “Since his defeat, entire days pass, sometimes two or three in a row, and I don’t have to think about Donald Trump and what he has said. It is bliss,” said the chairman of the judges.
MP of the year
A split judging panel resulting in no award this year. One quarter of the panel of judges thought that all MPs should be arrested, for a variety of non-specific reasons. Others defended the idea of MPs in general but not in particular and blamed the public instead. The chairman of the judges attempted to point out that there are many hardworking, dedicated MPs just getting on with it, but there was then a Zoom fight and a fight over whether to move to Speaker or Gallery mode. Soon, the internet connection broke down. A new Zoom invite was sent, whereupon it was agreed that moving on to the next category would be for the best.
Peer of the Year
Lord Frost, Britain’s chief negotiator in the Brexit talks. While the judges expressed concern about aspects of Lord Frost’s tailoring, especially after that shot of him and a crumpled Boris Johnson standing alongside the immaculately attired von der Leyen and Barnier, they decided to cut Frost some slack on the basis that it has been a long year. Why is Frost the winner? Everyone has an opinion on whether the British chief negotiator has done a good job. Hardline Brexiteers thought he should make no concessions at all, ever, an implausible position. Ultra-remainers thought he should have offered to surrender to the EU, signing the surrender in a railway carriage in a forest in northern France. Instead, Frost stuck with it. Through the Cummings crisis and months of provocation he kept on negotiating, calmly, seeking a resolution. Peer of the year, until we read the deal, is Lord Frost.
Press conference performance of the year
The journalists on the judging panel stressed that one of the most unwelcome developments of 2020 has been the live screening of Covid press conferences, enabling the general public to watch, at length, journalists at work. The public were appalled. The judges recognised that not all journalists behaved badly, just a substantial minority by asking questions such as: “How can you look at yourself in the mirror and when you are not doing that how do you sleep at night?” But the press conference of the year award goes to Dominic Cummings, following his trip to Barnard Castle. The scene in the Downing Street garden was bucolic. This was old England in high summer. The Lark Ascending might as well have been playing in the background. Cummings stepped up, as though arriving in the beer garden of a nice old boozer. The media was determined to get him, but Cummings took an unprecedented step that stunned and outfoxed his tormentors. Dom was polite; he was coherent; and he answered the questions. Could this catch on? Sadly, it did not. Cummings was out of Downing Street in November following a row about which already no-one can remember the details, save that it had something to do with Carrie, Boris and Dilyn the dog.
Reaction subscribers of the year
All of you. Thank you from the Reaction team. It is thanks to your continued support that we have grown this year. In difficult circumstances mid-crisis our journalists have done a great job providing news, commentary and analysis. There is much more to come next year, when Reaction is expanding. All very exciting. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas.