The year in pictures: 12 striking images which sum up 2022

published 31 December 2022

Explore More

January

Local performer Robert Burck, known as the Naked Cowboy, plays in Times Square amid the snow in New York. The northeast of the US was “walloped by a fierce winter storm”, which dropped more than 2ft of snow on some areas “while packing high winds”, said Reuters.

February

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, images of “tearful goodbyes” began to emerge as women and children were forced to flee the country by train, leaving their husbands and fathers behind to fight in the war, said ITV News. “The unfolding crisis has torn families apart.”

March

Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe finally arrive back in the UK. Six years after she was first detained in Iran, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “reunited with her family, hugging and kissing her seven-year-old daughter in emotional scenes at RAF Brize Norton”, said The Guardian.

April

Amber Heard appears at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Virginia. Millions watched the actor’s “blockbuster” libel battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp, which represented “the most high-profile airing of Hollywood’s dirty laundry in years”, said The Sunday Times.

May

A Ukrainian police officer stands inside a school gymnasium in the village of Vilkhivka near Kharkiv after it was retaken from Russian forces. For the West, Vladimir Putin’s invasion has become the “biggest test of its power and integrity in the 77 years since Nazi Germany surrendered”, said Foreign Policy.

June

At the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, four-year-old Prince Louis “delighted crowds” and stole the show, said Harper’s Bazaar. “In scenes that will have no doubt drawn a knowing smile from parents everywhere”, the young royal was “seen pulling a series of faces and refusing to co-operate for his mother”.

July

Boris Johnson announces his resignation outside 10 Downing Street on 7 July. After a turbulent term in office, he ended his speech amid clapping and cheering with the words “Hasta la vista, baby”.

August

China’s army and navy conduct a military drill in Zhangzhou City, Fujian province. The “massive intimidation effort” came after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the disputed island of Taiwan, said the South China Morning Post. As the largest display of force since 2016, it “established a new baseline that could see China’s military respond ever more aggressively to future perceived transgression”, said the paper.

September

The newly crowned King Charles III and members of the royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II after her state funeral at Westminster Abbey. The death of the monarch, aged 96, at Balmoral Castle triggered a ten-day mourning period.

October

Just seven weeks after Liz Truss was named prime minister, she was out of Downing Street and replaced by former chancellor Rishi Sunak. With five prime ministers in just over six years, Britain has seen “the fastest turnover in new occupants of 10 Downing Street for nearly a century”, said The Independent.

November

A woman at the World Cup match between Wales and Iran holds up a football shirt with the name Mahsa Amini, a reference to the 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman whose death sparked months of protests in Iran. Amini was arrested by morality police, who accused her of breaching their strict dress codes.

December

Mauna Loa, the planet’s largest active volcano, “stirred to life for the first time in nearly 40 years”, said Discover magazine. “Dramatic imagery” of the Hawaiian volcano’s “breathtaking” eruption showed lava fountains “as high as 13-story buildings” and rivers of molten rock flowing down the mountainside.

Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.