Time Person of the Year 2016

Snickers Man

It's November already and doubtless the worthies at Time Magazine are considering their candidates for the title of Person of the Year for 2016. This award goes to the person who "for better or worse has done most to change the world in the past 12 months".

The "or worse" qualifier helps explain why previous winners include Hitler, Stalin (twice) and Ayatollah Khomeini. As well as various popes and Nobel Laureates etc. But who are the likely contenders for this year so far?

I think you might have to put Nigel Farage up there as the man who probably did more than anybody else to instigate Brexit. He's been at it for years, he finally got his way, it's going to happen in some form or another and few sentient or sensible humans can understand how the hell this affable but pompous, self important stereotypical home counties English wanker managed to pull it off.

At the time of writing we are a week away from the US presidential elections. And we could be facing the prospect of a President Trump. If HE pulls that off he would be a shoo-in, I would have thought. Ridiculous, insecure, vulgar, multiple bankrupt, lewd, crude, xenophobic, misogynistic unsophisticated rabble rouser whose main moral claim is he's not of "the establishment".

Hardly a vintage crop.

Any other contenders you can think of?

Jimbob1977

Snickers Man wrote: »

It's November already and doubtless the worthies at Time Magazine are considering their candidates for the title of Person of the Year for 2016. This award goes to the person who "for better or worse has done most to change the world in the past 12 months".

The "or worse" qualifier helps explain why previous winners include Hitler, Stalin (twice) and Ayatollah Khomeini. As well as various popes and Nobel Laureates etc. But who are the likely contenders for this year so far?

I think you might have to put Nigel Farage up there as the man who probably did more than anybody else to instigate Brexit. He's been at it for years, he finally got his way, it's going to happen in some form or another and few sentient or sensible humans can understand how the hell this affable but pompous, self important stereotypical home counties English wanker managed to pull it off.

At the time of writing we are a week away from the US presidential elections. And we could be facing the prospect of a President Trump. If HE pulls that off he would be a shoo-in, I would have thought. Ridiculous, insecure, vulgar, multiple bankrupt, lewd, crude, xenophobic, misogynistic unsophisticated rabble rouser whose main moral claim is he's not of "the establishment".

Hardly a vintage crop.

Any other contenders you can think of?

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Boris Johnson, Teresa May, Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, David Cameron, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, the entire Black Lives Matter movement, the Chicago Cubs....

It's usually a politician (sometimes for the wrong reasons), innovator, civil rights activists or something 'quirky'.

For Reals

They'll go Hilary if she wins. Just to solidify the status Quo. 'You got it right America and the world thanks you'.

coylemj

Snickers Man wrote: »

I think you might have to put Nigel Farage up there as the man who probably did more than anybody else to instigate Brexit. He's been at it for years, he finally got his way, it's going to happen in some form or another and few sentient or sensible humans can understand how the hell this affable but pompous, self important stereotypical home counties English wanker managed to pull it off.

Cameron was forced to hold a referendum because of pressure from the Daily Mail and the Murdoch press. Farage was the guy making noise on the sidelines and UKIP wasn't even given an official role on the Brexit side by the Referendum Commission in the UK.

I think Farage's role in Brexit has been overstated, his beef was with the EU whereas most people voted to leave the EU because they mistakenly thought that that would stop immigration from Asian and African countries.

Snickers Man

Snickers Man wrote: »

we could be facing the prospect of a President Trump. If HE pulls that off he would be a shoo-in, I would have thought. Ridiculous, insecure, vulgar, multiple bankrupt, lewd, crude, xenophobic, misogynistic unsophisticated rabble rouser whose main moral claim is he's not of "the establishment".

From the OP. Let's see if I'm right

Snickers Man

And the shortlist has been announced. In alphabetical order:

Simone Biles
Making her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, the talented 19-year-old gymnast earned four gold medals and one bronze,

Hillary Clinton
The former First Lady, New York Senator and Secretary of State became the first woman to receive the U.S. presidential nomination of a major political party,

CRISPR Scientists
These scientists have developed a groundbreaking new technology that can edit DNA,

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
After an attempted military coup failed in July, the Turkish president has tightened control over the country, arresting political opponents, firing thousands of state employees and shutting down news organizations.

Nigel Farage
As head of the U.K. Independence Party, Farage was a face of the successful campaign for Britain to leave the European Union

The Flint Whistleblowers
Local residents, along with civil-engineering professor Marc Edwards and local pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, blew the whistle on the lead-poisoned water in Flint, Mich.,

Beyoncé Knowles
With a headline-worthy Super Bowl halftime performance, a world tour and a powerful second visual album, Lemonade, Beyoncé continued to surprise and provoke a global audience,

Narendra Modi
At the head of a powerful government, the Indian Prime Minister has guided his country’s economy into position as the “emerging-market world’s most positive story.”

Vladimir Putin
The Russian president made headlines this year with his country’s intervention in Syria and evidence showing that Russian operatives were responsible for the hack of Democratic National Committee servers.

Donald Trump
After campaigning as an anti-establishment, populist candidate, Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States

Mark Zuckerberg
In the year that Facebook surpassed the 1 billion mobile daily users mark, the social-media titan has an unprecedented global reach.


Simone Biles and Beyoncé Knowles: forget it!
Zukerberg and CRISPR Scientists: in another year maybe
Clinton: maybe if she'd won, but er, she didn't.
FLINT Whistleblowers: even given that Time considers America to be the centre of the world, a bit too local.
Putin, Modi and Erdogan: Too much same ol' same ol' from "foreign" despots
Farage: would have been hot favourite for fecking up the EU if it wasn't for the fact that.....

...we're going to have a President Trump.
The Donald is a shoo in this year.

coylemj

As if it was going to be anyone else. Even if he lost the election, Trump would have been the person of the year.