We are now closing our live coverage of New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world but you can keep abreast of the latest events and shows in our news wrap here. Thanks for reading and a happy new year to you all.
In the UK, it has been a night of New Year’s honours, with the work of more than 1,000 people celebrated.
Among them is an intriguing one for former Bond actor Daniel Craig. Alexandra Topping reports: “In a move that may raise eyebrows in Whitehall circles, the actor Daniel Craig receives the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) for outstanding contribution to film. It is the same award given to the fictional character he is best-known for playing, and one normally reserved for professional diplomats and intelligence officers.”
The champ is here! @NYCMayor Eric Adams has been sworn in as your 110th mayor, New York City! pic.twitter.com/9COCEq09jG
— City of New York (@nycgov) January 1, 2022
Not to be outdone by Miley Cyrus, Andy Cohen on CNN’s broadcast has enjoyed delivering some parting shots at outgoing NYC mayor Bill de Blasio. It featured the phrase “sayonara, sucker” but the full rant, and Anderson Cooper’s efforts to calm him down, are below.
WOW Andy Cohen just ripped into Bill DeBlasio live on CNN pic.twitter.com/LmtoV4ShLE
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) January 1, 2022
Guys- I had a ball tonight! Happy New Year! #CNNNYE
— Andy Cohen (@Andy) January 1, 2022
Aw
Heavy falls reported in Times Square
Outgoing NYC mayor Bill de Blasio saves the last dance on stage for wife Chirlane McCray as Ryan Seacret’s show wraps up.
the miley nye show is an instant classic and has to be an annual event
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 1, 2022
The aforementioned TV ratings battle in the US may just have hotted up with the news of a couple of wardrobe malfunctions during Miley Cyrus’s performance in Miami. She appears to have spotted her top slipping just in time to turn around and head to the back of the stage and put on a red blazer, though the eagle eyed appear to have seen more than intended.
Welp, 2022 starts with Miley Cyrus losing her top while singing live on national TV. #HAPPYNEWYEAR2022 #MileysNewYearsEveParty pic.twitter.com/yHg9OvLejK
— Brad P (@TheBradParker) January 1, 2022
A mere 15,000 people attended Times Square tonight. It did look a little sparse but the joy was there, with people in masks, er, kissing.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! pic.twitter.com/n2P4xJm2sq
— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) January 1, 2022
OK a quick glass of champagne and we’re straight into the oath of office for newly minted NYC mayor Eric Adams, the 110th to hold the office.
And there we have it! Embraces galore in Times Square to the classic Sinatra soundtrack. I’ll bring you some images soon.
Just minutes to go ...
LIVE FROM TIMES SQUARE: Times Square #NewYearsEve 2022 is just kicking off. Stay tuned for performances, special guests, our countdown to the #BallDrop and more! https://t.co/92RB96OQJg https://t.co/xUYdvfyLNx
— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) December 31, 2021
Associated Press journalists have been speaking to people in the crowd at Times Square, some of whom have come a fair way to soak up the atmosphere.
Mary Gonzalez, keeping a safe distance from the crowds, is visiting from Mexico city. “I’m happy that 2021 is over because it caused a lot of problems for everybody,” said Gonzalez. “We hope that 2022 is much better than this year.”
Nursing student Ashley Ochoa and her boyfriend, Jose Avelar, travelled from the central valley of California. “Covid did hold a lot of stuff back for me,” Ochoa said, “but I mean, I’m here today, so that’s what I’m thankful for.”
Lynn Cafarchio, a New York City tour guide whose job disappeared at one point as tourism dollars evaporated, said: “I look back and I see it as a sort of a stressful year, but it wasn’t a terrible year.”
“We’re standing here glad that 2021 will soon be over,” she said, “but really positive about next year.”
Updated
The battle for the New Year’s Eve ratings is well and truly under way in the US. Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live, while on ABC, there is Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest. And on NBC, Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson are broadcasting live from Miami.
There have been some casualties though as a result of the pandemic, the New York Times reports, with Fox ditching its Toast and Roast how, and LL Cool J pulling out of the ABC’s offering.
Mayor-elect @ericadamsfornyc joined us to share his wish for 2022. His inauguration will be taking place tonight right after the Ball Drop. pic.twitter.com/Ta5thvnZJq
— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) January 1, 2022
There's no such thing as too much confetti. Especially when it's @PlanetFitness purple and yellow confetti! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/PBxlK4WoP0
— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) January 1, 2022
We have Ashanti and Ja Rule performing in Times Square. We’re getting closer.
An alarming message but a sadly important one in some parts of the world:
Celebratory gunfire is no joke. Each year, innocent bystanders pay the price for this highly irresponsible and dangerous practice.
— Moms Demand Action (@MomsDemand) January 1, 2022
Remember, what goes up must come down. This #NYE, say NO to celebratory gunfire, and pass it on! pic.twitter.com/PwJLSp2ujI
Away from the festivities briefly, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has given a New Year’s speech broadcast live on Facebook, in which she warned China against “military adventurism”.
“The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements. Military conflicts would impact economic stability,” Reuters reports Tsai as saying. “Our two sides jointly shoulder the responsibility of maintaining regional peace and stability.”
Her comments come a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s New Year address, in which he said the complete unification of “the motherland” was an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claims.
A bit of bandwagon jumping here from Nasa but it is an excellent shot.
Here's a fireworks display worthy of #NYE!
— NASA 360 (@NASA360) December 31, 2021
Captured by @NASAHubble, this giant star cluster is about 2 million years old and contains some of our galaxy’s hottest, brightest and most massive stars! https://t.co/qeenCjeneo pic.twitter.com/hC5ftj6Jnh
This is a perfectly timed shot
Couple of hours to go until the ball drops in New York’s Times Square. There’s a bit more to it this year, not just because of coronavirus (though that did see crowd limits reduced from the usual 60,000 to 15,000).
As the clock ticks over, or ball drops, Mayor Bill de Blasio will hand the baton to successor Eric Adams, who is due to take his oath in the square. Adams expressed hope on Thursday that 2022 would be “a new beginning of our resiliency”.
Adams is a former police officer and Democrat who beat Republican Curtis Sliwa (and earlier progressives in his own party) in November’s mayoral race, prommising to cut government inefficiency and improve public safety. You can read more about him here.
Love is in the air in New York!
Our host @JonathanBennett is bringing the romance to #NewYearsEve: his fiancé, @JaymesV, wrote a special love song for their proposal. Watch NOW at https://t.co/GDFFQ0VRsJ as the couple proudly shares their love from the Crossroads of the World! pic.twitter.com/uWt7ue5kps
— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) January 1, 2022
Here’s 1min 23sec of your time well spent – a selection of the firework displays and celebrations from around the world, from Hong Kong to Dubai, Pyongyang to Paris.
Time for a spot of culture, courtesy of the Tate gallery in the UK. This 19th century piece is called The Fairy Lovers, by Theodor von Holst. It features Oberon and Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
3, 2, 1... Happy New Year one and all! 💋 ✨
— Tate (@Tate) January 1, 2022
We hope you can hold your loved ones close in 2022. 💙 https://t.co/oW8NtHC0W0 pic.twitter.com/szgwt4YDsU
Among the many determined messages of hope emerging on New Year’s Eve is one from Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, who thanked doctors and other health care workers for their hard work.
“By treasuring more than ever the connections among people, sharing our pain and supporting each other, I hope from the bottom of my heart that we will overcome these hard times,” he said.
The Tokyo Olympic Games, delayed from 2020 due to the pandemic, were one bright spot of “courage and hope”, he added.
He also expressed concern for countries that lack access to vaccines and adequate hospitals.
Empress Masako, a Harvard graduate and Naruhito’s wife, offered prayers and said: “May this year be a gentle and fruitful year for us all.”
Press Association reports that about 1,000 people of all ages climbed to the top of Edinburgh’s Calton Hill to make the traditional countdown to the bells at midnight.
Before Christmas, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people to “stay at home as much as possible” with crowd limits on outdoor public gatherings capped at 500, forcing the cancellation of NYE street parties for a second year.
Scotland’s traditional Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled because of the pandemic but there was still room for a spot of bagpipe music in Edinburgh.
One for the Great British Bake Off fans, while (some of) the UK is still awake. 2021 champion Giuseppe Dell’Anno has a rousing message to get the new year off to a rousing start.
Pleased to bring you an image of UK celebrations away from London. This one is from the city of Peterborough, about 90 miles (145km) north of the capital. Plenty of backgarden fireworks going up into the sky.
A couple enjoy a hug near the Arc de Triomphe during the celebrations in Paris. I think there will be many hoping 2022 will bring a time when such close contact will be in abundance (where appropriate).
In a few hours’ time, after the Atlantic Ocean has celebrated NYE in its own quiet way, we will be joining the celebrations in New York where KT Tunstall appears very keen to get things going.
Should i push it early?
— KT Tunstall (@KTTunstall) December 31, 2021
1️⃣ for yes
2️⃣ for yes
@TimesSquareNYC #THEBall #NewYork#NewYear
📷 @CortneyArmitage pic.twitter.com/IcnaaZpGwT
I am post-Brexit Britain, hear me roar
Remarkable combination of old and new in tonight’s display: drones v fireworks. The latest tech strikes me as beautiful and slightly terrifying.
Wherever you are in the world, feel free to get in touch with NYE thoughts on @G_J_Russell
Thanks Tom, and may I add my sincerest wishes for a happy new year to everyone wherever you are and whatever 2022 brings. Plenty of firework fun in the UK at the moment so I will continue that theme as the images come through.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, tonight. Happy new year everyone. I’m handing over to my colleague Graham Russell, who will keep you across all the New Year’s Eve celebrations from around the world in the coming hours.
Before I go, here are some last snaps of the scenes in London tonight...
The UK begins New Year's celebrations to mark 2022
And there we have it folks, for London at least. 2021 - perhaps best remembered as the second Covid year - has officially passed us by and we shall soon see what delights, or fresh hell, 2022 brings us. Let’s hope for the former.
Happy new year everybody! Have a fantastic 2022.
Time for another round-up of all the light shows and firework displays taking place around the world tonight.
Crowds gathered to see a laser show in Poland, while fireworks lit up the skies above the United Arab Emirates and Greece.
Back in the UK, the countdown is on with little over half an hour to go until 2022 is ushered in at last. But, as has been widely commented on, it is only England without Covid restrictions in place tonight, as party-goers travel across the border to enjoy the festivities...
The New Year’s Day Rose Parade and Rose Bowl college football game between Ohio State and Utah remained on track despite surging cases of Covid, which forced the cancellation of the 2021 parade.
The 133rd edition of the Pasadena, California, tradition was scheduled to feature actor Levar Burton as grand marshal, 20 marching bands, 18 equestrian units and dozens of floats reflecting the theme of “Dream. Believe. Achieve.”
In a change due to soaring infections, Kaiser Permanente said its float, “A Healthier Future,” would not have 20 “front-line medical heroes” riding or walking alongside, the Associated Press reported.
“We must prioritise the health and safety of our front-line medical staff and ensure we are able to treat patients during this recent surge of Covid-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant,” the health care network said.
Spectators planning on camping out overnight were allowed to begin staking out spots along sidewalks at noon Friday. Pasadena authorities urged people to wear masks and avoid mingling with anyone outside their own groups.
Ticket holders for parade bleachers and the Rose Bowl game will be required to show proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours, and masks will be required for everyone age 2 and up, the Tournament of Roses Association said.
As countries across Europe start celebrating the new year, our correspondent in Athens, Helena Smith, has sent in this shot of fireworks over the Acropolis.
Party-goers are out and about across England tonight, with large crowds gathered in cities such as London and Manchester.
The Associated Press has a piece this evening about the trepidation with which all corners of the globe are saying goodbye to 2021 and ringing in 2022. Here is a short extract below:
Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the coronavirus pandemic were — again — the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushered in 2022.
New Year’s Eve, which used to be celebrated globally with a free-spirited wildness, felt instead like a case of deja vu, with the fast-spreading omicron variant again filing hospitals. At the La Timone hospital in the southern French city of Marseille, Dr. Fouad Bouzana could only sigh Friday when asked what 2022 might bring.
“Big question,” he said. “It’s starting to become exhausting, because the waves come one after another.”
The mostly muted New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world ushered in the fourth calendar year framed by the global pandemic. More than 285 million people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide since late 2019 and more than 5 million have died.
In the United States, officials took a mixed approach to the year-end revelry: nixing the audience at a countdown concert in Los Angeles, scaling it back in New York yet going full speed ahead in Las Vegas, where 300,000 people were expected for a fireworks show on the strip.
In New York, officials planned to allow just 15,000 people — vaccinated and masked — inside the perimeter around Times Square, a sliver of the 1 million people that typically squeeze into midtown to watch the famed ball drop. Outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, defending the event, said people need to see that New York is open for business.
Yet by Thursday, rapper LL Cool J had dropped out of the New York telecast after a positive Covid-19 test, “The Music Man” was shuttered on Broadway after lead actor Hugh Jackman tested positive, and restaurant owners battered by staffing shortages and omicron cancellations throughout the holiday season struggled to stay open.
“I’m really scared for our industry,” said restaurateur David Rabin, a partner in the Temple Bar, Skylark and other city venues who watched reservations and party bookings disappear this month. “No one made any money in December. The fact they may have a good night tonight, it has no impact.”
Airlines were also struggling as the year came to a close, cancelling thousands of flights after the virus struck flight crews and other personnel. Bad weather was also to blame at times.
The pandemic game-changer of 2021 — vaccinations — continued apace. Pakistan said it had fully vaccinated 70 million of its 220 million people this year and Britain said it met its goal of offering a vaccine booster shot to all adults by Friday.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin mourned the dead, praised Russians for their strength in difficult times and soberly warned that the pandemic “isn’t retreating yet.” Russia’s virus task force has reported 308,860 Covid-19 deaths but its state statistics agency says the death toll has been more than double that.
“I would like to express words of sincere support to all those who lost their dear ones,” Putin said in a televised address broadcast just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones.
Updated
Meanwhile, in London, you would normally expect to see Waterloo Bridge and Embankment crammed full of revellers enjoying a bit of Auld Lang Syne and the spectacular firework display the capital has become accustomed to.
Not tonight though. For the second year in a row, there is a much more muted atmosphere in London on New Year’s Eve.
Having said that, the London Eye still looks dazzling in purple tonight.
Here are some of the latest images of New Year’s Eve celebrations from across the globe today.
New Year’s Eve celebrations kicked off in the Serbian capital of Belgrade where, unlike elsewhere in Europe, mass gatherings are allowed.
Large crowds gathered in the city for outdoor concerts, fireworks and a light show at a newly-constructed Dubai-style glass tower that has become a trademark project by Serbia’s right-wing populist government.
The Associated Press reported:
With its numerous nightclubs and bars and relatively low prices, Belgrade has become a major attraction for mostly young party-goers coming in from neighbouring Balkan states. Serbia’s state RTS television reported that about 100,000 visitors have flocked to Belgrade for the holidays, filling up the city’s hotels and rented apartments. Restaurants and bars have been packed.
Serbian officials have ignored warnings by medical experts who say that mass festivities should be scrapped as long as omicron is racing through the continent. Most European nations have imposed restrictions and banned New Year’s celebrations to contain the virus that has fuelled record numbers of new infections.
Serbian epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic compared state-sponsored gatherings to “premeditated mass murder.” Radovanovic predicted that Serbia will see thousands of new Covid-19 infections after the holidays.
In a bid to stave off concerns, Belgrade city authorities provided 50,000 face masks and had rapid virus test sites and disinfection tools at the entrances to fenced-in areas for the New Year’s Eve concerts. But the Covid-19 vaccination passes that are required for bars and restaurants are not mandatory for outdoor events in Serbia.
Concerns over the Omicron variant haven’t deterred everyone from going out to enjoy the festivities tonight. It appears, pandemic or no pandemic, people will still insist on wearing those New Year-themed glasses...
Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled across Scotland in response to the surging spread of coronavirus, with people urged to stay at home and limit how many people they meet.
Scotland’s traditional large-scale Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled as part of new Covid restrictions announced by Nicola Sturgeon last week, PA Media reported.
The First Minister also introduced new curbs on hospitality and urged people to “stay at home as much as possible” until at least the first week of January. New limits on large public gatherings have forced the cancellation of New Year’s Eve street parties, including the one planned for Edinburgh.
Hogmanay street parties across Scotland have been cancelled, with crowds at outdoor public events capped at 500 since Boxing Day, for at least three weeks, and numbers at indoor public events limited to 100 standing or 200 seated.
Ms Sturgeon said the restrictions were aimed at cutting down transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant and because “large events put an additional burden on emergency services”.
Explaining the latest guidance Ms Sturgeon said:
Over Hogmanay and New Year’s Day, and for at least the first week in January, we are advising everyone to stay at home more than normal, to reduce contacts with people outside our own households, and to limit the size of any indoor social gatherings that do take place so that they don’t include people from any more than three households.
Announcing the restrictions, Ms Sturgeon added:
This will, of course, make sports matches, including football, effectively spectator-free over this three-week period.
And it will also mean that large-scale Hogmanay celebrations, including that planned here in our capital city, will not proceed. I know how disappointing this will be for those looking forward to these events, and for the organisers of them.
They arrived at Bristol Temple Meads train station clutching cans of booze, a change of clothes and this year’s most essential New Year’s Eve accessory – a negative lateral flow test.
The closure of nightclubs and restrictions in bars and pubs in Wales was not going to stop a determined band of Welsh fun-seekers hopping across the border for a big night out on the English side of the Severn.
“Mark Drakeford [the Welsh first minister] doesn’t want us to have a good time in Cardiff but he can’t stop us coming over here,” said Luke Spear, a 22-year-old bar worker. “Covid has affected young people a lot. I spent my 21st birthday in lockdown. We’re going to have a good time now.”
Gabe Mason, 23, a student from Swansea, said he believed the Welsh government had been too cautious. “I think they have panicked, to be honest with you.”
Mason was accompanied by a carrier bag filled with cans of lager. He and a group had booked rooms at a budget hotel. “Usually we would go out in Swansea,” he said. “We’ve all been vaccinated and had boosters so we’re not worried.”
The Welsh government has been criticised by many in the hospitality industry for bringing in strict rules while the UK government has allowed a pretty normal New Year’s Eve to take place.
New York City readied to embrace the new year — and bid good riddance to another pandemic-marred 12 months — as it prepared to revive its annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square.
It did so as an uneasy nation tried to muster optimism that the worst days of the pandemic are now behind it — even as public health officials warned on Friday against unbridled celebrations amid surging Covid infections from the omicron variant, the Associated Press reported.
The city said it would limit the number of people it lets into Times Square to witness a 6-ton ball, encrusted with nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals, descend above a crowd of about 15,000 in-person spectators — far fewer than the many tens of thousands of revellers who usually descend on the world-famous square to bask in the lights, hoopla and shower of confetti during the nation’s marquee New Year’s Eve event.
“We are very excited to welcome back visitors to Times Square this New Year’s Eve,” said Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance. “Our goal is to have a safe and responsible event for the world to see.”
The annual ball drop takes place Friday, as the clock ticks into midnight and ushers in the new year, an occasion usually commemorated with Champagne, clinking pints, joyous embraces and hopes for better times ahead.
But 2022 begins just as the year prior began — with the pandemic clouding an already uncertain future.
Doubts swirled whether the city would have to cancel this year’s bash, as the city posted record numbers of Covid cases in the days leading to it, even as some cities like Atlanta had decided to cancel their own celebrations.
Last year’s ball drop was closed to the public because of the outbreak.
It’s that time during New Year’s Eve when some parts of the world are already ringing in 2022, while the rest of us wait for midnight.
In the meantime, take a look at some of the best images of celebrations around the world so far here.
The UK has experienced its hottest New Year’s Eve on record, with temperatures reaching more than 15C (59F) and customers being turned away from ice rinks that had melted.
The record was broken twice in one day, with the Met Office recording 14.9C at 11am on Friday in Ryehill, in East Yorkshire, and 15.3C about an hour later in Coningsby, in Lincolnshire. The previous 31 December high was 14.8C, observed in Colwyn Bay in north Wales in 2011.
At Somerset House, one of London’s most popular event venues, the unseasonably warm temperature forced the closure of the ice rink attraction on Thursday and Friday, with similar scenes at the ice rink in Hampton Court in Surrey. In Berkshire, some people had New Year’s Eve ice creams, as visitors to Windsor enjoyed the alfresco cafes.
The Met office said temperatures would continue to climb across the country later on Friday, before falling slightly at night as the UK rings in 2022. Areas of southern and eastern England, including the West Country, London and Lincolnshire, were expected to experience the warmest weather.
Revellers in some parts of the UK will have to brace for rain in the evening, with light drizzle expected across pockets of eastern and southern England and north Wales.
However, the overall picture was “exceptionally mild”, with temperatures of 14.5C in Hawarden, north Wales, and 14.2C in Yeovil, Somerset, reported on Friday morning, forecasters said.
Evening all. Tom Ambrose here, reporting for duty from London. I’ll be with you for the rest of the evening as we count down to midnight across the world, wherever you may be reading from.
Let’s start with some good advice from the UK animal welfare charity Dogs Trust. They have been tweeting top tips on how to keep your dog comfortable when all the fireworks start going off later tonight. Advice includes building a cosy den for your four-legged friend and not forcing them outside. Here is the full list...
It's almost time to welcome in the New Year 📅 Please share our help and advice on ways to help dogs cope during fireworks 👉 https://t.co/KdXsncbYyR pic.twitter.com/HAnmN0bTKO
— Dogs Trust 💛🐶 (@DogsTrust) December 31, 2021
Meanwhile, the RSPCA has shared some more general advice to pet owners around the world, covering animals of all shapes and sizes, from guinea pigs to horses and everything in between.
🎇🥳 And that's a wrap for another year! On #NewYearsEve, it's likely there will be fireworks let off in celebration, which many animals find distressing. Read our top tips to make your pet as comfortable as possible: https://t.co/ZyxVfHIWCo #BangOutOfOrder pic.twitter.com/X2OXfI4e52
— RSPCA (England & Wales) (@RSPCA_official) December 31, 2021
And it’s not too late to pop out and get hold of some silent fireworks instead, if you don’t mind watching the spectacle without the loud bangs.
Updated
That is it today from me, Martin Belam. As difficult as 2021 has been, and as worrying as 2022 may look, I wish you all the best for the new year. I’m handing over to Tom Ambrose, but before I go, here’s another striking image from today, which to me sums up the hopes and fears for the year ahead. It is a picture of someone taking a picture of 6,500 candle lights, as they prepare a ceremony to wish for overcoming the pandemic, and for good luck in 2022. Take care and stay safe. I’ll see you next year.
Updated
If you’d asked me three years ago whether “Is London having fireworks tonight?” on New Year’s Eve was a legitimate question I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. And here we all are.
London: we have an incredible NYE broadcast lined up for you tonight!
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 31, 2021
Join the countdown to midnight live on @BBCOne.
Stay safe and have a very happy #NYE 🎉 pic.twitter.com/QPPyhFXXAR
With the public fireworks event cancelled, it is being reported that tonight’s TV broadcast from London may feature fireworks from a secret location to prevent crowds gathering, and performances from Jessie Ware and Paloma Faith, with Elton John and Dua Lipa in a pre-recorded segment, and messages from Gareth Southgate and Sir Ian McKellen.
All I know is that Peter Hitchens will probably not be watching.
4 years ago I tweeted'My response to the (weird) greeting 'Happy New Year': 'Thank you but I pay absolutely no attention to the 'New Year', an empty moment which I associate with the former USSR's (failed) attempt to abolish Christmas'. 4 years later nobody has actually read it.
— Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah) December 31, 2021
There have been some striking images during the papacy of Pope Francis as we live through the pandemic, and today’s pictures of him celebrating a mass on New Year’s Eve in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican continue that trend.
As well as being regarded as New Year’s Day, in the calendar of the Catholic Church 1 January is considered the World Day of Peace, established by Pope Paul VI in 1967.
In his message for tomorrow, which is issued ahead of time, Pope Francis made an appeal for intergenerational dialogue, saying:
Young people need the wisdom and experience of the elderly, while those who are older need the support, affection, creativity, and dynamism of the young.
The bell-ringing ceremony might have been pre-recorded [see 15.22], but that hasn’t stopped some people being out on the streets to celebrate the new year in Seoul.
Sisipho Skweyiya has a report for Reuters from South Africa at the cheer the lifting of the midnight Covid curfew has caused, just in time for 2022.
“(The past two years) have been hard on us, if you look at our neighbours most guys have closed down, that’s how bad it was,” said 32 year-old Michael Mchende, a manager at Hard Rock Cafe in Cape Town.
“For this brand we are all about having a good time, so now that we have been allowed to actually have a good time, these doors are just going to be here for display. We are not going to shut down no more, we are all in.”
The South African government has said that people should keep getting vaccinated and observing health protocols, including the mandatory wearing of masks in public places.
“We must ensure that our actions, our behaviour and our decisions over this festive season and beyond do not lead to more infections, more people ending up in hospitals and more deaths,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his New Year message to the nation on Friday.
“I’m happy and excited because the curfew has been lifted. But I’m also a little bit nervous because I hope that people won’t abuse that,” 41-year-old Gwendolyn Louw told Reuters. “I am happy to see our freedom returning. Let’s hope it doesn’t come at a price.”
There are going to be very different New Year’s Eve celebrations across the constituent parts of the United Kingdom tonight. In Scotland, Hogmanay will take place in a situation where pubs can stay open if they are providing table service, but night clubs are closed. The situation is similar in Wales, and in Northern Ireland dancing is prohibited. England will see no such restrictions.
But it isn’t just the rules that make a difference, it is also how people approach the risk of socialising a new year, nearly two years into a pandemic.
My colleagues Alfie Packham and Rachel Obordo have spoken to three different people about what they are planning to do tonight, asking the question, self-isolate or party?
Read more here: Self-isolate or party? Three Britons share New Year’s Eve plans
As the clock next strikes the hour it will be midnight in Beijing, China. While the festival to celebrate the Chinese New Year isn’t until February, just ahead of the city hosting the Winter Olympics, that doesn’t mean there aren’t events taking place there tonight.
Artiste Kong Ning has been wearing her latest work entitled “Earth’s Snowflake”, which has struck me as very Björk–esque.
And I’ve got to be honest, I’m live blogging from London, and not entirely clear what is actually going on in this particular photograph, but it seems to involve fake snow and fake pandas, and I thought you would enjoy it.
Here are some more of the non-firework images that have caught my eye as the world enters 2022. People have been enjoying a lot of activities as the sun sets for the last time on 2021, including taking a camel for a stroll.
A man leads a camel past people wading in the sea in Karachi, Pakistan. Photograph: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images
This is a fisheye lens view of people waiting for fireworks to start under the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the UAE.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has been conducting a New Year’s Eve service.
Large-scale New Year celebrations have been cancelled in Germany and recently installed Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has advised Germans to spend the holiday period “very cautiously” and celebrate only in very small groups.
Australia may have scaled back official celebrations, but there are still plenty of people out on the streets enjoying the firework displays and party atmosphere.
2022 has begun in South Korea, and here’s a picture of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and others hitting a huge bell to welcome in the new year, which has just been broadcast.
One catch, though. The photograph is from 29 December, when they were pre-recording the new year celebrations. It is the second year in a row that Seoul’s annual New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
How does celebrating New Year’s Eve in 2021/22 feel in one photo? This is a contender. A dog with a Happy New Year collar and wearing 2022 glasses, sat right next to a “Do Not Enter. Keep Out” sign.
The dog is called Teddy and he is 12 years old, and I should imagine he is a very good boy indeed.
A lot of us will set new year’s resolutions around our alcohol intake in the coming hours, and Fiona Beckett has her view for us today on what to do about drinking in 2022. Her suggestion for wine – drink less, but drink better. She writes:
I’m not advocating increasing your booze budget, rather reallocating it. Add up what you spend on alcohol in the average week (average perhaps not being the run-up to Christmas), and spend it on something better – you could pick up a more than decent bottle for the cost of a couple of cocktails, for example. Plus, you should still be able to take advantage of Christmas offers this weekend, as well as bin-end and sale reductions during the coming month.
Drinking better doesn’t just mean spending more, however; it also means drinking with a spirit of adventure. Explore a new country, wine region or grape variety each month. Overcome your prejudices. You could also think of buying your wine in alternative formats – half-bottles, say, or even cans.
I’m very much a two-pints-of-lager-and-a-packet-of-crisps man myself, but you can read Fiona’s suggestions here: New Year wines – drink less, drink better
The next tranche of countries that will be entering 2022 on the hour will include Japan.
Yesterday the honour of ringing the bell to close trading on the Tokyo stock market for the year fell to actor Ryo Yoshizawa.
Today, Shintoist priests have been arriving to hold a ritual in preparation for the New Year at the Meiji Shrine in the city.
Comiket is also going on in Tokyo at the moment. Said to be the largest fan convention based around comics in the world, it hasn’t been held since December 2019 because of a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and wanting to avoid clashing with the Tokyo Olympics in the summer.
This photograph shows someone there who is cosplaying as a “remote worker”. I can neither confirm or deny that I wear a similar outfit while live blogging for the Guardian.
Time zones staggered every thirty minutes are the gift that keep giving on New Year’s Eve. It is about to strike midnight in Darwin and Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory. But not every New Year’s Eve picture is a happy one. Activists have chosen today to demonstrate and highlight the plight of youth detainees who will see in the new year in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.
Speaking of Russia, it celebrates New Year’s Eve over 11 time zones, and that means that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already given his televised midnight message in the Kamchatka peninsula.
Agence France-Presse report that he offered support to all those in Russia who had suffered through the coronavirus pandemic, saying “The insidious disease has claimed tens of thousands of lives. I want to express my sincere support to everyone who has lost relatives, loved-ones, friends.”
He also had a strong message that will be heard beyond Russia’s borders, telling his nation that “We firmly and consistently defended our national interests, the security of the country, and citizens.”
You might be forgiven for thinking that New Year’s Eve is all about fireworks from the photographs that get picked by the media, but here are some of my favourite pictures of the day so far that don’t feature fireworks.
This is Ethiopia’s Belay Bezabh winning the Sao Silvestre international race in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Run over 15 kilometres, the race is held annually on New Year’s Eve, but was suspended in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was on again this year, but closed to the public this year as a safety precaution, and all the runners had to be fully vaccinated against Covid.
Somewhat braver than me, members of the She Swims Falmouth have had a bracing morning New Year’s Eve swim at Gyllyngvase Beach, Cornwall.
These people gathered in Quetta, Pakistan, to watch the sun set for the last time in 2021.
Here are people gathered in Red Square in Moscow. It will be shut later from 5pm local time until 7am the next day as part of Russia’s Covid curfew restrictions.
OK, I still couldn’t resist one fireworks photograph.
Queensland in Australia is about to greet 2022, as are Papua New Guinea and Guam. Emily Woods has a round-up here of how Australia has been celebrating cautiously this year:
Australia has welcomed in the new year more cautiously than usual, with far fewer people attending firework displays and other events.
But after a tumultuous 2021 the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said Australians had much to be thankful for. “Despite the pandemic, despite the floods, the fires, continuing drought in some areas, the cyclones, the lockdowns, even mice plagues, Australia is stronger today than we were a year ago. And we’re safer,” he said in a New Year’s Eve message.
Although thousands of people flocked to vantage points beside Sydney Harbour to watch the city’s internationally renowned fireworks, only 17,000 tickets went on sale. Masks were encouraged and unvaccinated people were asked to stay home.
More than a million revellers have visited the city for the displays in previous years. But this year’s displays did not lacked scale, with six tonnes of fireworks launched across two displays at 9pm and midnight.
Read more of Emily Woods’ report here: Australia cautiously rings in 2022 with firework displays but smaller crowds
Readers have been getting in touch to tell us how they’re celebrating the New Year.
In Australia, Huw Neill, 53, who moved to Melbourne from London in June 2020, has spent his evening watching the fireworks with his family in Coogee Beach, a short distance south of Sydney city centre. The event started early to avoid clashing with the “big one’’ at midnight in Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“We booked our holiday here a couple of months back, before Omicron was a thing,” said Neill. “We’ve not been out of Victoria since we arrived last year, so we’re just in time for the Omicron explosion. We entered New South Wales with a certain amount of trepidation, but the event on the beach was fairly well socially distanced, so it was good fun.”
Neill, who works in sales for a small publishing company, says he is “trying to be optimistic” about the coming year. “We’ll have to see what happens with Omicron, but this time last year we were saying 2021 would be better than 2020, and that worked out for us. I think you have to enter every year thinking the same thing.”
If you would like to share your own New Year’s Eve plans, you can get in touch here.
Now, I’m not saying that I am a new year curmudgeon, but you may have noticed that I’m spending my New Year’s Eve writing our live blog, and be able to draw your own conclusions about my party plans. Michael Segalov has absolutely put his heart on his sleeve for us today though, writing about how he is embracing staying in:
It was never my intention to hide in the toilet. There was lots going on outside: highbrow small talk and top-tier networking; free drinks, air kisses, and cold canapés. The gallery was filled, I’d been assured, with fashion figures and media leaders. I was lucky to have been invited to this salon, one of the hosts had informed me, generously. Exactly what a “salon” is, I’m still unsure.
Deep down, I just didn’t want to be there. Only 90 minutes previously I’d been watching Gogglebox and scoffing Pringles in bed. But I went along out of some sense of duty. Perhaps a desire to broaden my horizons, or a compulsion to step outside my comfort zone, where I had become too safe and snug. Now here I was, sitting in a locked cubicle counting down the minutes before I could leave without seeming rude.
This year, I’m refusing to be sucked in again – I’m determined to embrace saying yes to saying no to things I simply don’t want to do.
Read more here: Michael Segalov – Say no to Fomo: how I embraced staying in
Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra are now very firmly into 2022 – so I’d like to take a moment to wish a happy New Year to all our Australian readers, and indeed my colleagues in our offices there. Canberra, as ever, keen to let people know that Sydney doesn’t have a monopoly on fireworks in Australia.
Rather excitingly for time nerds, Australia enjoys one of those time zones that is offset by thirty minutes, rather than an hour, which means Adelaide is about to celebrate the new year.
However, they made a head start to it, with a firework display already over Adelaide Oval after the Men’s Big Bash League match between the Adelaide Strikers and the Sydney Thunder. We’ll draw a discreet veil over the fact that the Strikers just lost their sixth match in the last seven.
Sydney enters new year with fireworks over Sydney harbour
Is any New Year’s Eve celebration complete without a shot of fireworks over Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge? Absolutely not.
Don’t forget that we are very keen to hear how you are celebrating – or indeed have celebrated – the start of 2022 where you live. Here’s how to get in touch with our community team: Tell us – what are your plans for New Year’s Eve?
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Another chunk of the planet has just gone past midnight and into 2022. Vladivostok isn’t quite far east enough in Russia to have done so yet – it is still just gone 11pm there – but it looks like the party is in full swing in in Revolution Fighters Square.
There’s a treat in store for traditionalists in London today, as Maya Wolfe-Robinson reports:
London’s public fireworks display may be cancelled, but Westminster’s new year revellers will be treated to Big Ben’s newly painted dials as the clock bongs 12 times to mark the end of 2021.
The 96-metre clock tower above the Houses of Parliament, which houses the Great Bell known as Big Ben, has been mostly hidden from view since a £79.7m conservation projection began four years ago.
For the first time since 2017, the clock face will be revealed to show the conservation work that has taken place, including the restoration of the original colour scheme.
Using historic paint analysis and Charles Barry’s original watercolour designs, conservationists have reinstated a Prussian blue and gold colour scheme for the dials and clock hands. They believe the black paint of the clock dials and stonework that many associate with the national symbol was chosen in the 1930s to mask the effects of pollution.
The team hope that New Year’s Eve will be the last time Big Ben is struck using a temporary striking mechanism, which has powered the hammer used to strike the bell during the restoration period to mark events such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.
Read more of Maya Wolfe-Robinson’s report here: Restored Big Ben to bong again at midnight to bring in new year
Hello, it is Martin Belam here taking over the blog for a while. It is the second consecutive new year that the world will be celebrating under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic – and while we will try and keep things light-hearted and celebratory here, there’s going to be a lot of Covid symbolism in some of the pictures coming through. This scene is from Ahmedabad in India.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, about three million people used to visit the Meiji Shrine during the first three days of the new year. The number of visitors went down more than 75% during the first three days of 2021. Photograph: Kimimasa Mayama/EPA
As new year approaches, crowds around the world may be expecting whizzes and bangs to light up the sky. But the appeal of fireworks could fizzle out with the growing use of drones for light shows.
One notable example was the opening ceremony of this year’s Tokyo Olympics, while the Over the Top NYE event at Reunion Tower in Dallas is among those planning to combine fireworks and drones to welcome 2022.
They are also being embraced at a local level: more than 1,000 people watched a drone display at Mercia Marina in Derbyshire to celebrate Bonfire Night this year.
The latest countries to pass into next year are another series of islands in the Pacific including Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati, as well as the eastern most town in Russia, Anadyr.
Over in the state of Western Australia, the local daily newspaper The West Australian, has captured the feelings of many with its New Year’s Day edition frontpage headline. “Here’s to 2022 being better (Hey, it can’t get much worse!)“
The front page of the special January 1 edition of The West Australian #NYE2021 #NYE2022 pic.twitter.com/ThTVuAaFuP
— Anthony De Ceglie (@AnthDeCeglie) December 31, 2021
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Over in Sydney, they enjoy the fireworks so much that they hold two displays. The city in Australia is not due to see in the New Year for a couple of hours yet – but holds two sets of shows. The first one was let off at 9pm local time, with another due later as the clock strikes midnight.
They took place in the city’s famous harbour, against the backdrop of the Opera House.
9:00 PM fireworks #Sydney pic.twitter.com/5tPKK5y4lU
— Navaldeep Singh (@NavalGeekSingh) December 31, 2021
Light show marks arrival of 2022 in New Zealand
New Zealand celebrated the first moments of the new year with a light show on the Harbour Bridge in Auckland.
Crowds were able to gather for the first time since August after the city on the country’s north island was moved from red to orange in its Covid traffic light system.
Happy New Year!
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 31, 2021
Auckland, New Zealand welcomes in 2022 with a light show projected over the city's Harbour Bridge and Sky Towerhttps://t.co/sJoatS5eVU pic.twitter.com/fv5aC4uj8U
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Happy New Year’s Eve!
It’s certainly a different one as the planet celebrates the second New Year’s Eve during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pacific islands including Samoa, Kiribati and Christmas Island have already been among the first to mark the arrival of 2022.
It’s been a year that has seen the roll-out of vaccines, the Capitol attacks, the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Derek Chauvin was jailed for murdering George Floyd , the latest James Bond finally hit cinema screens and Britney Spears was freed from her conservatorship.
It was a year to remember in sport, as 18-year-old Emma Raducanu won the US Open, England reached the final of a major tournament for the first time since 1966 and the delayed Tokyo Olympics took place.
Many celebrations in major cities across the globe have been cancelled because of the threat of rising Covid cases amid the Omicron variant. So as we splutter rather than sashay into the New Year, tell us how you’re seeing in the New Year.
