25 moments from 2025

2025 was the year when you opened the news in the morning and wondered whether you had accidentally subscribed to a satire website. A year characterised by both major historical turning points and an almost endless succession of absurd, sometimes surreal moments that strung themselves together like flashes of an overwound present.

REALITY TV ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

It began as early as 20 January with Donald Trump's inauguration, as he returned to the White House as the 47th President of the United States. With him came the feeling that politics functioned less according to textbook and more like reality TV. However, Trump did not come alone. Until their separation in May and the subsequent public mud-slinging, he was accompanied by the world's richest man: Elon Musk, including his son, who hurled at the new President in front of rolling cameras what many had long thought: "I want you to shut up." Unfortunately, this wish remained unfulfilled.

Thus, by the end of February, there was a scandal at the White House. In front of rolling cameras, Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of "playing with a Third World War". A sentence that explained less than it marked: a new tone, raw, accusatory, maximally effective for headlines, and above all noticeably Putin-inclined.

Even before that, JD Vance had summarily attested to Europe at the Munich Security Conference a lack of democracy and freedom of opinion. A speech that surprised less than it confirmed what had long been obvious: the increasing distancing of the USA from the liberal West.

In May, following the collapse of the traffic light coalition in Germany, the passage of a special fund and ongoing political negotiations, Friedrich "Fritze" Merz, the self-styled former daredevil, was elected Chancellor – though only in the second ballot. Barely in office, he learnt how narrow the line between objectivity and shitstorm is. A comment on the cityscape was enough to trigger outrage, social media debates and demonstrations.

In parallel, politicians – largely over the heads of young people – agreed on a modernisation of military service. A major security policy issue that surprisingly quickly faded into the background.

THE CELEBRITY DRAMAS

2025 was, however, also the year of distractions. Katy Perry – 'renowned astronaut (LOL)' – flew into space with Blue Origin and kissed the ground upon landing. Understandable after about ten minutes of weightlessness. For a brief moment, it seemed as though space travel was primarily a new lifestyle accessory. Jeff Bezos married in Italy, more precisely in slowly sinking Venice, accompanied by a guest list that sounded more like a Forbes ranking than a wedding party. And whilst billionaires celebrated on yachts, jewellery worth 88 million euros was stolen from the Louvre in broad daylight. An event that sounds more like a Netflix series.

Apropos Netflix: The streaming service was a reliable companion anyway. "K-Pop Demon Hunters" became the most-streamed Netflix original worldwide. But Amazon Prime also got involved: the third season of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" captured hearts and divided friendships – for us it's clear: Team Conrad, no discussion.

Popular culture continued to reliably provide conversation material. Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl and ended the years-long rap feud with Drake once and for all – especially after his biting line about paedophilia. Coldplay's Kiss Cam exposed an affair live in front of the audience. Selena Gomez got married, Justin Bieber released two albums after years of silence, and Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Travis Kelce just two weeks after announcing her twelfth studio album – PR? Sydney Sweeney was "cancelled" after a controversial jeans campaign. Jimmy Kimmel, meanwhile, was suspended from his show for six days after a controversial comment about Charlie Kirk, which rather increased his reach than diminished it and further solidified his fanbase.

SCIENCE, SPORT AND THE SMALL STORIES

Amid all this there were genuine scientific advances. Baby KJ became the first living patient to be successfully treated with CRISPR gene therapy – a medical watershed moment that nearly went unnoticed amid pop news and ongoing political crises. On the sporting front too, the year delivered collective euphoria: Germany won the basketball European championship.

The principle of public discourse itself was repeatedly renegotiated. A right-wing alternative online campaign led to legal scholar and professor at the University of Potsdam Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf withdrawing her candidacy for the Federal Constitutional Court – a moment that showed how effective disinformation and digital mobilisation have become.

And then there were the small stories. Young people met to eat pudding with forks, and nobody was quite sure whether that was irony, protest or simply a social ritual. A giant catfish in Lake Constance made headlines and summer memes – in the end it was caught by the police and served for €22.50 as a dish in a restaurant on Lake Constance.

Not everything was easy or funny. A deadly mass shooting at Bondi Beach overshadowed the beginning of Hanukkah and brutally reminded us that violence knows no season. Furthermore, P. Diddy was sentenced to 50 months in prison, amongst other things for sexual offences – a Hollywood scandal?

We had to say goodbye this year to Jane Goodall, who died at the age of 91 – world-renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee research and her lifelong commitment to environmental and animal protection. Furthermore, Margot Friedländer left us, an icon of remembrance culture and a cautionary voice against the forgetting of the Holocaust.

In the end, the impression remained of a year that stood out less through clarity than through layering. Politics, pop, tragedy and absurdity existed side by side, often in the same news cycle. Nevertheless, there was also room for progress, solidarity and the occasional good news.