The good news guide: Feelgood stories from 2024 and why we're optimistic about 2025

Suzanne Harrington looks at the ways the world got better in 2024, and what we can look forward to in 2025

The good news guide: Here’s a random feelgood selection from 2024 to fuel your optimism.

Not going to lie – when I was asked to compile a list of all the good things that had happened in 2024, and all the good things that might happen in 2025, flutters of panic set in. Apart from not having a crystal ball – because we live in an era where anything can happen, and frequently does – was there genuinely much good to say about the year just gone, or the year that is bearing down on us? Or are we just too used to focusing on the bad?

Here’s a random feelgood selection from 2024 to fuel your optimism.

Despite our fondness of moaning about politicians, Ireland holds a free and fair general election, in which nobody elects a Trump. In the UK, home to half a million Irish-born citizens, the Tory party are voted out after 14 long years.

Ireland in 2024 is the second most peaceful country in the world after Iceland, as ranked by the Global Peace Index, out of a total 163 states. It is ranked 17th happiest country out of 143 globally – our over 60s are 16th happiest, while the under 30s are in 21st place.

In 2024, life expectancy in Ireland is 82.86 years, compared with 65 in 1950. This is two years above the current OECD average of 81 years. We are living longer, healthier lives – less than one in ten of us are smokers, compared with around 33% of the population in 1980.

Cillian Murphy accepts the best actor Oscar for Oppenheimer. Picture: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Culturally, in 2024 we are on fire. In March, Cork’s Cillian Murphy becomes the first Irish actor to win Best Actor at the Oscars for his role in Oppenheimer. He goes on to star in a brilliant adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, and buys an old cinema in Dingle to do up.

Ryan Gosling performs 'I'm Just Ken' during the Oscars. Picture: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie set the world alight in 2023 and Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken was the talking point of the 2024 Oscars. A cultural moment in vivid pink.

Sally Rooney publishes another critically acclaimed novel, Intermezzo, and gives an impassioned speech at a major London book event, urging people to keep protesting about Gaza.

Sally Rooney won Author of the Year at the Irish Book Awards for Intermezzo.

It’s a bumper year for fresh Irish musical talent - Sprints, Bicep, New Dad, Mary Wallopers, Linkum etc. You can’t move at Glastonbury for brilliant Irish bands.

Kneecap enjoy a 2024 hat trick.

Their origin-story film, starring Michael Fassbender alongside the trio, wins an array of awards. It is possibly the funniest Irish film ever.

Kneecap had a great 2024

Their live performances sell out everywhere, as non-Irish audiences sing along in Irish without having a clue what they’re singing.

The trio finish the year by winning their court case against Kemi Badenoch, UK Conservative Party leader, over her unlawful withholding of their arts funding. They donate the full amount to two Belfast youth organisations who “work with the two communities to create a better future for young people,” says DJ Próvaí. Class act.

Fontaines DC accept Best Album award for their fourth album Romance at the Rolling Stone music awards in London, with calls to Free Palestine.

Fontaines DC

A Dublin hairdresser called Nikita Hand brings a civil case against the terminally uncivil Conor McGregor for sexual assault, and wins. He is instructed to pay her full court costs, as well as damages. She urges anyone who has been sexually assaulted to “speak up, you have a voice”.

In November, Cork keeper Caoimhin Kelleher saves a penalty from Kylian Mbappe. Kelleher’s team Liverpool tops the Premier League.

Kildare actor Paul Mescal goes from co-starring with Andrew Scott in 2023’s dreamy All Of Us Strangers to starring in Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II, while Dublin actor, Colin Farrell, runs the Dublin Marathon and raises €774,000 for a charity supporting people with a rare skin condition.

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II. Picture: Aidan Monaghan/2024 Paramount Pictures

Irish athletes have their most successful summer Olympics ever, coming home with seven medals – four gold, including one for the magnificent Kellie Harrington, and three bronze.

The Paris Olympics become the first games to achieve full gender parity, with the city providing a breathtaking backdrop. Even torrential rain during the eye-popping opening ceremony along on the Seine doesn’t dampen its spirits.

Kellie Harrington reacts after winning a gold medal during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Picture: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

In two ground-breaking moves for improved mental health, Australia bans social media use for under 16s, and legalises the use of psychedelics to treat some mental health conditions.

In the US, military veterans with PTSD and depression report an 80% improvement after being treated with ibogaine – a psychedelic medicine –after one month.

Participants hold posters celebrating equality in marriage during the Pride Parade in Bangkok. Picture: AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File

Nepal legalises equal marriage rights for LGBTQ people, becoming the first South Asian country to do so. Greece and Estonia do the same.

Scientists at the University of Exeter find that music boosts brain function – playing an instrument, particularly the piano, improves the brain’s executive function – memory and ability to solve complex tasks. A professor of dementia research said that playing music could promote long term brain health.

Semaglutide and Tirzepatide weight loss drugs – Ozempic, Mounjaro etc – are shown to reduce alcohol consumption, and to be useful in the treatment of addiction.

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic can be useful in the treatment of addiction. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Scientists develop the TriNetra-Glio blood test which could offer early diagnosis for glial brain tumours.

People protect their own mental health by leaving Elon Musk’s platform X, formerly Twitter, in their millions and migrating to new, less toxic BlueSky.

The Global Plastic Treaty will be signed in 2025, to cover all aspects of plastic production, use and waste management. Research and development into enzymes which can digest plastic continues. Japan has developed a plastic which dissolves in sea water.

Plant-based eating is on the rise, particularly among Gen Z, who are concerned about the environmental, ethical and health repercussions of meat consumption. While the figures are still relatively small – 2% of the population in the EU and North America, 4% in Latin America, 6% in Africa and the Middle East, and 9% in Asia Pacific – people are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of animal agriculture. In London, the Smithfield wholesale meat market closes after 850 years, reflecting this shift from meat consumption.

Solar power installations are growing

Solar power installations are up 58%, according to Bloomberg.

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has seen lower carbon emissions in 2024, and has built more renewable energy sources than any other country.

Electric vehicle sales are up 36% in 2024, and the German company Volocopter has created a small electric aircraft. Which means sci-fi flying taxis could become a reality, with zero emissions.

New Zealand bans PFAFs in cosmetics, known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they never break down after use.

The elephant population continues to rise slowly but steadily in southern Africa over the last 25 years, and under the stewardship of President Lula, Amazonian deforestation is the lowest in five years.

AIDS, TB, polio and malaria are all in decline thanks to vaccines.

Assistant Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo and atomic bomb survivor Masako Wada. Ninon Hidankyo was awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. Picture: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to a Japanese peace group, Nihon Hidankyo, who are composed of nuclear bomb survivors campaigning that nuclear weapons never be used again anywhere under any circumstances.

Breakthrough technologies of 2024 include the onward march of super-tool AI, ultra-efficient solar panels, enhanced geothermal energy, thermal batteries, and lab grown meat. We may not quite understand much of it yet, but we remain hopeful.

And looking ahead to 2025? The year begins with Veganuary, which continues to go from strength to strength since its inception in 2014. Dry January also gives livers everywhere a holiday, and normalises the idea of not drinking alcohol when socialising.

Chinese New Year falls on January 29. 2025 is the Year of the Snake, which represents wisdom, elegance and transformation.

Ireland can look forward to feeling a bit better off, thanks to lower inflation and real wage growth, while the state is set to double spending on climate initiatives.

Aerial shots from The Wolfe Tones at Electric Picnic

We can also look forward to literally hundreds of festivals – musical, literary, arty, sporty, foodie, you name it, there’s a festival for it. From the Electric Picnic to more niche events like an immersive circus festival in Donegal, there’s something for everyone.

People in the wider world will continue to enjoy our greatest cultural export – Halloween – while still thinking it’s an American invention. See also St Patrick’s Day parades.

Everyone’s favourite politicised cheesefest, the Eurovision Song Contest, will come to us from Basel, Switzerland in May, while in Thailand, equal marriage rights become legal from January.

For those who can’t wait for the 2026 World Cup, there’s the Club World Cup happening in the US in June and July, while the Dublin Marathon happens in October.

Ireland will be one of 160 countries represented at the 2025 Osaka Expo, which takes place from April to October. The theme is Designing Future Society For Our Lives, with three sub themes – saving lives, connecting lives, empowering lives. Let’s hope.

In March, we can look forward to What If Cats And Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day, National Pig Day, and Alien Abductions Day. There’s also National Whipped Cream Day.

David Bowie performs on stage on his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour in London, 1973. Picture: Michael Putland/Getty Images

The David Bowie archive opens at the V&A in London. He was a hoarder, as though knowing that one day we’d want to sift through his stuff. This year, Bowie fans can access a lifetime of his ephemera, painstakingly archived and curated by the V&A.

Amid all the superhero dross and franchise rubbish set to clog up our cinemas in 2025, some potential goodies await. A new Steven Soderburgh, titled Black Bag, stars Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender and Pierce Brosnan, while Parasite director Bong Joon-ho follows up with Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattion, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo.

Maggie Gyllenhaal directs The Bride!, a remake of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein, starring Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale and her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, who also appears in Guy Ritchie’s new title, In The Grey. Brad Pitt stars in motorsport movie F1, Danny Boyle releases 28 Years Later starring Aaron Taylor Johnson and Jodie Comer, and a still untitled Paul Thomas Anderson film – he of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master – will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. We can also look forward to live action versions of Disney’s classic animation Snow White, plus a live remaking of Lilo & Stitch.

Sabrina Carpenter is among the big acts coming to Ireland in 2025. Picture: Alamy/PA

Lots of musicians will be stopping off in Ireland during their 2025 tours: Billie Eilish, Chari XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, Dua Lipa, Olly Murs for the young, Simply Red, Simple Minds, Lionel Richie, Robbie Williams, Lloyd Cole, Oasis for the old, Andre Rieu, Andrea Bocelli for the very old, Christy Moore and the Wolfe Tones for the traditionalists, plus Bryan Adams, Snow Patrol, Limp Bizkit, The Offspring, The Lumineers, and loads more for everyone else.

Ireland will get a new president, who will be inaugurated in November, and we will enjoy ten lovely bank holidays throughout the year.

March 20 is the International Day of Happiness, which was established by the UN in 2011, and has been going since 2012, in recognition of happiness as a human right. Yay.