More than a thousand Scottish hearts broke as the referendum narrowly swung in favour of ‘No’, which meant that it would remain joined to England by the neck (England’s the body, right?), and though we’d hate to lay conspiracy theories at the feet of royalty (we're not David Icke), we do think that the sudden, early announcement of Kate Middleton’s second pregnancy, just a few days before the crucial vote, was a little suspect.
Fed up of Isil/IS/Isis's quest to declare much of the Middle East a caliphate, the US began an airstrike on Kobani, a town close to Syria's border with Turkey. Meanwhile, news emerged that hundreds of the extremist fighters were disenfranchised, radicalised young people from countries like the UK, America, Australia and, like, Belgium. Over in Ottowa, a terrorist known to police shot and killed a Canadian Guard outside the country's parliament. He was in turn killed at the scene.
The centre of Hong Kong ground to a halt as thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets to fight for their right to a referendum on their leadership.
Celeb-wise, Lindsay Lohan's play, Speed The Plow, opened in London to mixed reviews (she was great, the play, not so much) and Nicki Minaj basically owned the MTV EMAs, naming herself the Queen of Scotland (the event was held in Glasgow). Meanwhile, a surprising coupling emerged; Robert Pattinson and left-field pop star FKA Twigs. Twigs, aka Tahliah Barnett, later spoke of the racism she got from his die-hard fans, and we sort of want to have a word with anyone who’s stirring stories of Kristen Stewart being at all bothered by his new lady-love.
Joan Rivers sadly passed away aged 81, which actually seemed like a pretty young time for someone of her stamina and energy to go. What we loved was, all the people she ever slagged off, from Naomi Campbell to Lena Dunham, writing tributes to her, sometimes using their take on her own razor-sharp tongue.
Lena Dunham used her book to talk about that time she was date-raped. She later had to defend herself against the reams of naysayers who were looking to discredit her, either by saying she was never raped or she assaulted her younger sister, Grace. Pretty grim, but her responses were courageous.
Emma Watson used her position at the UN (she’s their Women Goodwill Ambassador) to make a heartfelt speech about her own, multitudinous experiences of sexism and to point out the times where a man can intervene to stop it from happening. Launching #HeForShe, Harry Styles helped the initiative go further by uploading a photo of him holding up some card with the hashtag on. It might not seem a lot, but a young male popstar declaring himself a feminist? If it gets as much awareness as the silly hat he's been wearing during the second half of this year, only good can come from it.
Plus, the Twitter troll who threatened to rape Stella Creasy because she showed support for having Jane Austen’s face on the £10 banknote, was sent to jail for 18 weeks.
Banger(s) of the month: We couldn’t get enough of Banks’ album, from the screechy to the sultry. See also the return of the mighty One Direction with their single Steal My Girl.
What we were watching: This month was all about David Cronenberg's grotesque portrayal of Hollywood in *Maps To The Stars, *starring Julianne Moore as the ageing actress struggling to keep it together in the shadow of her fabulously successful mother.
FKA Twigs And Robert Pattinson Are Living Together, Like A Real Serious Celeb Couple
Lindsay Lohan Has Launched Her Own Gaming App All About The Price Of Fame
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Illustration by Sophia Den Breems
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.