When midnight chimed in the new year, the baby with the 2017 sash and top hat strolled past one beat-up old man of a year. The move from 2016 is welcomed by those who will not look back fondly on 12 months of political acrimony, terrorist attacks, police confrontations and protests, and the deaths of many beloved figures. We couldn’t even get through the year’s final week without mourning first to Carrie Fisher, then her mother, Debbie Reynolds, within hours.