November 2024: a fight night and five Saturdays
Boxing moved to streaming in November 2024. On Friday 15 November, Jake Paul outpointed Mike Tyson, aged 58, in Texas; Netflix counted 108 million viewers, a streaming first for sport. The month around the fight ran 30 days, from Friday 1 November to Saturday 30 November, with 21 of them for work and nine weekend days. Those 30 days sat in weeks 44 to 48.
Thirty days, weekend-heavy
The arithmetic: 30 days, of which 21 were for work and nine fell at the weekend. Fridays and Saturdays each landed five times, and the other weekdays four. Fridays ran from Friday 1 November to Friday 29 November, and Saturdays from Saturday 2 November to Saturday 30 November. A month that pays its spare days into the weekend is planning itself for you.
The moon turned new on Friday 1 November, first quarter on Saturday 9 November, full on Friday 15 November and last quarter on Saturday 23 November. A full moon on fight night, as it happened.
America votes on a Tuesday
The United States voted on Tuesday 5 November. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris with 312 electoral votes and won the national popular vote, the first Republican to manage it since 2004. Republicans also took the Senate and, once the calls came through on Wednesday 13 November, kept the House.
The Federal Reserve followed on Thursday 7 November with a quarter-point cut, its second of the year. Bitcoin set records all month: a first crossing of 90,000 dollars on Wednesday 13 November, then 95,000 on Thursday 21 November.
Big screens and a title
Two premieres shared Friday 22 November. Wicked took 114 million dollars across North America, the largest opening yet for a film of a stage musical, and Gladiator II added 55.5 million. Moana 2 arrived on Wednesday 27 November and opened to 225 million dollars over five days. Sony's PS5 Pro had gone on sale on Thursday 7 November at 699.99 dollars, no disc drive included.
Formula 1 settled its championship in Las Vegas on Saturday 23 November, where Max Verstappen wrapped up a fourth consecutive title with two rounds still in hand. George Russell won the race itself, a supporting act with excellent manners. In football, Ruben Amorim left Sporting to take charge at Manchester United on Monday 11 November.
Long nights of diplomacy
COP29 in Baku ran past its deadline before agreeing a fresh climate-finance target on Sunday 24 November: 300 billion dollars a year or more for developing countries by 2035. Israel and Hezbollah began a ceasefire on Wednesday 27 November, quieting a border conflict of more than 14 months as people headed home across the region. At Westminster, the House of Commons voted by 314 to 291 on Friday 29 November to back an assisted-dying bill at second reading, the first time the lower house had supported one.
The month's biggest crowd watched two men box; its most reliable fixture was the Saturday, five times over.