In your face, Delphi!

Hope you all had a good Christmas/New Year, and are starting off January fat, hung-over and happy.

Not much of interest happened in 2008; what will 2009 bring? On the basis of absolutely nothing at all, certainly not expertise or wisdom, here are my predictions for the coming year:

• The extent to which the media runs "the economy sucks" stories will only marginally exceed the extent to which the economy really does suck;



• The structural integrity of President Obama's coat-tails will begin to fail under the weight of beleagured European leaders who latch on with a drowning grip;



• Labour will, however briefly, due to whatever short-lived factor, overtake the Conservatives in the polls. We will then drown in speculation about a) an early election b) internal Labour leadership rivalries c) internal Tory leadership rivalries. This will be so much more interesting than actually discussing the merits and demerits of competing policies;



• There won't be an election;

• Someone, somewhere, will write "austerity is the new consumerism" and mean it

• Despite the oft-voiced hope of middle-class commentators that enhanced poverty will at least drive the poor into eating properly, sales of Bargain KFC family buckets will increase.
  

Aside from the obvious ones (a celebrity couple will divorce, a reality show will create a gripping scandal, a national sports team will come close to success but not quite make it), that's that. As they're proven hopelessly wrong throughout the year, I'll revisit them and twist them into knots to show how I reallly did mean the opposite of what I said.