Probably Not a Happy New Year
If Christmas is the time for goodwill, New Year is the time for optimism. Everywhere one looks is adorned with the popular slogan “Happy New Year” - even Tesco have been at it. The internet is saturated with friendly greetings of annual wishfulness, from the blogosphere to social networking sites. Call me grumpy, but I’ve had enough of it.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I wish everyone well for 2008 and I hope it will be a happy year. But I see myself as a realist, and as such I shall be cautious in expecting a “happy new year”, if only because I anticipate disappointment.
There are two sides to every coin, but allow me to counter the flagrant positivism of the collective today in compiling a list of reasons why 2008 probably won’t be so great after all.
- The country began going down the pan the day Brown took office, and it’s only going to get worse. Sadly, he has his borrowed mandate until 2010, and has more or less ruled out an election until at least 2009. Thus 2008 will be the year of the floundering lame duck government.
- The economy’s heading for recession.
- The SNP will gain even more popularity, and the separation of the Union will be discussed more realistically.
- With the government in free-fall, far-right groups are bound to grow in support.
- The London Mayoral elections will offer the electorate (of which your’s truly recently became a member) a choice between the vile crypto-socialist creature we have become familiar with, a permanently dazed buffoon, and a liberal ex-liberal policeman. There’s no silver lining to that cloud.
- Further afield, the violence in Iraq will doubtless escalate because Brown bottled handling the most important thing he inherited. Iran is bound to get more assertive. It’s all change in Russia. And, of course, we end 2007 with Pakistan making Iraq look like a safe-haven.
- Things have quietened down a bit in Israel lately: it must be about time for one side to do something stupid, and to be met with retaliation, with the whole cycle of violence flaring up again.
I’m sure there are many more reasons not to get too optimistic about 2008. Your thoughts in the comments section are more than welcome.