It’s that time of year – TV and radio are packed with special editions of Dr Who, news reviews and numerous best-ofs. So let me add to the cacophony with a look ahead to next year. Here are thirteen (and a bit) predictions for 2010:
1. The Taliban will mount a Tet-like attack on an Afghan town centre, such as Laskar Gar, prompting the Lib Dems to call for a British withdrawal from Afghanistan.
2. Iran’s regime will arrest and condemn to death one of the contenders in the 2009 presidential election.
3. Brazil will win the World Cup in South Africa.
4. The Pakistani president will be forced from office to be replaced by Nawaz Sharif.
5. Marwan Barghouti is exchanged for Gilad Shalit and subsequently elected Palestinian president.
6. David Cameron will be elected as Prime Minister and David Miliband will become Labour leader. The head of the Army, General David Richards, will become Chief of Defence.
7. China and India engage each other’s forces over the Line of Actual Control.
8. Bernard Kouchner is replaced as French foreign minister by Europe minister Pierre Lellouche when President Sarkozy reshuffles his government.
9. The UK base interest rate at the end of 2010 will be 1.25 percent.
10. There will NOT be a Gazprom-led gas crisis in 2010, but Yulia Tymoshenko will become Ukrainian president
11. A large, Mumbai-style terrorist attack will take place on the European continent.
12. Yemen descends into all-out civil war, as President Ali Abdullah Saleh is killed by a relative.
13. Ruth Bader Ginsberg will retire from the Supreme Court, Harry Reid will lose his re-election, Democrats hang on to the House, but Governor Charlie Crist becomes Florida’s next senator and is immediately anointed the likely Republican 2012 contender.
That’s what I saw in my crystal ball. What do you see in yours? Let’s hear what CoffeeHousers predict will happen in 2010.
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