Will disgruntlement prevail again in 2017? Who knows, but at least 2016 was quite fun

Most of my predictions for 2016 were wrong; so let’s not revisit them. But I was right, in January, to identify as a theme of the coming year an evident gulf between ‘the reinvigorated and the demoralised’. In small business sectors and provincial towns, as well as in the attitudes of millions of citizen voters here and abroad, the divergence between optimism and disgruntlement grew as the year went on. And when it came to elections and referendums, it was the downbeat that prevailed. So here we are, fearful of the craziness of Trump, the disintegration of Italy, the triumph of Marine Le Pen and the non-resolution of the Brexit muddle. My top prediction for 2017? We won’t feel any more prosperous at the end of the year than we do at the beginning. But let me not depress you too much: here’s a cheerful round-up of the past 12 months.

Deals of the year

If there was a theme for mergers and acquisitions, it was the passing of British know-how into foreign hands — and I include the proposed ‘merger of equals’ between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse, which I described as a bid ‘to hoover as much business as possible from London to Frankfurt’. The sale of microchip designer Arm Holdings to Softbank of Japan and travel search site Skyscanner to Ctrip of China were more obvious examples. It’s a worrying trend, exacerbated by the devalued pound. But I was happy to celebrate the £300 million sale of Tyrrells Potato Crisps to a Texan popcorn maker: a remarkable end to a story that began 15 years ago with Herefordshire farmer Will Chase trying to find a use for his surplus potatoes.