Politics

Predictions for 2010

December 31, 2009
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Prospect polled the great and good for their predictions for 2010—carefully anonymised for maximum honesty. A selection are below. Your contributions are welcome too (or e-mail 2010@prospect-magazine.co.uk.) We’ll publish the best suggestions:

• Ed Balls moves to the IMF, while Harriet Harman leads Labour.

• Kim Jong-il, a Castro and a Rolling Stone die. Lockerbie bomber Mohmed Al Meghari is in rude health come 2011.

• David Cameron’s popularity dips below 30 per cent by Christmas. David Davis throws down a gauntlet: casus belli to be decided.

• Spotify goes bust, 1m Kindles are sold, and an iPhone virus spreads.

• Frank Field leads a Tory “broken society” review, while two senior Labour cabinet members accept Cameron roles.

• Cliff Richard’s final Christmas number one sets the Koran’s medina sura to a traditional melody. Effigies are burned.

• Republicans retake the House, but not the Senate. Rahm Emanuel leaves.

• Obama “redeploys” (sacks) all three “special envoys” —Dennis Ross, George Mitchell, and Richard Holbrooke.

• Ian McEwan wins the Wodehouse comic fiction prize for his climate change novel.

• David Lammy will announce plans to run as mayor. Boris Johnson will not.

• Obama moves troops from Afghanistan to Iraq, as Kurdish security worsens.

• The Stephen Fry backlash suffers a backlash —with live Twitter commentary from Stephen Fry.

• Alex Ferguson quits, Martin O’Neill arrives. Portsmouth or West Ham go bust.

• Radiohead’s new album Bad Pilchard is sold as an insert in a Chomsky essay.

• The dollar drops by 10 per cent.

• A Twitter outrage campaign leads to a vigilante mob burning down the house of a prominent media commentator.

• After much horse trading, Tony Blair is announced as Belgium’s new president.