“There’s a saying that all predictions turn out to be either lucky or wrong.” With those words, just over 12 months ago, I began a blog post for this site which looked forward to 2017 and committed forever to the internet some reluctant thoughts about what the year might bring in the world of politics…
The speech made by the Queen to open the new session of parliament was of more interest for what was not in it than what it contained, i.e. most of the manifesto Theresa May ran on during the recent election campaign. Neither was there mention of a state visit by Donald Trump. That the latter…
The general election campaign is entering its final stages. On Friday, the two main party leaders, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, will for the second time this week go head-to-head in a televised stand-off. People will write angry things on the internet. Mrs May will say “strong and stable”. The nation will engage soberly with serious matters of policy.
Theresa May has announced she will seek a general election on 8 June. On Wednesday a motion will be moved in the House of Commons which if passed will see parliament dissolved on 2 May.
And they’re off. Theresa May has officially notified Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, that Britain is leaving the European Union.
In keeping with his “Spreadsheet Phil” persona, Philip Hammond’s Budget today was mostly boring. Many of the announcements had been expected, due to a tightly controlled drip-feed to the media over the last week or so.
Correctly predicting what’s going to be in the Budget is akin to completing the football pools or picking the lottery numbers, given the variables and levers that a Chancellor has to pull at any one time.
There was much focus on the Supreme Court last week, where judges upheld a ruling that MPs must be given a vote on Britain leaving the European Union. The result was that parliament remains sovereign.
There’s a saying that all predictions turn out to be either lucky or wrong. And there’s another one which says anyone who claims to know the future must, by definition, be either a fool or a charlatan. Nonetheless, the appetite for political forecasts is a thirsty one, so let’s take a look at the year ahead and hope I prove to be a lucky fool.
Although it was Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement, three spectres could be felt in the background: one of the past, one of the present(ish) and one of the future.