Thoughts on politics and life from a liberal perspective

Friday 4 January 2013

My predictions for 2013

Here are my predictions for the coming year:


  1. Bruce Forsyth will retire and hence will not be a main host on Strictly Come Dancing 2013 (although he may pop in to say hello).
  2. Despite rumours of a potential replacement, Ed Balls will still be Shadow Chancellor come the end of the year.
  3. Chris Huhne will return to the cabinet.
  4. Someone with a blog on the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator who has never been a parliamentarian will be enobled.
  5. The government will announce a timetable for the abolition of 1p and 2p coins.
  6. David Cameron will announce an in/out referendum on Europe to take place if the Conservatives win the next election.
  7. The Universal Credit will be delayed and eventually abandoned (this bit may happen next year) due to too many technical problems. IDS will resign when this finally happens.
  8. We will manage to get a government minister on as a guest on the House of Comments Podcast.
  9. One of either Mark Pack or Stephen Tall from off of Lib Dem Voice will appear on BBC's Question Time.
  10. For four years now I have predicted that Eddie Mair will become the main presenter of Question Time. But as Dimbleby_D still shows no signs of going anywhere any time soon I'm going to change this one. Mr Mair showed his mettle as a stand-in presenter on Newsnight during the Savile crisis so I now predict he will become a regular presenter on Newsnight when it is revamped this year.
  11. All around my hat I will wear the green willow, and all around my hat for a twelve month and a day.

Have a good one!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hmmm. Lord Pack of Pizza Express...

I will also only allow Bruce to go if Claudia and Tess get the gig. Or at least Claudia. I dislike Tess less in the main presenter role.

Who leaves the Cabinet to make way for Huhne?

Jennie Rigg said...

Caron: I was thinking Linda Jack, rather than count Packula. But then I'd rather see either you or Helen on QT than Mark or Stephen. Me and my feminist brain, eh?

Nick said...

1) My guess would be that Bruce starts to cut down this year, so there'll be three or four shows with Claudia & Tess, rather than one. I think it'll be a gradual phasing out rather than a retirement.
3) Much as I might like that to happen, I don't think it will. I can't see who Clegg's going to sack to make way for him, and I think Huhne will prefer to be outside collective responsibility for the rest of the Parliament.
7) The first part maybe, but the pattern of the Tories in this Government is that they don't resign over problems that can be blamed on other people.
9) Strongly doubt that would happen, though they seem to fit the criteria for being the 'Extra Guest' on Twitter. Would much rather see someone like Linda Jack or Jennie on there than yet another white male political commentator.

Mark Thompson said...

@Jennie/@Nick RE: #bbcqt - I'd like to see Linda, Caron or Helen on #bbcqt too but I think it'll be Mark or Stephen if it's any LD bloggers.

asquith said...

Is it just me, or have they been kicking the start date for this Personal Independent, that's supposed to be replacing DLA, forward? It is a concern of mine, for reasons I won't be elaborating on, and I've just looked back over the latest guidelines and they seem to be delaying implementation. Don't be at all surprised if nothing ever comes of that.

The fact is, there aren't a load of people faking disability and they must know it by now. TThe proposal to reduce the numbers on DLA by "tightening" the criteria will inevitably make genuinely disabled people lose out. And even Mail and Sun readers will think twice about welfare "reform" when they see the people who lose out, who don't bear any resemblance to the millions of scroungers that exist only in their heads.

As I say. If this particular "reform" ends in a U-turn, no one should be too surprised.

It is a shame in one sense about Universal Credit, because the concept of a basic income has merit, it's just that this particular scheme is flawed, perhaps fatally so.

Oranjepan said...

Much as I too like Eddie Mair, he just doesn't have enough of an establishment twinkle in his eye for QT. Personally I'd like Dimbleby to internationalise the show, for example taking it on tour during significant elections in those countries, like Italy or Greece.
Considering Huhne has been in the Crown Court in Reading this week I think it's more likely his next role is as part of the election team with Paddy.
Can I ask you to speculate on the scndals which will break in the next 12 months?

Ian Sanderson (RM3) said...

No-one else has commented on "5. The government will announce a timetable for the abolition of 1p and 2p coins."
I'm a frequent visitor to the Czech Republic, where since the abolition of th 50 haler coin, the smallest coin is 1 crown, value about 3p. So I think this is quite likely.