How did I do on my 2013 predictions? (Spoiler alert: Badly)

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). Sort of half a point here really. He had several episodes off and I can't imagine it's too long before he properly leaves.
2. Despite rumours of a potential replacement, Ed Balls will still be Shadow Chancellor come the end of the year. Ding
3. Chris Huhne will return to the cabinet. Very much un-ding.
4. Someone with a blog on the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator who has never been a parliamentarian will be enobled. As far as I know this has not happened although I am happy to be corrected if I missed someone*.
5. The government will announce a timetable for the abolition of 1p and 2p coins. Nope
6. David Cameron will announce an in/out referendum on Europe to take place if the Conservatives win the next election. Ding
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. I'm claiming this one. It is clear that the project has failed it's just taking a very long time to put it out of its misery and they're managing it in such a way as IDS can save face and not resign.
8. We will manage to get a government minister on as a guest on the House of Comments Podcast. Didn't manage this although a couple of them were approached. Maybe this year.
9. One of either Mark Pack or Stephen Tall from off of Lib Dem Voice will appear on BBC's Question Time. This sadly did not happen. It's surely only a matter of time though as they are both strong media performers. Although I would suggest in the run up to the Scottish independence referendum they should get Caron Lindsay on.
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. This did not happen but Paxman seems to me to be in the ante room now so Mair is probably in prime position to take over 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. As we are still less than a twelve month (and a day) since I made this prediction I cannot yet reveal whether I managed it.

So 3.5 (and that's being generous to myself) out of 10. I'll just have to hope I do better with my 2014 predictions which I will post soon.


*UPDATE: Turns out I was actually right. Olly Grender was enobled in 2013 and her New Statesman blog was on the aggregator. So I got 4.5 out of 10! Thanks to Stephen Tall and Ryan Cullen for spotting and confirming this respectively.

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!

How did I do on my 2012 predictions?

Quick review of what I reckoned was going to happen last year:


1. HMV will go bust.

• WRONG. Should have chosen Comet!

2. A currently living former Chancellor of the Exchequer will no longer be with us by the end of the year.

• WRONG. They're all still alive and (as far as I know) in good health.

3. Barack Obama will win reelection with an even higher percentage of the vote than in 2008.

• CORRECT (sort of). OK, so it wasn't with a higher percentage than in 2008 but I'm giving myself half a point for this.

4. Chris Huhne will leave the cabinet.

• CORRECT!

5. David Laws will rejoin the cabinet.

• CORRECT (sort of). Technically he is not in the cabinet although he does have the right to "attend cabinet". But he is right back in the heart of the Lib Dem governmental operation so I'm giving myself half a point for this.

6. Kate from off of Teh Roayls will announce she is pregnant. The media will go loopy at the prospect.

• CORRECT. On both counts. She is pregnant and the media did indeed go loopy at the prospect. Although nobody could have predicted the tragic consequences for one of the ways in which a certain part of the media decided to cover her hospitalisation.

7. Mo Farah will win Gold at the Olympics.

• CORRECT! In fact he won two Golds!

8. Pointless will be promoted to prime time TV (i.e. after 7pm) with increased prizes to match.

• WRONG. Although it is going strong and rapidly becoming a stalwart of the schedules with regular celebrity specials on early Saturday evenings.

9. By the end of the year Yvette Cooper will be leader of the Labour Party.

• Couldn't really have been more WRONG. Ed Miliband had a wobble in 2011 but he is back firmly in control of his party now and I expect he will lead them into the next general election.

10. In a shock move I predict that Eddie Mair will become the new host of BBC Question Time. For the fourth year running.

• WRONG. Although he has certainly shown his mettle on the occasions he has stood in on Newsnight especially during their tribulations of recent weeks.

So 3 spot ons,  2 sort ofs and 5 wrongs. About par for the course judging by previous years!


This coming year's predictions will follow soon...