Cassandra
The World in 2012
Waiting for 2013
Cassandra's goodbye—but not for ever
Jan 31st 2012, 19:02 by J.A.
TODAY Cassandra bids his readers farewell, or more precisely au revoir, since our prediction is that we will be back online in November, ready to cast the runes for 2013. In the meantime, I live in hope that Sachin Tendulkar, despite the collapsing fortunes of India’s cricket team, will get his 100th international century at some point in 2012, and that Andy Murray (still a Briton despite the ambition of First Minister Alex Salmond to declare independence for Scotland) will finally win a grand slam tennis tournament in 2012. I also hope, rather than predict, that the euro zone will get its act together; that peace will break out between Israelis and Palestinians (very unlikely, as Daniel Barenboim sadly hinted in The World in 2012); that the summer Olympics in London will be drug-free; and so on.
There could, of course, be some carping individuals among you who will keep account of any predictions of Cassandra and The World in 2012 that for some extraordinary reason turn out to be false…I would only crave their forgiveness and point to those things, as outlined in The World in 2012, that will not happen. One of them is the end of the world. In defiance of followers of the Mayan calendar, I confidently forecast that we will still be around after December 21st. Until then, may you all enjoy a prosperous Year of the Dragon.
Space travel in 2012
The final frontier, even for Newt...
Jan 31st 2012, 10:56 by J.K.
“We are now ready to take this giant leap forward to ensure peace of mind and well-being of all our future space-travelling customers.” With that, German insurer Allianz late last year announced plans to offer travel insurance to space tourists. It expects to sell its first policies this year, in time for the launch of commercial space flights.
All manner of newfangled spacecraft will be blasted towards the heavens this year. The highest-profile “spaceline”, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, will launch crucial test flights in 2012 before paying customers blast off next year, at $200,000 per passenger.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Better late than never for Mr Hester?
Jan 30th 2012, 15:58 by J.A.
CASSANDRA must first declare an interest: I am a decades-long customer of Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland, and an extremely small shareholder in RBS. So should I be pleased that Stephen Hester, the bank’s CEO, has just announced that he will not take a bonus (in shares) worth just under £1m ($1.56m)? Or should I resent the fact that Mr Hester’s decision seems entirely the result of pressure from the government (which owns 83% of “my” bank, having bailed it out after the disastrous and hubristic regime of Sir Fred Goodwin)?
Actually, my reaction is one of wry amusement.
Business in South Korea
On the road, despite the scandalous pitholes
Jan 27th 2012, 20:29 by J.K.
This year is not shaping up well for South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP). Mired in scandal, the GNP is lurching towards parliamentary elections in April, with many MPs nervous about their chances. The party’s prospects in December’s presidential election are even murkier.
In contrast to the country’s hand-wringing politicians, many members of South Korea’s business elite see 2012 as their time to shine. Samsung will spend more than $40 billion to boost its product lines this year, hiring some 26,000 new employees in the process.Continue reading "On the road, despite the scandalous pitholes" »
Australia Day
Lucky for Nadal, but not for Gillard
Jan 26th 2012, 18:51 by J.A.
TODAY was Australia Day in “Godzone”, as Aussies can legitimately describe their lucky country. And it warms the heart of Cassandra, glued to his TV this morning in wintry London, that Roder Federer and Rafael Nadal marked the occasion with the most sublime tennis in their semi-final at the Australian Open in Melbourne (Nadal yet again the winner).
But sadly the country’s prime minister, Julia Gillard, was distracted from the tennis. Instead, her Australia Day was a rather humiliating affair: at a ceremony in Canberra she found herself barracked by protesters demanding more rights for aborigines—and had to be hustled away by her security guards, losing a shoe in the process.
The World Economic Forum—and Social Forum, too
It's a long way from Davos to Porto Alegre
Jan 25th 2012, 17:58 by J.A.
WITH its usual flair for headlines, the World Economic Forum today began its annual jamboree in Davos for the elites of politics, business and the media.
Continue reading "It's a long way from Davos to Porto Alegre" »
Depression and psilocybin
Cheer up! Eat your mushrooms...
Jan 24th 2012, 19:02 by J.A.
AH, LUCY in the Sky with Diamonds…Suddenly Cassandra is transported back to those gloriously psychedelic days of the ‘60s thanks to the discovery by British researchers that psilocybin—the mind-altering ingredient in “magic mushrooms”—helps combat depression. Actually, it surely does far more than that, as Aldous Huxley wrote half a century ago in “The Doors of Perception” (a title that was warmly embraced by Jim Morrison, hence his group “The Doors”).
The implication of the research into the mysteries of the human brain is that psychedelic drugs such as LSD could have a therapeutic value—but the obvious snag is that they are illegal.
Chinese New Year
Hail to the dragon!
Jan 23rd 2012, 15:54 by J.A.
KUNG HEI FAT CHOI…Cassandra is pleased to wish everyone a happy new Chinese year of the dragon. Supposedly, those born in a dragon year (they occur every 12 years) will enjoy health and wealth—which explains the eagerness of Chinese couples to time their pregnancies accordingly. But will this year be a truly good one for the People’s Republic? The World in 2012 in its special section on China worries about rising debt and the property bubble, and it gives a soberly balanced view of the months ahead:
The government will be relieved that one potential trigger of unrest, inflation, will be less of a threat in the coming months as food prices stabilise.
South Carolina's primary
"Romney or suicide"?
Jan 20th 2012, 18:56 by J.A.
WILL the voters of South Carolina in tomorrow’s Republican primary add momentum to Mitt Romney’s quest to be the GOP presidential candidate? Or will they spoil that measured progress by giving a boost to Newt Gingrich (the conventional wisdom being that neither Rick Santorum nor Ron Paul will be in the top two)? Cassandra’s hunch is that, whatever tomorrow’s result, Mr Romney will eventually be the nominee—but in the meantime there will be lots of entertaining exchanges between the candidates that verge on the insulting or the scandalous.
A top ten of business ideas
First the coffee, then the bill
Jan 19th 2012, 16:53 by J.A.
CASSANDRA is always on the look out for other people’s predictions for 2012 (some, of course, would call it plagiarism; I prefer to think of it as a service to our readers…). Plenty of predictions are simply wacky; others are obvious (for example, that London will put on a big show for the Queen’s jubilee celebrations). But some are both intriguing and useful. In this category, I recommend looking at the top ten business ideas for 2012 selected by Springwise.com, which bills itself as “your essential fix of entrepreneurial ideas”.
France's presidential election
A nervous countdown, and not just for "Sarko"
Jan 18th 2012, 17:38 by J.A.
THE countdown to the French presidential election—just 94 days to the first round on April 22 if Cassandra has his maths right—is getting interesting. Poor Nicolas Sarkozy is finding that becoming a father (in October) and toppling a tyrant in Libya (one day later) are no guarantee of popularity. The latest opinion polls predict that his Socialist opponent, François Hollande (on the left in our picture), will be ahead of the president in the multi-candidate first round and, assuming a run-off between the two on May 6, will win decisively. Meanwhile, France has just lost its cherished AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s, which, of course, reminds voters that Sarko once said:
Continue reading "A nervous countdown, and not just for "Sarko"" »
Muhammad Ali at 70
Simply the greatest
Jan 17th 2012, 15:08 by J.A.
TODAY Muhammad Ali—born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky—turns 70 with a birthday that will be celebrated by millions of his admirers around the world. Quite simply Ali remains “the Greatest”, a nickname that he gave himself early in his boxing career but which soon seemed eminently deserved. One reason, of course, was his supremacy as a boxer (three times world heavyweight champion).
Films, stars and prizes
First the Globes, next the Oscars
Jan 16th 2012, 18:55 by J.A.
HAIL to the Golden Globes—the awards just handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (interested, it seems, only in the movie business despite the title) at their annual jamboree in Beverly Hills. It is hard to criticise their choices: for example, “The Descendants” as best drama; “The Artist” as best comedy or musical; George Clooney as best actor (drama), for “The Descendants”; Meryl Streep, playing Margaret Thatcher, as best actress (drama) in “The Iron Lady”; and so on.
Ricky Gervais, the British comedian hosting the event for the third time and always happy to provoke his audience, described the awards as like the Oscars but without the esteem:
Musicians for the ages—including the Brit Awards
Keep on rockin'
Jan 13th 2012, 18:26 by J.A.
WHAT a surprise—and what a pleasure: the front page of today’s Guardian newspaper in Britain is dominated by a photo of Kate Bush. The reason? Ms Bush has been nominated in the best British female solo artists category of next month’s Brit Awards (the UK’s version of America’s Grammys). That puts her in competition with the wonderful Adele, who has been wowing audiences on both sides of the Atlantic (before, that is, she had to stop for a throat operation). Oddly, the Guardian chooses on its website to picture Adele rather than Ms Bush, so let us link to the Daily Telegraph instead…
The search for new digital territory
Google adds to Google+
Jan 12th 2012, 18:15 by J.A.
CASSANDRA is a great admirer of Google. Indeed, his wife constantly berates him for not taking advantage of its IPO in 2004 (I claim it would have compromised my journalistic integrity). And, as The World in 2012 points out, this year is going to be a fascinating battlefield as Google and the other giants of the internet fight each other both for new territory and for each other’s territory. But I wonder whether Google, in seeking to invade the land of Facebook, is making some tactical errors.
Frankly, I find Google+ irrelevant—and so do many hundreds of millions of others still committing far too much of their time to Facebook.
This blog accompanies The World in 2012, our almanac of predictions for the year ahead. The blog is named after the mythological Cassandra, who was cursed by Apollo to make prophecies that were accurate, but disbelieved.
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