So what is in store for 2007? (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

So what is in store for 2007?

12:22pm Monday 1st January 2007 in Analysis By Jim Greenhalf

Happy New Year - we hope; but what will the next 12 months bring? For a glimpse into the unknown we peered into the latest edition of Old Moore's Almanack and took a couple of local soundings. JIM GREENHALF reports.

After great disappointment people tend to adopt a fatalistic attitude - it wasn't meant to be, whatever it was we wanted to happen.

But it is a deeply ingrained characteristic in Western culture to compliment fatalism with granite-like optimism, however small and flawed.

Only optimists are curious about the future because they believe that people have the ability to shape their own destiny. True fatalists, by contrast, believe that everything is predetermined, the script has been written.

Much has changed in society in the last decade. We are said to be more secular, rationalistic, sceptical. The appeal of celebrated atheists like Oxford University Professor Richard Dawkins and his published attacks on superstition and religious faith would seem to be evidence of a sea change.

Yet the popularity of astrological charts in daily newspapers and mediums like Stephen Holbrook - a regular visitor to Bradford - continues unabated. Old Moore's Almanack has been making forecasts about the future since 1697 - far longer than the London Weather Centre has been predicting changes of weather.

We may not need a weather man to know which way the wind blows, to quote one of Bob Dylan's witty lines; but our desire to know whether the future will be darkened by slings and arrows or brightened by rainbows remains undiminished.

More than a quarter of the pages in the 2007 edition of Old Moore's Almanack are taken up with generalised monthly forecasts for each of the 12 astrological signs. For example, Aquarians are likely to reach a mental and physical peak between January 19-20 while for Capricorns July 28-29 could be particularly dynamic and rewarding.

Other pages are scattered with charts and advertisements such as the one on page 19 headlined: The Prayer System That Never Fails'. "The real reason why our prayers are not answered is the fact that we do not know how to pray. The plain fact is that our prayers never reached God in the first place," the accompanying article says.

The plausibility of the piece might be more convincing if the book on how to pray properly was offered for just the cost of postage and packaging rather than £6.99 (£10.99 for those living overseas).

Advising people on the best seasons for planting crops, for sowing and reaping, has moved on; Old Moore now offers a Lucky Lotto Astro-Guide, greyhound racing numbers, lucky dates for playing bingo and lucky Thunderball numbers.

Oh, and just in case you happen to be a pagan who needs to know the dates of the various equinoxes, the times of sunrise and sunset throughout the year are tabulated on page 82.

What does this publication say about the culture which has kept Old Moore alive and well for 309 years? Philip Lewis, adviser to the Bishop of Bradford, takes the view that the presence of Old Moore is indicative of a deeper need.

"G K Chesterton said when people stop believing in God they have to believe in something; if not God than crude alternatives. There is the impulse in human kind which must be focused on something authentic and real.

"Old Moore is just misdirected curiosity, really. We do not recognise our limitations; we always attempt to go beyond our boundaries."

Old Moore also contains forecasts of a more serious nature. Here are some of them: l The UK - "The country will be subject to planetary influences that indicate economic confusion and chaos among Government initiatives." However, the signs look good for a final settlement of the troubles in Northern Ireland.

l The European Union - "The EU is in a state of ongoing crisis. Support-ers will say that it is in the organisation's nature to live in a state of low-level crisis." For every two steps of progress the organisation will lurch three steps backwards.

l The USA - A period of real chaos is forecast with planetary alignments pointing to a shift in US foreign relations and impaired global status. "Either the USA will face a major international defeat, or it will have to adjust to a resurgent Russia/China power play."

l The Middle East - Look out for serious internal conflict in Egypt, starting in the summer and much chaos and confusion in Palestine. As for Iraq: "Even if the country splits up, and there are indications that this could happen, it will not represent a worsening of conditions in the region. It would be perhaps a more natural outcome of the social problems within the country"

The year is going to be a good one of individualism; anyone who sets out to do his or her own thing will be rewarded, says Old Moore. Government initiatives will result in "a Tsunami of waste" that by November will suck "the new Prime Minister into disgrace".

Bradford-based political analyst Richard North is also in the business of predicting future trends.

"Political analysis is effectively the same as astrology: looking into the future to see what's going to happen and how it's going to happen and what we can do to mitigate the effect or exploit it," he said.

Mr North was asked to stick his neck out to make three predictions about the war on terror, the Government and the economy.

On the war on terror he said: "By spring there will be the very real danger of military defeat in Afghanistan because our troops are under-equipped and have insufficient numbers. I fear that a company base may be wiped out."

On the Government and the prospect of Gordon Brown taking over from Tony Blair at Number 10: "There is no alternative at the moment. No-one is going to oppose Gordon Brown taking over the leadership. The big fight will be for the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

"In the long term, however, Brown will prove extremely unpopular. The Deputy may then make a bid for the job."

On the economy, he said: "In cartoon physics, a cartoon character who walks over a cliff never falls until he looks down and realises there is nothing underneath him. The economy has not gone bust because no-one has looked down. We are all in suspense, without visible means of support.

"Productive industry has collapsed in this country. We are importing things from China. We are not paying our way: we have a huge deficit and enormous private debt. Brown is running out of money and tax capabilities and yet financial commitments are expanding.

"He has to find £15 billion for new aircraft carriers and another £14 billion for Future Rapid Effects System - re-equipping the land forces. That's an additional £30 billion altogether, about the size of the current defence budget."

Old Moore is in agreement with Mr North about the UK economy, forecasting "truly painful world correction" by 2010/2011. Pay off your debts and put your savings into gold, it advises.