Predictions Coming True

Just as (I think) I was the first person to propose that Fred Goodwin be stripped of his knighthood, I think I was also the first person to call for an immediate election in 2009.

The Parliamentary expenses scandal means, of course, that the biggest prediction of them all, that 2009 is the year when everything will change for the better, is cooking along quite nicely, thank you very much.

Oh, there will be pitfalls and stumbles along the way. Yet consider this.

The theology of self-regulation has been shown to have failed in financial services; it has now also been shown to have failed in politics. The credibility of all regimes of self-regulation, one of the principal pillars of neoliberal dogma, has collapsed like a Philistine temple from a push of Samson's shoulder.

The good times are over. The great times might yet be upon us.

There is always hope.