Happy Christmas!

May it be exactly as you wish it.

Attending church, examining presents, hiking wintry lower slopes, listening to the start of bells chiming across sleeping villages, coffee drunk and lists managed in a busy kitchen, stories of 2025 shared, hope renewed.

May your day bring exactly the blend of solitude and company, tradition and surprise, reflection and celebration that suits you best,

My Predictions for 2026, 7, These will NOT happen.

  1. Flying cars (still).
  2. AGI/superintelligent AI.
  3. Any significant ‘cures’ for any of the cancers or Alzheimer’s.
  4. Fusion power being commercially viable.
  5. A Mars colony.
  6. Universal basic income becoming adopted in any major economy.

My Predictions for 2026, 6, The Wild Cards (Low probability, Colossal Impact)

  1. Major cyber attack crippling infrastructure across Europe, Asia, The Americas.
  2. Breakthrough in fusion or room-temperature superconductivity.
  3. Pandemic part 2.
  4. Discovery of definitive evidence of life beyond Planet Earth.

My Predictions for 2026, 5, Food

  1. Lab-grown meat will be easily commercially available but not mainstream.
  2. Coffee and chocolate will continue to become significantly more expensive as a result of weather pattern shifts.
  3. English wines will continue to win awards.
  4. Food delivery will be the standard expectation rather than luxury/convenience.
  5. Evidence will continue to accumulate that highly processed food damages health; this will be the big battle of the next decade: to get the facts and expose those with vested interests. Think the 50s/60s/70s and beyond tobacco battle.

My Predictions for 2026, 4, Health

  1. GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic family) will continue to transform obesity treatment but the consequences (such as the impact on facial appearance) will become more apparent.
  2. Mental health treatment will continue to be inadequate for the soaring demand.
  3. Long COVID will still be affecting millions but will have fallen out of public consciousness. Nobody wants to talk about covid.
  4. Healthcare systems in many countries will be in visible crisis.
  5. Despite all the talk no country is any better prepared for the next pandemic.

My Predictions for 2026, 3, Culture & Media

  1. Streaming will consolidate further with fewer more expensive services.
  2. AI-generated content will be everywhere (music, books, art, video) causing both creativity challenges and copyright chaos.
  3. The nostalgia cycle will reach the 2010s.
  4. Podcasts will finally peak as the market becomes saturated.
  5. Live experiences (concerts, theatre, sports) will command even higher premiums as “authentic” alternatives to digital.