THE FACT OF THE MATTER
BY PAUL HOPKINS
So Christmas has come and gone as we knew it would, and I trust you all had a good and peaceful one. From my window the avenue is strewn with windows and doors lit up like landing strips, and only God knows the cost to the national grid.
Once more, too, a New Year is upon us. Another year just like the one we are about to leave or the year before that or even before that again. Though each brings its own surprises — and who knows what this New Year will bring — in some ways, the more things change, the more things stay the same, particularly at this stage in my own life, each year having a familiar feel to it like an old well-worn favourite overcoat.
My maternal grandfather Henry, a retired army major, was want each year to consult his latest edition of that old favourite, Old Moore’s Almanac, to see what the future year might bring. So, for the New Year, I thought why not?
An earthquake, an assassination warning and health problems for world leaders are all on the cards for 2024, according to the predictions of the celebrated tome. The publication, treasured by my grandfather, had a good year of it with last year’s predictions, including the foreseeing of a “submarine drama” in 2023, ie. June, when the OceanGate submersible went missing on a voyage to the Titanic wreckage.
Among predictions for next year, Old Moore sees a busy year ahead for Donald Trump as he battles multiple court cases and predictably contests another election. However, it also expects a “severe health warning” and an assassination threat in his future. Hmmm… However, the upcoming US presidential election may be in for a shock twist if predictions ring true for Joe Biden, whom Old Moore expects will “succumb to serious health issues” next year.
Conservatism – the Right – will be a trending topic in 2024, with a further swing to conservative governments in Europe also predicted by Old Moore.
Meanwhile, on the home turf, Ireland could have its first female Taoiseach but it will not be smooth sailing, as Old Moore warns that an “embattled” year is coming down the road for Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald.
The almanac turns 260 years old next year and the latest edition anticipates the news in 2024 will feature the moon and ‘age reversal tech’. The headlines will perhaps be a welcome respite from the predicted revelation that collapsing birth rates have led to babies becoming ‘rare’.
A major earthquake that “will stretch across borders” is also predicted but, then again, there are always earthquakes, Turkey and the like suffering devastating consequences.
Next year will also, apparently, include the advent of ‘regenerative medicine’ that means humans can finally regrow limbs and organs while other scientific breakthroughs put conscious Artificial Intelligence (AI), space mining, electric planes and drone taxis on the horizon.
AI-generated art will sell for “record prices” next year, Old Moore predicts, while “the fight to save cash” begins alongside the invention of a workaround for what it terms ‘Central Bank Digital Currencies’.
The almanac made a series of predictions for 2023 and as the year draws to a close, it appears that a number did in fact come to fruition. Some “intriguing alien news” was expected for this year, which did sort of arrive in the form of a US congressional hearing on unidentified flying objects and the display of alleged “non-human” alien corpses in Mexico.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were expected to have “marriage and money problems” this year now closing. While rumours abound, the couple did part ways with Spotify in June after a reported $20m multi-year partnership had been struck in 2020.
Old Moore had predicted that Limerick would win the men’s senior hurling All-Ireland final and Kerry would take the Sam Maguire back to the Kingdom. And, while Limerick did claim the title for the fourth time in a row this year, Kerry lost out to Dublin by two points in the All-Ireland football final.
All that said, it was the English philosopher and Zen Buddhist Alan Watts, whom I read avidly as a young man, who said that “tomorrow and plans for tomorrow have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live”.
Happy New Year. Hopefully …
