What is in Kelvin's Head?

How did I do with last year’s predictions?

31/12/2025
Here’s a run down of how I did at last year’s predictions.
- Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party.
Exactly what happened. YES
- No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England
Exactly what happened. Indeed, I think things may have gone into reverse. YES
- Turbulent year for WordPress, which powers about half of the internet.
The year began with Automattic dramatically cutting its contribution to development leading to stagnation in development and much acrimony. Subsequently restored. Deep divisions remain about Gutenberg. I’m claiming this as a YES.
- 2025 will be the hottest year on record.
Final figures yet to be calibrated but all reports indicate that this, unfortunately is a YES.
- No trade deal for UK with US. Increasing talk of re-aligning economy closer to EU.
Well, there was a trade deal in May called the Economic Prosperity Deal but it doesn’t seem to much and some of the basics have already been reversed. I suppose I have to be honest and say I didn’t get this quite right so it is a NO. But…
- Ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war but no long term solution.
Hard to assess this one. No long term solution, certainly. There have been a series of ceasefires proposed but none seems really to have been fully implemented. Partial YES.
- “Assisted Dying” aka doctor assisted suicide becomes legal in at least one of the jurisdictions of the British Isles.
I have to put this down as a NO as it completed its parliamentary journey in the Isle of Man but hasn’t received Royal Assent yet, so not technically legal.
- Turbulent year for economy but stock market higher at end of year than beginning. (FTSE currently at 8,173)
Stock market at 9,931 today and there was quite a lot of volatility in the first part of the year. So this one is a YES.
- There will be fewer Commonwealth Realms (ie countries which share the monarchy) by the end of 2025 than there are now.
This one is a NO though there has been significant progress in that direction in Jamaica and moves that way in Grenada.
- Philip Mountstephen.
Well, I was pushing Philip Mounstephen’s name as he appeared to be the only senior bishop in the C of E who actually believed the [absurd] position of the C of E bishops on same-sex relationships. But it is a NO – nothing significant to report.

So – five and a half out of ten this year. Not as good as some years. A couple of near misses.
new year, predictions. 2025

5 responses to “Young Church Noticeboard”

Jaye Richards-Hill

09/09/2013

A truly heutagogical approach. Now ask them *how* they might go about finding the answers to their questions…

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1. Kelvin
  
  10/09/2013
  
  September 10, 2013 at 10:32 am (Edit)
  
  Jaye – yes indeed and that’s a great supplementary question.
  
  It is significant, I think, that some of us in leadership at St Mary’s have been influenced by Paolo Freire and Ivan Illich, never mind some early experiment in omni-centred theological learning across Scotland. We talk about these things in the office when we are designing processes. How exciting it is to find good examples breaking out in other parts of cathedral life like this where we’ve not planned it.
  
  That’s what is supposed to happen.
  
  Reply
Seph

09/09/2013

I imagine a talk about the bells could be arranged.

Reply
Rosemary Hannah

09/09/2013

Um, I imagine they want a bit more bell than a talk about bells.

Reply
Augur Pearce

09/09/2013

Although the handwriting suggests a single scribe, I suspect source criticism may point to more than one contributor. And instead of leaping (with those who ‘spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new’) straight to the final question, I’m rather reassured to see that the remaining questioners’ interest is more in church history or how things work.

One could combine the first and last questions as ‘Has what happens when you die changed?’. (possible answer: ‘Once you didn’t die at all, but that was before the Fall and a long time ago. Then you went either to a place of torment or to Abraham’s bosom. Then some time in the Dark Ages the options of Limbo and Purgatory became available, but these were closed to new protestant applicants at or soon after the Reformation. For a while after hell was abolished, everyone went to Abraham’s bosom; but now there seems to be the alternative future of total oblivion.’)

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