Who dares predict what 2017 will bring?

Newsnet Radio Podcast

A lost majority for the SNP... then Brexit...now Trump... Who dares to predict what 2017 might bring, after all that? Surely only a fool would even attempt to do so? Luckily, Newsnet Radio found a few such fools and ordained them the task of ruminating through the tea-leaves of the year that's past, and making some bold predictions for the one that's ahead. Podcast host Derek Bateman was joined by CommonSpace editor and Sunday Herald columnist Angela Haggerty, playwright and author Peter Arnott, and columnist and producer Maurice Smith, all of them challenged to make sense of the madness. It's fair to say they made a decent fist of it, although the lessons of the recent past probably dissuaded them from making firm forecasts (ever again? Ed.) Together the quartet share their angst about the past, present and the future in a discussion featuring several megs culpas, some bad jokes, and a notable impassioned plea on behalf of millennials from Angela. Yes, it is truly a cornucopia of political analysis, incorporating incorrigible optimism and desperate near-despair as the group assess what it all means for Scotland, the UK, Europe, the world and possibly the universe. In other words, a great start to our 2017 series of Newsnet podcasts.