Wonderful Christmas Time

A time for shopping and drinking and laughing. But also a time for reflection and "top ten" lists.

My Top Ten Predictions for 2006

1. The really important news stories will continue to show up on blogs not on television or in the paper, like this one here and here and everywhere here.

2. More people will lose their jobs in television news, due to stories like this at CNN and MSNBC. Yet more people will lose their newspaper jobs, just like those at the Washington Post (how many was it this month?), especially those who come up with ideas for interviews like this one. Update: I still hold to this prediction, despite the estimated loss of jobs in the US newspaper industry standing at 2,ooo. No declining newspaper seems to have learned their lesson, based on the end of year analyses I've seen, so expect further falls in circulation and further cuts in staff.

3. Andi will continue to inspire us to support injured soldiers; by blogging, by counter demonstrating and by visiting them in hospital, Christmas day included.

4. The blogoshere will continue to shine, as long as some bloggers are happy to debunk what papers like the Washington Post print.

5. What can I say about the wonderful London Times? They will go from strength to strength. They were the biggest newspaper to write an article about Michael Yon this year and the home of journalist James Bone who cheekily asked Kofi Annan the hard questions about that Mercedes in his efforts to uncover what Kofi has been buying with his Iraqi oil for food bribes.

6. More people are going to get wise to the way the media uses market research polls, because of bloggers like this.

7. The US military will increasingly be seen as a force for good in the world as the blogosphere raises awareness of important security operations like this (including Santa cams).

8. Some under perfoming businesses will have to face their psychological problems sooner rather than later.

9. Norman Geras, winner of 'Best UK Blog' this year, will continue to write a wide spectrum of posts on many unique subjects, but won't be able to get me to care about the sport of cricket.

10. John Griffiths will finally start blogging.