Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
The year euro will collapse… and uni dream will be over
As has become an annual tradition, Gazette columnist and business expert Richard Scase gives his predictions for 2017....
(1) Brexit will not happen. After the French and German elections there will be growing political forces across the whole of Europe for the EU to revert to its original aim to be nothing more than an economic trading block and customs union. The dream of political union will go out of the window and so the UK will get what it has always wanted.
(2) With the possible exception of France, Germany, Austria and the Low Countries, the euro will collapse. It was always unsustainable with such diverse economies and in the absence of a common monetary and fiscal (tax policy) across all euro economies.
(3) The seeds will be set in motion for a realignment of British politics with a new Progressive Alliance made up of Liberal Democrats, moderate Labour and Remainers in the Tory Party.
(4) Ukip will gain seats in the Kent County Council elections to be held in May.
(5) Proposals for an east Kent super council will stall. Once detailed negotiations get underway, there is no chance Thanet councillors will support any such alliance. In any case, if it was to happen it would still be Serco or some other sub-contractor (we must call them ‘customer service partners’ these days) that empties our bins.
(6) The university ‘dream’ is over. With 50% of men and women in the 20-40 age group having university degrees there will be a growing realisation that student debt is no longer worthwhile. Only attending the top-notch global branded universities will make it a pathway to decent graduate careers
(7) The buy-to-let market in Canterbury will go into freefall as a result of excessive construction projects. The days of the landlord cramming five or six students into a terraced house and who does nothing in terms of maintenance and care are rapidly coming to an end.
(8) Property developers will continue to ‘bribe’ the council to grant planning permission for their schemes with the promise they will pay for infrastructure improvements such as roads, etc. We all know all this is a ‘con’ and they simply add the additional cost to the selling price of their homes, making unaffordable homes even more unaffordable.
(9) The best coffee in Canterbury will continue to be offered by the ‘independents’. Why go anywhere else than the Moat Tea Rooms in Burgate, the Wild Goose at the Goodshed and the Refectory in St Dunstans?
(10) A dead cert bet, traffic congestion will continue to increase in Canterbury with related air pollution and health risks. There will be no visionary solutions by central or local government agencies to cope with the transport impact of huge population growth in east Kent.
And this from a government that claims to be giving priority to infrastructure projects. Surely a new rail station in the area should be one of them. A sure fire prediction, it won’t happen. This is the UK, not Germany!
Many thanks to readers that have responded to my column through letters, email and social media. A Happy New Year to all.