Welcome to 2017. Hope it’s a beaut for you and yours.

Always a curious thing how the New Year’s so full of good intentions. Never any shortage, it seems, of resolutions, ambitions and promises as the calendar ticks over to mark another 365-day orbit around the Sun.

After the turmoil of 2016, expectations of something better will be running high.

Personally, my resolution is to make sure I don’t become a celebrity, not that there’s much danger of that happening.

How many beloved celebrities shuffled off the mortal coil last year? It must have been a nerve-wracking year to be a celeb.

Check out the list: David Bowie, Robin Williams, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Leonard Cohen, Gene Wilder, Glenn Frey, George Martin, Arnold Palmer, Keith Emerson, Ronnie Corbett, Merle Haggard, Leon Russell … and there were plenty more.

Even pretty Carol Brady, Florence Henderson, fell off the perch.

So I’m planning to fly under the radar, stay well away from TV reality shows and avoid X Factor auditions. I’ll be putting music recording on hold and my best-selling book plans under the bed.

I’m even tempted to stop answering the phone ‘I wake up with Today’ but, hey, I could use the bucks.

One thing I can’t avoid at the start of each New Year, though, is a couple of predictions. It’s a bit of a bad habit, given so many of them fail to materialise. But for reasons I’m a bit scared to analyse I persist.

So here goes: 10 tips for 2017.

1. Bill Shorten replaced as Federal Opposition leader by Anthony Albanese.
2. Donald Trump savaged over insider trading profiteering after the markets soared on the back of his passive election speech.
3. Stock market shock as Wikileaks revealed economic figures and forecasts doctored by Chinese government.
4. Revived avian flu scare after several species of migratory birds across Pacific Rim are found infected.
5. IS forces decimated in Syria by US/Russian coalition.
6. Kanye West jailed on ice charges.
7. Essendon footballer Jobe Watson wins Brownlow Medal, but forfeits due to report.
8. One Nation MP Pauline Hanson successfully sues ABC for defamation.
9. Former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons signs on for Virgin flight into space.
10. Angelina Jolie marries Johnny Depp in shock rebound pairing after recent divorces for both.

Sorry about that but I’m glad it’s out of my system. A Happy New Year to you, and all the best in 2017.

 

PS: What do you think of this blog post? Email me @ info@noelmurphy.com.au.