Rainbow warriors head off Bertie between Kyoto and the OK Corral

ACCORDING to my encyclopaedia, people have been producing almanacs since the beginnings of astronomy. As far back as ancient Rome, people were routinely warned in advance about days that were dangerous — beware the Ides of March! — as well as told about days that would be good to do business.

The first printed almanac appeared almost as soon as printing was invented. These publications were enormously popular because they combined astrological predictions with a lot of useful weather information. The astrologer Francis Moore, who served as a courtier to King Charles II, started up Old Moore’s Almanac in 1700, and it has been published ever since. Its current publishers claim that in addition to all sorts of predictions about UK and world affairs, the almanac also invaluably “highlights gardening by the moon, fishing by the moon, winning periods for jockeys and trainers, lighting-up times and high and low water times”.

With apologies to Old Moore and his almanac, here are my predictions for what promises to be an exciting first half of the political year ahead for us – especially, perhaps, the month of May.