By Tim Binnall
An iconic Irish almanac credited with having predicted the pandemic two years ago has issued its wide-ranging 2022 forecast for world events. First published a staggering 258 years ago, Old Moore's Almanac has become something of a cultural institution in Ireland by way of its annual predictions which initially came from its creator, the 'Irish Merlin' Theophilus Moore. In modern times, the prognostication comes courtesy of an anonymous in-house psychic. The almanac sparked headlines last year, when it was realized that the publication's 2020 forecast included the particularly prescient observation that "an unusual virus has us worried." By virtue of that eerily accurate prediction, it's understandable that one might wonder what the almanac foresees unfolding in 2022.
Among the prognostications reportedly put forward by the publication for next year are that Ireland will experience an array of unusual weather events, including an earthquake, a landslide and a giant wave. Additionally, the almanac foresees the country having a female prime minister, known as a Taoiseach, for the first time ever at some point in the next three years. Beyond the boundaries of Ireland, the publication's predictions include a junk food tax in Europe, news regarding the infamous missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, and, chillingly, some kind of incident involving space tourism that will spark worldwide headlines. Celebrities with strange pets such as "obscure fox breeds" will be a new trend, says the almanac, and there could be marriage problems for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The almanac also predicts a variety of societal shifts which it sees unfolding in 2022 including a rise in transhumanism, a downturn in marriages, and robots replacing humans in an increasing number of industrial professions. Unsurprisingly, the publication envisions the coronavirus continuing to have significant impact on our world with introductory handshakes and hugs becoming a thing of the past and the debate over the vaccine becoming even more starkly divided with actual 'breakaway' communities. Easily the most worrisome prediction in this year's forecast is that a second pandemic having no connection to COVID will occur. We can only hope that this time around the almanac has gotten that one wrong.