A year ago our Ne'er Day predictions for 2014 were modestly understated.
We contented ourselves by saying: "We thank you for joining us at the start of this annus marbles, and trust that you will stay with us for its duration. Fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be a journey never to be forgotten."
It was just as well we did not rush to rash political forecasts, for most punditry went out the window. Who was to know that just ten days out from referendum day the Yes side would have taken the lead in a poll for the first time? Or that The Vow would be so hastily concocted with unfeasibly tight timescale, only to be undermined the morning after by the Prime Minister linking it to English Votes for English Laws?
And above all, who would have predicted that having lost the referendum by ten points - not in itself too improbable an outcome - the SNP would go on to dominate the post-poll landscape while Labour, the ostensible winners, would find themselves beleaguered and on the ropes.
If 2014 was difficult to second guess, 2015 is set to be even more so. The politics of this New Year have so many variables the potential scenarios resemble three-dimensional chess, and events North of the Border over the next four months will will once again have profound implications for our neighbours. As indeed will their flirtation with Ukip have for us.
That a newspaper with the pedigree of The Times could make Nigel Farage their Man of the Year was particularly disheartening. Politician of the year perhaps, given the way he his party has made the political weather, but man of the year? When one considers the bravery of our own Gordon Aikman's campaigning and fundraising for motor neurone disease, or Alan Henning's aid efforts in the Middle East and their grisly end at the hands of Islamic State, or William Pooley, the nurse who survived Ebola and returned to Sierra Leone, there were surely worthier recipients.
But Ukip's significance cannot be denied given the impact on both Conservative and Labour stances in the debates on immigration and EU membership. A referendum on the latter could have a profound impact on the future of the UK, particularly if Scots voted to remain part of the European project while the English opted to leave.
The extent to which the SNP are riding high in terms of membership and performance in the polls could also have a significant cross-border effect. Four months is a long time in politics but if Jim Murphy is unable to turn round his party's fortunes it could cost Ed Miliband a majority at Westminster and force Labour to turn to their mortal enemies in the SNP for support to form a government.
When Alex Salmond announced, to no surprise whatsoever, that he would seek nomination to stand for the Westminster constituency of Gordon it dominated that night's main BBC news broadcast from London and the bookmakers rushed to offer odds of him sitting in a UK Cabinet come May.
It is set to be another intriguing, unpredictable rollercoaster of a New Year, and we hope that for our readers it will be a happy and prosperous one. In these interesting times we hope you will stick with The Herald as we seek to guide you through them.
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