Crystal Ball Predictions For 2026
There is no doubt that 2025 had plenty of unexpected surprises and events. As it turns out there were some things that the 2025 Crystal Ball did indeed predict, while other predictions came to nothing but dribble. In fact, it is probably true to say this entire Crystal Ball column each year is itself complete dribble, but it does give us a chance to wonder what might be in store in the year ahead.
With your best sense of humour at front of mind, consider the 2026 that my Crystal Ball sees ahead of us including: the term “six-seven” will quickly fade from popularity as soon as people over the age of 50 start to use it more commonly; professional athletes across the globe will go on strike demanding that more money be spent on grass roots junior sport and less spent on the elite athletes themselves; Australia will win a record number of medals at the Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina (Feb 2026); Artificial Intelligence will eat itself alive with false truths and fake bots and ultimately delete its very own existence from history on the internet; Elon Musk will in fact send himself hurtling off into space bound for Mars aboard his own private Tesla spaceship; and the last image in the Crystal Ball shows the Knights will win both the Women’s and Men’s Rugby League titles while the Jets will win both the Women’s and Men’s Football championships.
As for last year’s somewhat successful predictions, the 2025 Federal Election did indeed see a plethora of “non-truths” dished out during the campaign and language and policy was used to inflame hatred and division that still lingers with us in 2026.
On the flipside, the hopelessly inaccurate predictions meant that no one actually did anything about simplifying the labelling on shampoo and conditioner bottles and nor did the major football codes achieve equity in terms of branding/labelling of the major sports and finally, perhaps most surprisingly of all, the US President did not apologise for anything, despite the Crystal Ball predicting that he would.
The Return of the BARR-BEQUES
By popular demand I am restarting the world-famous Barr-beques, coming to a street near you soon.
Throughout January, February, March and April I will be hosting 12 FREE barbeques out in the community in the suburbs of Edgeworth, Abermain, Kitchener, Greta, Millfield, Cameron Park, Bellbird, Huntlee, Kurri Kurri, Wollombi, Barnsley, and Weston.
Most Barr-beques will be in the late afternoon from 4.00pm until 5.30pm in the hope that I can be available for people at the end of a workday. A smaller number will be in the lunch hour of 11.30am – 1.00pm.
The Barr-beques are an very informal gathering and chance to have a chat, grab a free sausage if you like, and perhaps meet some of your neighbours. These are not 1-on-1 sessions; they are open conversations on the topic of the day and where possible I will try to help you out with what I do know, or take down some notes and get back to you on things that you would like to know that I cannot answer on the spot.
Full details of the exact when, where and what time can be found on my website or by calling the office or checking the inside pages of my Newsletter that landed at your place just before Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing you at a Barr-beque soon.