Shepherd's Bush 2010 Predictions: 50% success rate!

This blog predicts the future. Well half of the time anyway. Check what I thought was coming up this year here. Some of the good, the bad and the very bad took place, but interestingly some of the things that seemed certain didn't pan out.

I thought, in this blogpost from December 29 2009:

1 - Shepherd's Bush Green is redeveloped, prompting a storm of protest over the trees that the Council has earmarked to be chopped down, in opposition to the Mayor's strategy for protecting London's wooded friends

Wrong - it was slated to happen this year but our Council never got round to it. Can't imagine what they had on their mind instead, surely not an election?

2 - Andy Slaughter narrowly hangs on to the Hammersmith seat at the General Election, but with a wafer thin majority. In the end I think his local popularity, plus the damage the Council has inflicted on Shaun Bailey's chances, will narrowly - very narrowly - count for just a bit more than the current deep unpopularity of the Government

Right - Andy Slaughter narrowly hung on, due in no small part to his personal vote and strong performances at hustings like this one:



3 - Conservatives win the local elections and hang on to the Council, reaping the benefits of a very unpopular central Government and voter's responses to promises of tax cuts constantly carried in propaganda-dressed-as-news. Stephen Greenhalgh, currently the Leader, leaves H&F to become a member of the House of Lords advising Prime Minister David Cameron on housing & local government strategy - and our Council loses a lot of it's current high national profile as a result. A more moderate leader promises to listen to local residents a lot more before making major planning decisions.

Right - well at least as far as the Council elections which were never really in doubt with the large majority enjoyed by the Tories. Cllr Greenhalgh has yet tobe invited to the Lords, perhaps as a result of insulting some of his colleagues by alleging they couldn't "organise a piss up in a brewery". Most un parliamentary.

4 - Unseasonal storms lead to Hammersmith and Bush houses being flooded with sewage again, presenting H&F Council with a face-saving way of conceding defeat in it's campaign against the Thames Tunnel, or what it calls the "Super Sewer Crater

Right - we had the storms, the flooding and then defeat for our Council on the Thames Tunnel

5 - A young kid is killed on our streets, and several other young kids - most likely members of the local 'Murder Dem Pussies' gang - are found guilty later in the year and sentenced to 20+ years, thus ruining their lives as well as the victim's family. Cue much hang wringing and soul searching, but not much else.
Right - the murder of Jaabe Roberts was a defining moment of 2010 for Shepherd's Bush. I was confronted with the scene en route to taking children to school; the thought of people getting stabbed in crack houses just yards from where children play brought home the very real problems we have with crime in this neighbourhood. Karl Lashley was named by many of you on this blog which I could not allow to be published at the time for fear of prejudicing the trial which has just ended with a life sentence....for Karl Lashley.

6 - Wormwood Scrubs is designated a London 2012 Olympic Site, with preparations underway to build an archery and shooting facility

Wrong - and I don't know what I was thinking of when I wrote that

7 - Major security incident at Westfield shopping centre takes place prompting a crackdown including bags being searched on entry. This follows an attempted attack in central London which is foiled by the bravery of police and passers-by.
Wrong - thank goodness

8 - Acton Carnival takes place and is a roaring success, although several people are taken to hospital as a precaution following exposure to the record-breakingly hot sun that has baked W12 for much of the summer.
Right - the carnival was excellent, and packed with people in the sun

9 - QPR are beaten in the play off quarter finals for promotion to the Premiership prompting Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone to leave the club in the hands of multi billionaire Lakshmi Mittal. Fans celebrate with an impromptu carnival in Ellerslie Road.
Wrong

10 - BBC revokes an invitation to Nick Griffin to appear on Question Time after being asked to cover the cost of the security operation
Wrong

I'm going to make another 10 predictions for 2011, what do you think should be included?