Before we look at the first tip of the year, let's review this column's 2017 performance. We correctly predicted that Marine Le Pen wouldn't be elected French president while Emmanuel Macron would. We called all nine of our individual seat predictions correctly in this year's general election.
On the other hand, we were far too pessimistic about Labour's chances in the election, and got the overall outcome wrong (though at least we weren't alone). As a result, neither Diane Abbott nor Jeremy Corbyn seem to be bowing out soon quite the reverse, in fact.
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Our foray into the world of Ukip wasn't very successful, with neither of the two candidates that we tipped winning the leadership. Our decision to tip Boris Johnson (among others) as both next prime minister and next Tory leader appears unwise for now, at least; 2018 may see a revival in his fortunes.
Overall, this column has achieved a return of 56% on the 52 combined bets made since May 2016. Even if you had ignored our recommendations about how you should weight your bets, and just followed each of the 84 tips separately, you would still have got an average profit of 22.6%. This is above the 15%-20% goal this column sets itself.
The Czech presidential election is due this weekend, with a possible run-off at the end of the month. Polls suggest that the incumbent, Milos Zeman of the Party of Civic Rights, has a large first-round lead over Jiri Drahos, but they also indicate that Drahos will win the run-off. Given Drahos' strong opposition to joining the euro, I'd suggest that you take Paddy Power's 10/11 (52.3%) odds on him. I have put £1 on Drahos myself.
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Steve Webb: The triple lock is there to do a job. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of itThe triple lock means 13 million pensioners will now get an above-inflation state pension boost in April. While the rising cost of the policy has stirred controversy, Steve Webb, who served as pensions minister when it was introduced, argues the triple lock is vital and should stay. Webb speaks to Kalpana Fitzpatrick on the new episode of MoneyWeek Talks – out now.
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How retirement pots risk running out 11 years early if inflation remains highPension savers could find their retirement income may not last as long as they anticipated over fears that inflation may not slow down
