VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: What could go wrong [or right] during 2016?

NOW JANUARY is well and truly into its stride, this is the ideal week to ask: what will 2016 hold?

What could possibly go wrong or, dare we say it, right? Everyone knows all predictive exercises are folly, so of course, we thought we’d give it a go.

First, 2016 will see a long-overdue wave of consolidation and mergers. Our communal charities and organisations do a sterling job, but there is huge overlap in many areas, so savings can be made.

Chief executives – who like their job title and big office – have so far resisted this logic, but in 2016, with money tighter than ever, they will finally succumb to pressure from their big donors, pick up the phone and whisper sweet nothings into their peers’ ears.

Second, joint head- teachers will become the norm, with Jewish primaries and secondary schools sharing the best. These days, having your own headteacher is a status symbol, a luxury, because excellence at this level is increasingly rare.

This is not for lack of talent, but because potential candidates simply don’t want the top job and all the bureaucratic blame- gaming that comes with it. Those who do, who truly know how to give a top- class Jewish education and don’t mind the hassle, will be spread more thinly.

Third, we sadly predict that the UK will suffer its own terror, most likely here in London.

As with France, this will most-likely be aimed at Jews, the military and/or secularism and free speech, perpetrated by those who would rather live under a caliphate.

And it will work, too, because it will be designed to divide us, to induce hatred and suspicion, to make British Muslims feel like they are enemies in their own land.

They are not. But our final chilling prediction is that, should the worst happen, many won’t see it like that.