Our experts think outside the proverbial box and serve up one leftfield prediction for the year to come in politics
Alex Braae
None of Phil Goff, Lianne Dalziel, or Justin Lester will face a challenger who gets within 20% of them in the mayoral elections.
Madeleine Chapman
Nikki Kaye will become leader of the National Party in a desperate attempt to fight fire with fire at the next general election.
Linda Clark
Simon Bridges might just last the year.
Simon Day
The Black Caps win the World Cup and Jacinda Ardern appears in the Lord’s dressing room to congratulate the boys via hologram securing her second term by association with the greatest cricket team New Zealand has ever created.
Peter Dunne
The government will be rocked in the first half of the year by a major scandal involving people closely linked to, but not part of, the government.
Emma Espiner
Māori Santa gets elected mayor of Nelson off the back of a sell-out national tour with Willie Apiata and The Māori Sidesteps.
Mihingarangi Forbes
The prime minister will have another baby.
Laila Harre
Simon Bridges remains leader of the National Party.
Max Harris
Jeremy Corbyn will be prime minister of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019.
Brownyn Hayward
That we might actually cut carbon emissions, and methane as a nation, see the first reductions in child poverty in a decade, and be a bit kinder to each other.
Liam Hehir
A royal wedding.
Stephen Jacobi
Brexit won’t happen but NZ will remain part of CER.
Wayne Mapp
World economy does not blow up, everyone is much happier than they thought they could be, New Zealand stops being so pessimistic. Middle East is way better by end of 2019 than at present.
Trish Sherson
Winston Peters is announced as New Zealand’s next ambassador to Russia.
Tainui Stephens
There will be a sex scandal in parliament. It’s long overdue.
Simon Wilson
Apart elimination in the World Cup Rugby quarter-finals, Judith Collins will destroy Simon Bridges and in the resulting leadership contest Nikki Kaye will destroy Collins.