I've seen the future, and this is how to work it

There's a battle raging at the moment in the national tabloid press over which paper publishes the best horoscope. Celebrated astrologer Jonathan Cainer is leaving the Daily Mail, where he is reported to earn £1m a year, and is joining the Daily Express. His defection has been contested in the High Court, such is the importance papers attach to horoscopes.

According to one newspaper editor, a good horoscope can boost circulation by more than 100,000 readers a day. In other words, we, the public, are fascinated by the future. It doesn't matter that the less reputable horoscopes turn out to be wildly inaccurate or are based on absurd generalisations. (On Grand National day, seven out of 12 star signs can "expect some excitement if a gamble is taken"). Quality is of no consequence: we have an unquenchable thirst for predictions.

Why is this? Because, irrespective of how preposterous they might be, predictions quell our innate insecurity. For a fleeting moment, we are assured that there is a future and that everything could turn out the way we want it to. The nightmares that wake us at four o'clock in the morning are momentarily tamed.

Of course, not all predictions are of the tabloid kind; some give cause for deeper thought. Financial consultants, economists and City analysts make a serious profession out of forecasting. In their case, more often than not, they are prognosticating like the French dramatist Eugene Ionesco, who said that you can only predict things after they have happened. Analysts and economists prophesy by looking back and recognising trends and projecting them into the future.

City horoscopes have more intellectual currency than the tabloids' star gazing, but their effect is exactly the same. They make us believe that someone, somewhere knows what is going to happen. Whether we like what we hear or not, knowing something is better than knowing nothing, and, therefore, they calm our nerves with that same reassurance.

This is the trick that we should turn to our advantage. Whatever predictions we read - be they tabloid funnies, racing tips for Doncaster or detailed strategic insights into the economy - they will give us, because human nature is essentially optimistic, an inner confidence. Even when we learn that the end of the world is nigh, that mountains will crumble to the sea and chasms of fire will consume the Earth, a small voice inside us will always say: "Hmm, could be good for business."

We should, therefore, read predictions for the new millennium, but then, rather than base our future on what we read, we should build on the confidence that comes from the act of reading. It is this confidence that will drive us forward more than the knowledge itself that we gain.

Forbes Mutch

Editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper