As 2025 comes to an end, here’s what you can expect to read in the year ahead.

British politics
Local and devolved elections in May are being seen as a make-or-break moment for Keir Starmer. His party is being squeezed from the right by Reform and from the left by a revived Green Party. For the first time in a century, Labour also risks losing control of its Welsh heartland.

US politics
Donald Trump will be making the most of hosting the men’s football World Cup and the G20 summit next year. But midterm elections are looking pretty bleak for the incumbent Republicans. With Trump’s approval ratings continuing to fall, Democrats have opened up a double-digit lead in voting intention for the congressional races in November.

Other elections
In Europe, all eyes will be on the Hungarian parliamentary election in April, where Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule could end. Elsewhere, there’s a “greater likelihood of victories by the centre-right/right-wing opposition” in Brazil, Colombia and Peru, according to global research firm BMI, “while Israel could also see a political shift”.

Economics
Following a bumpy year in which Trump’s tariff war played havoc with trade but markets continued to post record returns driven by AI investment, the outlook for the global economy in 2026 remains “dim”. That is the assessment of the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook. “Don’t count on the AI bubble popping immediately – but don’t count it out, either,” said Mashable. Interest rates (in the US, UK and elsewhere) are expected to continue to fall, however. 

Conflicts and wars
Despite peace talks, the Ukraine war continues to rage into 2026. Other conflict hotspots include India and Pakistan, after a deadly skirmish in 2025, Congo and Rwanda, and the ongoing civil war in Sudan. Tensions are also mounting between China and Taiwan. Trump continues to threaten conflict with Venezuela but, if he is persuaded to back down, manages to maintain the Gaza ceasefire and negotiates an end to the war in Ukraine, he could be in the running for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Out of this world
A little further from home, the Nasa-led Artemis II mission will attempt the first manned orbit of the Moon in over half a century. On the 10-day flight, the four-person crew “won’t land on the lunar surface”, said the BBC, but they will travel 5,000 nautical miles beyond the Moon and “further into space than any human has gone before”.

Most of us start each new year with grand ambitions to change our life for the better – only to abandon our well-intentioned resolutions within a few weeks.

According to a YouGov poll from last year, 17% of Brits cast aside their new year’s resolutions – which are dominated by health and financial goals – within a month, while just 11% of us manage to keep them up for a whole year. Strava has even dubbed the second Tuesday of January “Quitter’s Day” after its data showed a sharp drop in activity on that date.

“The key to making lasting change” could be casting aside the big resolutions and opting for “micro-resolutions” instead, said Stylist.

‘Progress, not perfection’
Swap scarily ambitious challenges for “smaller and more achievable” goals that are easier to integrate into your everyday life, life coach Karen Whybrow told Stylist. This allows you to “build momentum over time without feeling overwhelmed”. Gradually, these incremental steps “accumulate into significant change, much like planting seeds that grow and thrive”. And if you miss a day? Be kind to yourself and don’t let it stop you. “Progress, not perfection, is the goal.”

It takes 66 days on average to reliably form a new habit like drinking a glass of water in the morning or eating a piece of fruit, according to a 2009 study by University College London researchers. Consistent daily repetition is the most important factor in making small habits part of a lasting routine.

‘Create a plan’
Micro-resolutions could include anything from going outside more often to reading a new book or cooking with a new ingredient once a week or writing a daily journal. It can be hard to stick to a resolution when the “initial excitement of a ‘new year, new me’ wears off”, Colin Camerer, a behavioural economist at the California Institute of Technology, told Scientific American. Creating a “specific plan” and “having some type of accountability” (like check-ins with a friend or family member) can also help encourage you to continue.

Crucially, “people are more inclined to keep a resolution that they are interested in doing, rather than one that they simply believe they should do”. And instead of delaying the reward until the task is finished, it is much more effective to treat yourself while you’re doing it – for example, listening to your favourite podcast while you’re at the gym.

Fireworks light up the sky over Sydney Harbour Bridge as Australia welcomes in 2026. Just before midnight, hundreds of thousands of people marked a minute’s silence to show solidarity with the Jewish community after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack on 14 December.

Saeed Khan / AFP / Getty Images

It is nearly time to “don a woolly hat” and a wetsuit, and take an icy dip, said The Telegraph. After a food-heavy Christmas, charging into the open water could be just the “life-affirming” restart you need.

With over a million Brits belonging to outdoor swimming groups, a brisk swim in a lake, river or the sea is an increasingly popular way to start the year. As fun and invigorating as it is, though, cold water in cold weather can be a bit of a shock to the system, so it’s best to swim with others and not attempt anything beyond your abilities. And, if you’re eyeing up a sea swim, do check the conditions carefully before venturing in.

From tranquil rivers to mass harbourside events, here is our pick of the best spots for a New Year’s Day dip.

Broughty Ferry Harbour, Dundee
This is “the oldest festive swim” I know, taking place for more than “130 years and counting”, said Kate Rew in The Guardian. Run by the excellently named Ye Amphibious Ancients Bathing Association, the New Year’s Day “dook” at 12pm is not for the faint of heart – “on occasion, ice has had to be smashed” before participants can enter the water.

The River Cam, Cambridgeshire
Even in winter, you can “float through a dreamscape of vast meadows, low-hanging willow trees and smooth, arched bridges”, said Rosie Hewitson in Time Out. Head to any point along a two-mile stretch between Byron’s Pool and King’s Mill Weir for an “invigorating” dip.

Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire
If last New Year’s Day is anything to go by, you should brace yourself for thousands of swimmers at 12.30pm, and many more watching from the shore, said Abbie Wightwick on Wales Online. Many come “ready to brave the water” in colourful costumes, from cartoon characters to princesses and sea creatures.

The royal family is edging toward modernity – but in 2026, the public will expect yet more transparency
Anna Whitelock in The Guardian
King Charles “has won plaudits” this year for using “the monarchy’s soft power to support” British foreign policy and “strengthen international relations”, writes professor of royal history Anna Whitelock. He’s “been praised”, too, for “his openness about his health”. The “fly in the ointment” remains “his brother Andrew”. And there are those who argue that laws preventing “scrutiny of how royal funds are spent” undermine “democratic accountability”. Next year, the king “needs to embrace openness”.

Brazil’s President Lula should not run again
The Economist’s editorial board
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in “a strong position” to be re-elected as Brazil’s president next year, says The Economist. But he’s 80 and, “for all his political talent”, it’s “simply too risky” for “someone so old” to “serve another four years”. He could “do his country a favour and burnish his legacy” by standing aside. Former president Jair Bolsonaro may be in jail “for plotting a coup” but “Brazilian democracy” still “needs another shot in the arm”.

The far right is rising and the UK is on the edge. Here’s how I stay hopeful
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper
The British “media is obsessed with the bad, mad and dangerous”, writes Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, but “goodness and joy are all around”. On Christmas Day, a “British Muslim chippy owner handed free, hot food to anyone who needed it”. Friends in NHS hospitals “were gratified by the care they got”. My students volunteered at a refugee centre, a homeless shelter and a care home: they are not “cynical or distrustful of strangers”. I am “so proud” of our country.