There are few political outcomes about which any of us can be certain. However, the coming together of the Anglosphere seems almost assured. I am certain that when it happens, it will be a great boost for liberal democracy, becoming at a stroke the third pillar of the Free World after the US and the EU. It will also, at one leap, become one of the largest economic and military entities on the planet.

I speak, of course, of the settler communities of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand reuniting with their founder. A bipartisan poll has shown massive support in all four countries. While keeping their own parliaments, they propose to operate in unison in such areas as freedom of movement, job opportunities, recognition of each other’s qualifications, free trade, common currency; defence and intelligence, along with a joint defence policy. All will enjoy a high level of autonomy, much like the four countries of the UK.

This profound development could not have happened before this time. But a growing chorus argues that its time has come. Each of the now established nations needed to break free from the coattails of their founder, mature in their own right, shaking off any feelings of inferiority to their ancient motherland, and establish their own identity. This, over long years of autonomy, they have successfully achieved. All three punch well above their weight and are a credit to both themselves and their founder. The same could be said of the mighty United States, though its weight can never be in doubt.

Although the four nations of the proposed new union have been free for well over a hundred years to set their own policies, they have remained in remarkable lockstep with each other. So much so that if any of their citizens were to uproot themselves to another of the quartet, they would not feel themselves to be in a foreign land. So similar are all their institutions and the way they go about their daily lives, and so similar are the things they hold dear, that it is not surprising that such massive majorities for a reunion were achieved.

However, the world in which all four now operate has changed beyond all recognition. Who could have imagined that backward, dirt-poor China that occupied Australia’s backyard when it gained its independence would now be a digital, financial, and military colossus that casts a menacing shadow over its empty spaces, rich with rare earth materials and everything you can think of? How could Canada have known, when it achieved its independence 158 years ago, that its kindred neighbour to the south would grow so big as to make any dealings with it, trade or otherwise, totally unequal? Dangers and challenges surround these fledgling nations, as indeed they do their own mother-country since it left the EU. It is glaringly apparent that only their combined muscle can provide an answer.

Quietly and without fanfare, as is their preferred method, the nations of the Anglosphere are already reuniting. Britain’s exit from the EU has now got us back to where we were before that fateful sign-up decision that so upset our natural family. It has no option but to fashion a new future. In truth, it was never a proper fit with the EU, the successors of Charlemagne, wonderful as the concept of the EU was and is. It only joined because it was economically weak, while at the same time, Europe appeared prosperous. Britain’s horizons have always been global, notably marked by its history with the thirteen colonies. But that particular colossus, although it truly belongs in the proposed new union, cannot ever be a part. Ex-officio, maybe, but never a part. It is just too damned big. It couldn’t help itself from bossing the others around. Nevertheless, the emergence of a mighty new ally, fashioned in so many ways in its own image, could only but bring a smile to its face. The US would feel immense relief at no longer having to bear the burden of maintaining the post-war settlement alone. The creation of CANZUK (an acronym for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK) would also be a boost to the Commonwealth, various members of which, with closely aligned values, might well aspire to join. Singapore springs to mind, as it already shares a great many of these and is an economic fit.

Few would argue that the world would not be a better, happier, and more secure place, were CANZUK to become a reality. As we move into the New Year, I am hopeful that 2025 will see some truly positive developments, even if CANZUK is not one of them. 53 years of Syrian misery is at an end, and I believe that the present leadership means what it says about a Syria for all factions. Ukraine, too, I believe, will see an end to the war, though it cannot be that Putin can claim any sort of a victory. Also, I am sure that there will be a resumption of the Abraham Accords, once the guns fall silent in Palestine. Peace may, at last, come to that benighted region, which we — I am sorry to say, as the arbiters of the time — messed up on and which our progenitor nation, the US, will, hopefully, after a hundred years, make good on.

With all these things in mind, and many more, I would like to wish my own small family of readers a very happy and contented New Year.