Budget blunder doesn’t bode ill
On Tuesday last week, American astronomers announced that a sizeable asteroid named 2024 YR4 has a 3% chance of colliding with Earth in December 2032. While 3% doesn’t sound like much, it is the highest ever calculated probability of such a collision according to a New York Times report. The asteroid could flatten a city with a direct hit, though the projected path at this stage is over the ocean. This is a roundabout way of making two points about Wednesday’s Budget Speech that was cancelled at the very last minute. Firstly, postponing a big event like the Budget caused inconvenience, but is not the end of the world. Being hit by a large asteroid would be. At any event, the Budget Speech will now take place on 12 March. Secondly, scientists can make these sorts of very precise projections of celestial objects far into the future because they are governed by the laws of physics. Processes that are governed by political logic are inherently unpredictable. So, while the postponement of the Budget was unexpected, nothing should really be unexpected in the realm of politics. Just witness everything coming out of the Trump administration over the past month (more on this next week).