Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Price
“Mother Shipton predicted the dissolution of the Catholic Church under Henry VIII. She predicted the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, and the ascent of Queen Elizabeth. She forecast television and radio, ships made of iron, and arguably the California gold rush. But probably her most notorious prediction was that ‘The world to an end shall come, In eighteen hundred and eighty one.’ She was clearly off a bit on that one. Given the self-evident inaccuracy of forecasts of the end of days, their popularity does seem somewhat bewildering. … For as long as we’ve been working in the capital markets, there have also been sceptics warning of the demise of the biggest bond and credit bubble in history. Like the boy who cried wolf, they have all been discounted, and (rightly) ignored. This time, however, they could finally be justified.” (12/04/25)