A friend and I were solving the world’s problems over a cup of coffee last weekend. During our foray into world politics and religion we spoke about the end of the USA’s reign as the current superpower. Superpowers do not just come and go overnight so this is not a prediction for 2008, 09 or 10.

However, USA will one day no longer be the dominant player in the world. We went through all the alternatives and it seems likely that it will be Australia who takes up the reins. Work it out for yourselves, there are no other likely contenders that meet all the requirements.

I cannot reveal the finer details of our discussion, however, I can say that I am tempted to write a book about it.