There is but one prediction for 2010

- Gordon Brown will cut his gains in 2010
Gordon Brown has never been one to sell UK investments at the top of the market. Remember his expertly timed sale of half the country's gold bullion reserves at a fraction of their current value? The tax payer avoided roughly 5 Billion in extra profits through this cunning ruse.

It is clear that the PM must follow this masterstroke in 2010 by offloading UK investments in the banking sector - before the share values rise too high. It would look great in an election year, and Brown could claim "we got our money back". But true to his convictions, we would not have got too much money back.

Then again, there is perhaps another reason for Brown to cut his gains: Maybe these gains are illusory in the first place. Maybe we are fooling ourselves into thinking that things are getting better and that the banks are out of the woods.

Remember: This is the man who would never have believed in anything as foolish as a gold standard, this is the man who proved that throwing money at a problem could solve it, and this is the man who is happy printing money until the sacred cows come home.

As the PM probably realised long ago: Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.