Are you getting swamped by messages of gloom for 2008? The credit crunch, fuel prices, fragile democracies imploding. I suspect you are looking for good news. Well look no further than young people.

Last week I presented certificates and prizes to GCSE and A level students at Kennet School in Thatcham. It was impossible not to be hugely impressed with the achievements of these young people. I find such events really uplifting. These teenagers seem to exude a quiet confidence and clearly work really hard. The stereotypical portrayal of youth is sullen, hooded, monosyllabic and threatening. The truth is just so different.

I recently spoke to the Commanding Officer of a Battalion that had just returned from Iraq. He spoke emotionally of his pride in “his boys”. These young men, some of them from West Berkshire, were from the so-called hoody generation. They had performed outstandingly and had showed just as much courage and resourcefulness as their great-grandfathers had in a more heroic age. Their story should be told in towns and communities across the country so that we can stand and applaud them just as we applaud those who achieve so well at school.

So if we are looking for reasons to be cheerful in a troubled world we should look no further than the next generation. Our collective New Years resolution should be to denigrate Britain’s youth a little less and praise them a little more.

My predictions for 2008: The United States will elect its first black President, Alistair Darling will not be Chancellor by the end of the year, Boris Johnson will become Mayor of London and the construction of Newbury’s cinema and the Park Way development will begin. Oh, and one of the Cheeky Girls will stand for the leadership of he Liberal Democrats. At least one of them should come true.