As the world gets ready to bid farewell to 2024, Aussies have noticed an ominous detail about the opening days of January that could signal what kind of new year we are in for.
Eagle-eyed social media users created a stir when they pointed out that the first three days of 2025 will fall on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The calendar sleuths declared the first letter in each day spells the widely used acronym WTF, an abbreviation for ‘what the f***’, that is commonly used in text messages and on social media sites to express shock or frustration.
The last time the same sequence occurred to mark the first three days of the new year was 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread across the world.
Although the social media observation could be deemed innocuous, Australians have endured a tough enough year in 2024 that an even tougher one next year doesn’t require too much of a leap of the imagination.
Millions of Aussies are struggling with the cost of living crisis while housing continues to remain unaffordable across the country’s major capital cities.
The Reserve Bank left interest rates on hold at 4.35 per cent during their final monetary policy meeting of the year on December 11.
The decision marked the 10th consecutive time the RBA has decided against lowering interest rates that are weighing down on millions of mortgage holders.
It instead has left them on hold since the cash rate was set at 4.10 per cent on October 4, 2023.
Several eagle-eyed social media users spotted the first three days of January in 2025 will be marked on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (pictured stock image)
Drilling down to the numbers, figures by the ACCC revealed the price of a basket of groceries in Australia went up by 24 per cent from March 2019 to June 2024.
While, the latest figures by real estate website PropTrack shows the median value for houses in Australia is $872,000.
According to a 2024 Demographia report, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are among the 10 most unaffordable cities in the world, with Hong Kong topping the list.
An ANZ Corelogic Housing Affordability Report also showed that house prices in Sydney now cost 10 times the median salary.
All the while, the world has also endured a tumultuous year with conflicts continuing to rage in Europe and the Middle East.
Aussies picked up on the ominous detail as the world gets ready to bid farewell to 2024 (pictured the New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Sydney)
The war between Russia and Ukraine will enter into its third year in February 2025.
The conflict has killed close to 12,000 civilians including 622 children according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Officials in the US say close to a total of 500,000 soldiers across Russia and Ukraine have been killed since the war began.
The harrowing war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas also continues despite the efforts of mediators to enact a ceasefire.
The latest figures from the United Nations reveal 45,000 civilians in Gaza have been killed after Israel commenced the deadly conflict in response to the devastating attacks Hamas launched on October 7, 2023.
The harrowing war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas also continues despite the efforts of mediators to enact a ceasefire (pictured smoke rises from a building in southern Gaza
Former US President Donald Trump (pictured) was re-elected to the White House in November and his presidency could produce more uncertainty in a world gripped by armed conflict
Two major changes that will affect the world in 2025 are the ramping up artificial intelligence race, which is set to revolutionise the way society operates.
And the second is the shift in who will be leading the free world.
Voters in the United States re-elected Donald Trump after the former President clinched a landslide victory against Joe Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris in the US elections held in November.
Mr Trump’s victory could mean the US recalibrates its domestic priorities and also relations with many other countries.
Whether that serves to stablise or create uncertainty in global political and economic systems remains to be seen.
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