“Brexit will still mean Brexit, but we still won’t have a clue what that means,” Anne Richards, chief executive of M&G Investments said at yesterday’s Edelman Crystal Ball event. The six panellists discussed their predictions for the next year in terms of politics, technology, communications and social issues.

Richards says there are not likely to be any trade agreements in place by the end of 2017. The panel also discussed politics in both the US and UK in the context of changing party lines. June Sarpong, co-founder of the WIE Network and Ldny.com, says the so-called post-truth age will come to an end, “2017 will be the year of no truth.”

But, there will be mechanisms for coping with sweeping political change, the panellsists agree. Joanna Tatchell, director at Edelman, says there is a growing move toward micro-activism and, “the feeling that you don’t occupy the centre of your life,” she says. For some, reasserting authority over the technological and external forces of life will require streamlining or an increased focus on fewer things. However, actress Ruby Wax OBE says a better approach to mental health and wellbeing is also required.

Other issues, such as the rise of virtual and augmented reality, arose as well. The panel then discussed climate change and intergenerational responsibility. One panellist said the older generations are ‘Mortgaging the future of today’s youngsters,” by not having an aggressive strategy for counteracting climate change.

For now, though predictions about the future remain educated guesses. Maybe next year, there will be a crystal ball app into which the 2017 panellists can look.