AS we look back over the year, and the decade before us, it is fair to say the 2010s have been a decade to remember, for good and bad reasons.

Would any of us, on New Year's Day 2010, have predicted any of what we have seen this decade? Especially the turbulent last three or four years?

Whether it is the coalition government of 2010, Donald Trump becoming President of the United States, or Brexit, I don't think anyone saw those things coming as we left the 2000s.

As far as the next decade goes, I am not going to make any predictions for what the next 10 years will bring us.

It is basically pointless to even try, but I think it is safe to say the 20s will bring us more turbulence and more excitement.

If you are hoping for a quiet next decade, I think you will be disappointed.

The next decade will see (hopefully) the resolution of Brexit, whatever that looks like, a more intense debate around climate change than the one we are already going through, and, I suspect, even more upheaval and acrimony in the political sphere.

Our challenge for the next decade should be to make things just a little bit more tolerable, tone down the rhetoric, and realise that there are more important things in life such as family.

It is my hope for the 20s, however misguided it might be, that we will all make a bit more of an effort to get along.

I suspect this will not happen, given the divisions and vitriol that seem to consume any and all public discussions.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could leave that in the 2010s and start to be a bit more understanding?

Maybe then we could actually begin to tackle the fundamental issues we face over the next decade from a position of unity.

If the 2010s have taught us anything it is that we are much stronger when we are united.

Whatever your plans for the next decade, try and be a bit nicer to everyone, try to see what unites us rather than what separates us.

It is easy to be pessimistic here and say that nothing is likely to change, but if we all take that attitude, nothing will.

Why not try and make a positive difference in the 2020s? We might just have a nicer world at the end of it.