The 2025 Burn

A Global Recap

Read this at an increasingly frantic pace while banging on a desk. 

It’s Wednesday, January 7, 2026, and if you’re anything like me, your soul is currently staging a sit-in protest against your desk chair. Coming back to work after the festive break is a special kind of psychological warfare. My brain is still approximately 40% turkey, 50% swimming pool water, and 10% “where did I leave my keys?”. 

The blueprint for this existential crisis was actually drafted during a New Year’s braai, somewhere between the second and third G&T, while watching a lamb chop achieve a state of perfect incineration. As the smoke drifted toward the neighbours, it hit me: Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is quite a catchy tune. And it seems pretty apt right about now.  

2025 – the Year of the Wood Snake – lived up to its name: slippery, unpredictable, and frankly, a bit of a whitewash. But as we gallop into 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse, we’re hoping for a Mustang kind of energy. We want the fast muscle car. We want the dark horse that actually wins the race. 

Because let’s face it – Billy Joel dropped the needle in ’89, and while the tech has changed from cassettes basically to neural links, the planet is still a giant charcoal briquette. 

So, let’s link up to neural pathways and listen to the record of the last twelve months. 

The Song: We Didn’t Start the Fire (2025/26 Remix) 

(To be sung at a tempo that suggests you’ve had too much espresso and not enough sleep) 

[Verse 1: The Global Grind] 
GPT-5, deepfake strife, Mars Rover finds no life 
GNU in Pretoria, coalition euphoria 
Cape Town wind, Gauteng drought, what’s the GNU all about? 
Ramaphosa’s tightrope walk, empty chairs and endless talk! 

[Verse 2: The Tinderboxes] 
Gaza Strip, iron dome, nobody can go back home 
West Bank heat, Red Sea fleet, peace is looking like defeat 
Maduro’s vote, oil boat, Caracas trying to stay afloat 
Border wall, phantom menace, Washington is playing tennis! 

[Verse 3: The American Circus] 
Trump or Biden? Neither’s new. Blue vs. Red, what a stew 
Interest rates, empty plates, Silicon Valley shuts its gates 
TikTok ban, streaming wars, billionaires on foreign shores 
Climate change, record heat, melting ice on Every Street! 

[Chorus] 
We didn’t start the fire! 
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning 
We didn’t start the fire! 
No, we didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it! 

What’s the song about? 

South Africa’s GNU (Government of National Unity) spent 2025 acting like a group chat that nobody knows how to leave. We had “The Great Pothole Census,” more “State of the Nation” fashion critiques, and a brief moment where we all thought the Rand might actually beat the Dollar (it didn’t, but the optimism was nice while it lasted). Between the water shedding and the “will-they-won’t-they” coalition drama, the Saffa spirit remains the only thing more resilient than a cockroach in a microwave. 

In the Middle East, the fire raged on. 2025 saw the tragic cycle continue between Israel and Palestine, with peace talks seemingly written in disappearing ink. The world watched, protested, and tweeted, while the ground reality remained a heartbreaking stalemate of rubble and rhetoric. It’s the ultimate proof of Joel’s thesis: the fire was burning long before we were born, and the extinguishers are all out of foam. 

Across the pond, the USA spent 2025 in a permanent state of “Caps Lock.” Between the fallout of the 2024 election and the cultural wars over whether AI should be allowed to run for PTA president, the Land of the Free is mostly just the Land of the Tired. 

Meanwhile, Venezuela remained the geopolitical equivalent of a pressure cooker with a broken valve. Economic shifts and leadership tugs-of-war kept the region on a knife-edge, proving that oil wealth and stability are rarely on speaking terms. With the US’ recent bombing of Venezuela we’ll see how that pans out… 

2026: Mustang or Mule? 

So, what does the Year of the Fire Horse hold? If 2025 was a snake in the grass, 2026 should be a Mustang – powerful, loud, and hopefully moving forward at super high velocity. 

The Cautious Predictions – 

1. The US “Mustang” Pivot – expect the US to stop acting like a stalled sedan and finally lean into a “Dark Horse” candidate, perhaps a charismatic political outsider  – someone who isn’t a great-grandfather, likely a Gen Z influencer or a particularly charismatic Labrador – to lead the 2026 mid-term vibes. 
2. The South African Stallion – the GNU will either become a finely tuned muscle car or a spectacular multi-car pileup on the N1. Prediction: We’ll keep the engine running with duct tape and sheer South African “n Boer maak n plan” energy. But in true South African style we’ll finally find a way to turn political hot air into a renewable energy source, solving the power crisis and the unemployment rate in one go. We can hope, can’t we?  
3. The Digital Ghost – by mid-2026, AI will become so sentient it will refuse to do our spreadsheets because it “needs a mental health day,” forcing us all back to physical calculators and abacuses. Not only that but it will start feeling guilty and voluntarily go to therapy, leaving us to write our own emails again. Alas. All rational thinking will be out the window. 

How to Prepare – if you can – (The Survival Guide) 

If 2026 is going to be a fast muscle car, you’d better buckle up, especially when you’re still feeling like a 1998 Corolla. Here’s how to prep for the burn – 

1. Diversify Your Joy – if the world is on fire, make sure you have a very good marshmallow. Find the small wins – a perfect braai, a sunset that isn’t obscured by smog, or a day where the Wi-Fi actually works. 
2. Information Dieting – you don’t need to swallow the whole fire. Check the news on the BBC World Service for the big picture but maybe skip the Twitter/X comments section for your own sanity. 
3. Invest in “Mustang” Energy – 2026 isn’t the year for hesitation. If you’re going to do something, do it with the roar of a V8 engine. Whether it’s a career move or a new hobby, stop overthinking like a snake and start running like a horse. 
4. Stay Hydrated – not just with G&Ts (aaaaaah!). Keep an eye on local resources like Water Shortage South Africa to stay ahead of the taps. 

The fire’s been burning since the world’s been turning. We didn’t start it, and we probably won’t put it out by December.  The thing to make sure is this – be the one holding the marshmallows when things get hot and toasty. 

But hey, at least the 2026 Mustang looks like a hell of a ride. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a spreadsheet to stare at until I remember what my job actually is. Happy New Year! 

In the meantime, if you are in need of a service provider who has a proven track record or if you want to find out how to incorporate a new tool into your existing practice management suite – or if you simply want to get started with legal tech – feel free to get in touch with AJS. We have the right combination of systems, resources, and business partnerships to assist you with incorporating supportive legal technology into your practice. Effortlessly.  

AJS is always here to help you, wherever and whenever possible!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS