ALEX NEILProbably the most formidable debater in the Scottish Parliament, Alex Neil has been languishing on the back benches since the SNP came to power in May. He has filled the role of the Scottish Government's chief defender,
but has had run-ins with Alex Salmond in the past and the First Minister is not someone to forgive and forget easily.
JACKIE BAILLIE Labour's Jackie Baillie was definitely not one of Jack McConnell's favoured MSPs. But under Wendy Alexander as co-ordinator of Scottish Labour's strategy against the Nationalists, Ms Baillie is back to front-line politics with a vengeance.
TAVISH SCOTT Tavish Scott is convener of the economy, energy and tourism committee – a key body in the parliament. It is likely the SNP will bring forward plans for a local income- tax in the next year and Mr Scott – who was vehemently opposed to a coalition deal with the SNP – will be central to the success or failure of that vision.
KIRSTY BALFOURThe Edinburgh swimmer proved her class in 2007 by winning silver at the World Championships.
The challenge as she looks ahead to the Olympic Games in Beijing this year – and it is one of the toughest facing any British competitor in any sport – is to get the better of the woman who has so far denied her a gold medal in any major championship, Leisel Jones of Australia.
Balfour, who turns 24 in February, is now approaching the peak of her powers.
GRAEME DYCEGraeme Dyce, 18, of Edinburgh, won the Australian Open junior doubles title last January and is poised to join the senior ranks. Nurtured in the sport by Judy Murray, mother of Andy and Jamie, Dyce has since studied at the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida, where he has earned the nickname "Wallace", after William Wallace.
ALFIE ALLENFresh from a small role in one of 2007's most acclaimed films, Atonement, Alfie Allen is taking over from Daniel Radcliffe in the touring version of Equus, (catch it at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, and King's Theatre, Edinburgh, in February, and His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen in March). He has at least three film roles this year; look out for him in The Other Boleyn Girl, Boogie Woogie and Flashbacks of a Fool.
SHIA LaBEOUFThis rising Hollywood actor seems to be carving out a niche playing characters with silly names, so far ranging from Sam Witwicky in Transformers to Stanley Yelnat in the Disney film Holes. This summer, as he turns 22, Shia LaBeouf stars in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as Indiana's son, Mutt Williams.
ARTS
ANDERW EATONJANUARY means Oscar season, so get set for a month of big, starry grown-up film dramas. Look out for Ang Lee's erotic love story Lust, Caution this weekend, followed by Tom Hanks in the political satire Charlie Wilson's War, the Coen Brothers' much-anticipated No Country For Old Men, and Paul Haggis's Iraq drama In the Valley of Elah.
Beyond that, this year's most talked about films include another 007 adventure, with Daniel Craig back as Bond, a big screen version of musical success Mamma Mia, Simon Pegg in an adaptation of Toby Young's New York memoir How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, a Star Trek prequel which shows you how the Enterprise crew met (also starring Pegg) and another Harry Potter film.
If Led Zeppelin and the Police were last year's most talked about reunions, this year's might be the B-52s, releasing their first album since 1992 in February. Dolly Parton is back with a new album in February, while Morrissey returns with a greatest hits collection and Gary Numan marks the 30th anniversary of his debut, Replicas, with a reissue and tour. As for exciting new music, watch out for albums by Goldfrapp (showing off a very different direction), KD Lang, Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand side project Correcto.
The National Theatre of Scotland promises another strong season, including a new Scottish version of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author by David Harrower, a collaboration with children's company Wee Stories and more dates for Black Watch. Prepare for a fourth instalment of John Byrne's Slab Boys at the Traverse in Edinburgh, and a new version of Vanity Fair at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. And look out for cutting edge work as the Tramway in Glasgow marks its 20th anniversary with a February reopening, beginning with a National Review of Live Art. Scottish Opera highlights include a new production of Verdi's Falstaff.
The Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival in March is headlined by Dame Edna Everage.
The most argued-over art show will surely be Tracey Emin at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
TRANSPORT
ALASTAIR DALTONDETAILS should emerge about how the £4.2 billion cable-stayed bridge over the Forth will be funded, while the present Forth Road Bridge will be toll-free from early February – along with the Tay Road Bridge. But work to halt corrosion of the Forth crossing's main cables will cause more weekend misery due to lane closures. The second Kincardine bridge over the Forth is due to open in December.
Construction should start on a £500 million, five-mile extension of the M74 to the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow. Upgrading a dual-carriageway section of the Glasgow-Stirling route to complete the M80 should also start.
Edinburgh will be forced to grin and bear disruption caused by work on the tram system.
The 13-mile Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway line should open in May.
New York-bound passengers from Edinburgh will have a choice of airline from May when Delta launches a rival service to Continental's.
A £30 million new terminal extension at Glasgow airport is to open in October.
JUSTICE
MICHAEL HOWIEYOU probably don't have to be Nostradamus to predict the main issues on next year's justice agenda.
The justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, has made breaking the cycle of offending his top priority, announcing changes to community sentences that he hopes will put repeat offenders on the straight-and-narrow, emptying prisons of the "flotsam and jetsam" of society and leaving them to deal with the most serious, violent criminal.
All eyes will be on the recommendations of the newly-created Scottish Prisons Commission, headed by the former First Minister, Henry McLeish, expected next summer. It remains to be seen whether their philosophical remit will suddenly shift penal policy in a new direction.
Three justice bills will be launched in the coming year. An overhaul of the law on rape and other sexual offences will be among them, along with more controversial plans for a unified judiciary presided over by a Lord President, and reform of the law on interest.
HOLYROOD
HAMISH MACDONELLTOLLS will be lifted on the Forth Bridge in early February, fulfilling an SNP pledge and allowing the First Minister to celebrate one of the first tangible results of his actions in government.
As Alex Salmond is waving the first delighted motorist over, John Swinney, his finance secretary, will be wrestling with committees over the Scottish Government's Budget.
On 16 January the finance committee will publish recommendations and suggest any changes it wants to make. The final vote on the Budget will be in early to mid February, and it is vital for the government to get it through virtually intact.
Ministers will keep up pressure on Westminster on issues from firearms to attendance allowance – the benefit that was removed from Scotland when free elderly care was brought in but that Scottish ministers feel should be reinstated.
Mr Salmond will try to get Gordon Brown's agreement on the revival of the joint ministerial committees and he is unlikely to be reticent about attacking the Prime Minister if he feels Scotland's interests are ignored.
Politicians in Scotland and Westminster expect 2008 to be a year of consolidation.
Gordon Brown indicated in the autumn that he did not expect to call an election before 2010 and with the next Holyrood election due in 2011, both governments have a chance to pursue their policies without worrying about going to the polls.
This will also give Wendy Alexander time to settle in as Labour leader and to start trying to score serious hits on Mr Salmond. Nicol Stephen will be looking to lift the Lib Dems' terribly low profile in Scotland, while Annabel Goldie will be hoping the Cameron effect down south will have at least some positive impact here.
Likely to provoke lively debate at Holyrood are an overhaul of rape laws and abolition of the graduate endowment.
EDUCATION
FIONA MACLEODTHE question of when the SNP Scottish Government will deliver on its smaller class size promise still has not been answered, and opposition politicians and teachers are unlikely to stop asking till it is.
Arguments about the cost, and the ability of some councils to deliver, are likely to rumble on because of limited space to split large classes into two, and the cost of extra teachers.
But education secretary Fiona Hyslop has told the parliament's education committee she is confident a new agreement struck between the Scottish Government and councils will deliver the promise to cut the number of pupils to 18 in the first three primary years.
The graduate endowment looks set to be scrapped as planned. But as the bill proceeds – now through its first parliamentary stage – Labour and Conservative opposition seem keen to slow its progress.
Students have banded together to call for the parties to unite in backing the bill, which will save many over £2,000 on finishing their degree.
WESTMINSTER
GERRI PEEVIF he thought the tail end of last year was difficult, Gordon Brown will have to steel himself for even more challenging times in 2008. The gloomy economic picture should become clearer later this month as statistics on consumer spending are released. If the masses are out in force shopping, there will be still be a downside as interest rates will stay high. House prices are expected to fall further too.
There will be other battles on the domestic front. Public borrowing liabilities for bailing out Northern Rock are bound to have an impact on the Budget.
The long-awaited decision on a new generation of nuclear power plants has already been delayed until early this year. It had been due in December but the Prime Minister probably could not face yet another contentious issue on his agenda.
The London mayoral race will prove a test case for Labour under Mr Brown. If Ken Livingstone does not prevail over chat-show favourite, the Tories' Boris Johnson, it will be a serious blow for Mr Brown's vote-winning credentials.
There are also big rifts ahead in Labour ranks over plans to extend detention without charge from 28 to 42 days.
Fights with public service unions and police will continue into this year as the cash-strapped government has to offer tighter pay settlements.
Abroad, the public's broadly positive perceptions about Afghanistan could sour if the rise in attacks on British troops continues.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will be anxious to maintain his lead in the polls. With the Prime Minister effectively ruling out an election this year, Mr Cameron still has a long stretch ahead when he will have to maintain a grip on his party.
The challenges for the Liberal Democrats are even starker, with new leader Nick Clegg under pressure to prove the party was right to change leader again.
HEALTH
LYNDSAY MOSSTHIS year we can expect to hear more details about how ministers intend to encourage us to be more active and make healthier food choices. They face a difficult balancing act between being criticised for not doing enough and being accused of creating a "nanny state".
But with Scotland's obesity levels now the second highest in the developed world, behind the US, inaction is not an option.
The same applies to alcohol. Despite pressure from the industry, we can expect measures to restrict drink promotions.
MSPs will also debate how to cut smoking further. One possibility is removing cigarettes from display in shops.
The Scottish Government will also have to deliver legislation on the gradual abolition of prescription charges, which will be gone by 2011.
Further legislation is also expected on direct elections to health boards and legally binding waiting times for patients.
With crucial decisions on the centralisation of neurology and children's cancer services due, expect lively arguments.
SPORT
STUART BATHGATEWITH the home nations failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 football championships, the sporting highlight of the year from a British point of view will be the Beijing Olympic Games.
The challenge for Team GB will be to come close to the achievements of 2004, when nine gold medals, nine silver and 12 bronze led to a tenth-place finish in the medals table. The sailor Shirley Robertson and the athlete Kelly Holmes will not be involved, but those who will be back include Chris Hoy and Katherine Grainger.
Hoy, the Edinburgh-born cyclist, will be a favourite for the keirin. Grainger, from Aberdeen, will again be in a rowing team that is among the best in the world.
British athletics enjoyed a modest recovery in 2007 and there will be high hopes for the English women who won medals in the world championships – Christine Ohuruogu, Nicola Sanders and Kelly Sotherton. Our swimmers face even greater expectations, with Edinburgh's Kirsty Balfour among the medal hopefuls.
The opening ceremony takes place on 8 August and, as is traditional, the focus of the first full week will be on the swimming pool, while track and field will dominate the second week.
Europe's football champions will have been occupying their throne for two months by then, as the final of Euro 2008 is on 29 June. The tournament, held jointly by Austria and Switzerland, begins on 7 June. Expect "enthusiastic" television commentators to make frequent mention of the most tangential relations any players have with the English Premiership or Scottish Premier League.
The first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis year, the Australian Open, is just a fortnight away. Scotland's Andy Murray reached the fourth round in Melbourne 12 months ago before going out in five sets to Rafael Nadal, and a higher seeding this time should help him avoid such exalted opposition until a later stage.
Golf's Open Championship leaves Scotland for 2008, and will be held at Royal Birkdale from 17 to 20 July. But the Barclays Scottish Open, one of the key rehearsals, is at Loch Lomond from 10 to 13 July.
BUSINESS
BILL JAMIESONTHE year 2008 has already been written off by economists as one of the most miserable since the 1991 recession. Or the 1981 recession. Or the 1970s stagflation…
Among common predictions are big cuts in mortgage lending, falling house prices, curtailed bank lending, weak retail sales, falling business investment, a spiralling trade deficit, a weakening pound, rising unemployment and an economy that, if not in actual recession, will certainly feel as if it is in one.
The problem is not just the depth of the crisis caused by the US sub-prime mortgage debacle and consequent global credit crunch. It's the duration. The problem with the credit crunch is that we are now into the sixth month of deep apprehension in markets and with no early resolution in sight.
UK interest rates have already been cut by a quarter percentage point to 5.5 per cent. Many expect three further cuts in 2008 to take the base rate down to 4.5 per cent. So why are markets not at all confident that the economy will bounce back quickly as it has in the past?
The big worry in 2008 will be whether there are more massive bad debt write-offs by the Western world's major banks and financial institutions. Estimates of the total amount of mortgage-related bad loans to be written off have now spiralled to a staggering $500 billion.
Central banks need to act fast to counter the drying up of funds in wholesale money markets. But dearer oil and food has pushed up inflation. By relaxing monetary policy central banks take a huge risk with inflation. And because of this inflation risk, further interest rate cuts may take longer to come through than many would wish.
For the moment, UK forecasters predict the economy will slow from a 3 per cent growth pace to below 2 per cent next year and any "recovery" – if such there be – will not show through until the final quarter.
What of Scotland? As the pound is set to weaken, this should help Scottish exporters. However, Scotland's financial services industry, which has been the fastest-growing sector of Scotland's economy in recent years, will feel an icy blast, as well as tourism, due to the fall in overseas, especially American business and leisure visitors.
