Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Today, we look back at an extraordinary

2021 and what it might portend for the year ahead. A very strange year and a very uncertain year.

We've certainly seen economic rebound and then another devastating variant. So as we end the year, it does look hugely uncertain as well.

As we enter 2022, there's also a focus on the civil linings, and we try to exploit them.

And if that happens, then we will get a more comprehensive reset in terms of positives and

negatives.

That's all coming up on Business Daily from the BBC.

What a year 2021 has been, beginning with the rollout of new seemingly miraculous vaccines.

They were going to lead us out of the jaws of the pandemic.

The year has ended with yet another wave,

the Omicron variant, threatening countries with further lockdowns and restrictive measures.

In economic terms, there has been a bounceback, a boom in demand for consumer goods,

which unfortunately global shipping hasn't always entirely managed to meet.

We now have a supply chain crisis, we're told,

especially in certain items like semiconductors. And there seemed to have been corresponding shifts in

public attitudes as well towards employment and labour rights. We're going to get in to all of this and more.

With my two expert guests, the economists Linda You of Oxford University,

she's author of The Great Economists, and Mohamed L. Erion, he's president of Queens College, Cambridge.

Mohamed, first of all, is it just me, or has this been a very singular year?

You're absolutely right. And one of the big issues that came out of nowhere, seemingly,

is high and persistent inflation that is going to have consequences for what we do next year.

Linda, what did you think? I mean, did it seem like a strange year to you?

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