The post-truth world of unpredictable politics

LOOKING back at the punditry that preceded the US election, one of the few forecasters who distinguished himself was Geda, a mystical monkey who hangs out at the Shiyan Lake Ecological Tourism Park in China's Hunan province.

On Nov 3, five days before the voting, a specially organised ceremony took place at the park. Wearing a yellow T-shirt, the simian "king of prophets" was flanked by two life-size cardboard cut-outs, one of Donald Trump and the other of Hillary Clinton. He had to pick between two bananas placed next to each candidate.

After some "deliberate thought", according to the park's authorities, the prophetic primate picked the banana next to Mr Trump. He then promptly planted a kiss on the Donald's mouth.