Where’s the value in the First to Leave? After a hectic day, which various cabinet ministers might mark down as sub-optimal, it seems a good time to review the next Cabinet Minister to Leave market. At the time of writing, Chris Huhne was a very clear favourite, best priced at even money with Ladbrokes. That favourite tag is justified although the degree of strength may not be. It’s been a month where he’s hardly been out of the news, from…
Should they have pushed for House of Lords reform instead? The comprehensive defeat for the Yes2AV campaign has caused much questioning from those who proposed the change: how could the campaign have been better fought? Was it on the wrong day? Was it too narrow in scope? How could the assertions from No have been better rebutted? – and so on. One question that does not seem to have been asked is the most fundamental of all: was it the…
 How does Salmond use the powers at his disposal? There is a new political superhero in the country, standing victorious astride his domain, saltire-emblazoned cape billowing in the wind. Not even Labour at their most dominant, with their historic base in the country, popular Westminster administration and record in delivering devolution could win an outright majority. Considering that only two months ago Labour had double-digit leads in the polls, there’ll be more than a few looking at the Holyrood…
How can the coalition put the pieces back together? That the media focus has been on the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg after this week’s historic set of election is understandable. It was a very bad night for them and him but more relevantly, it was predictably so and the media love a news story that fits their narrative. Nonetheless, the reaction of senior Lib Dems such as former leaders Lords Steele and Ashdown and cabinet minister Chris Huhne in…
Do the royals enable Britain to still punch above its weight? When Bruno Mars sang in ‘Billionaire’ that he wanted to “be on the cover of Forbes magazine / smiling next to Oprah and the Queenâ€, there could be little doubt that of all the world’s queens regnant or consort his definite article applied to Her Britannic Majesty. Yesterday’s wedding provided proof once again of the enduring ability that British royalty has to engage not just the country but large…
Is there money to be made from the big day? Novelty bets are rarely worth looking at. Frequently there are huge overrounds in markets more designed for publicity than serious punting. Still, unlike more mainstream markets, there can be large disparities between the different bookies, so where’s the best value for today? The first market to be settled should be that of their title. The sons of the monarch or heir apparant usually receive a dukedom when they marry (which…
What happened to the unpopularity Cameron predicted? It’s been an expectation of many pundits and politicians that introducing government cuts will make the government unpopular. Two months ago, David Cameron himself repeated that sentiment. It’s certainly true that for the Lib Dems, government has brought unpopularity but the Tory share has remained just about unchanged. Even the Lib Dems may not be suffering from the cuts in general. The tuition fees issue and trust issue generally has been corrosive and…
Is comfort-zone campaigning going to cost it the referendum? Yesterday’s big referendum events demonstrated again the reason why No is winning the campaign on AV: they are talking to themselves; their opponents are talking to the voters. The Yes leaders appear to have made no effort to gain any traction with voters to the right of centre. At the very minimum, they’ve not succeeded in doing so. Not a single Conservative has been paraded, nor has anyone from the Orange…