As we are a few days away from the fortieth anniversary of The United Kingdom joining the EU, the Guardian has some polling by ICM on the EU. The public mood of Euroscepticism is hardening, according to an exclusive Guardian/ICM poll that finds 51% of respondents would vote to take Britain out of the EU, against just 40% who say they would vote to stay in. As the Guardian notes This marks a turnaround from similar polls conducted in the earliest years of…
William Hill have some markets on some events that may occur in 2013. Being an economic optimist, I’ve backed the UK to lose its AAA credit rating and interest rates to go up (based largely on this article) I’m also backing Andrew Mitchell and Chris Huhne to be back in cabinet and Silvio Berlusconi to be Italian PM. Which ones will you be backing? 4/7        UK To Lose Triple-A Credit Rating (5/4 Not To) 1/1        3p Increase In Fuel Duty In…
New ICM polling for Guardian find 62% now in favour of gay marriage compared with 45% in March.m.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/d… twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 26, 2012
The polling story of 2012: The CON post-budget decline and the rise of UKIP www7.politicalbetting.com/?p=55077 twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 26, 2012 Remember pre-budget when Farage’s party was on 1%? While putting the above chart together one set of numbers stood out – the March 2012 ICM poll for the Guardian published on the day before George Osborne’s budget in March. The Tories had a lead of 3% over LAB while UKIP were at their lowest point for the…
ICM pie chart showing December 2012 poll for Guardian with changes on January 2012. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 25, 2012 Back in March 2012, the day before George Osborne’s budget, ICM was showing a 3% CON lead. Now, for third month in a row, LAB is 8% ahead. — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 25, 2012 The big political event of the month – Osborne’s so called “trap” on capped benefits seems to have had no impact on voting…
Across 1. Bishop is ultimately ridiculed – described by Cameron unfairly as man holding a stick and wearing fancy dress (6,6) 8. Right away Blair stopped one Labour source of wealth (3,4) 9. Physicist has wager in play (7) 11. Society rejected by European like Johnson (7) 12. Metal small safe holds money (7) 13. President’s film broadcast (5) 14. Old province where art is destroyed by wanton, heartless vandals (9) 16. Give elector an alternative (9) 19. Live down…
Tomorrow we have the traditional PB Christmas Crossword compiled, as usual, by StJohn. For me personally it’s been an up and down year with a couple of health worries which thankfully seem to be under control. All I need to do now is stop eating as much and this isn’t the season to try to do that. PB has been dominated, inevitably, by the White House race which I personally love and hope to profit from. We’ve had some great…
The top post of the year – the nomination stage Each year at this time it has been traditional to hold an election for the poster of the year. This time it will operate somewhat differently – which of the 400,000+ comments published on PB during 2012 stand out for their political insight, their humour or were the best betting tips? If you can please copy and paste your nominations on the thread below. You can self-nominate and there is…