Is their still hope for my 200/1 long-shot? Back in November 2008, only a week and a half after Obama won the White House race, I placed a bet of £50 with Ladbrokes at 200/1 that ex-governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, would be the next president. I abandoned hope for the bet a few months latest when Huntsman, who is also a former diplomat, accepted an offer by Obama to be the US ambassador to China. He served in Beijing…
What’ll this do to Huhne’s position? I always love it when a PB post sets off a big gamble. Before yesterday’s well researched piece by Henry G Manson suggesting that we put our money on the HS2-protesting Cheryl Gillen you could have got 8/1 against the Welsh Secretary being the next cabinet exit. Within a few hours that was in to 3/1 where, arguably, it still offers good value. The main obvious other possibility is, of course, LD energy secretary,…
As per usual the venue is the Dirty Dicks pub directly opposite Liverpool Street station in the City of London. Fat Steve has once again arranged for us to have our own dedicated area on the first floor at the rear of the building. This is for anybody who is interested in PB – not just those who post. It is true that in the past these have tended to be overwhelmingly male gatherings but number of women attending has…
Will she resign over the HS2 route? The Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP’s imminent resignation should be the least surprising ministerial departure for many a year. From day one of the Coalition Government the Secretary of State for Wales made her opposition to High Speed Rail 2 known. With little sign that the original route will avoid her Chesham and Amersham constituency it is likely she will resign within a month. The Cabinet Minister told the Bucks Free Press in…
Guardian/ICM Gloomy news for the Two Eds from ICM and Populus Two new telephone poll tonight from two firms that were right at the top of the accuracy table at the general election. Populus in the Times has CON 33%(nc): LAB 41%(nc): LD 13%(+5): OTH 13%(-4) so a huge boost for Clegg’s party after their extraordinary poor showing last month ICM in the Guardian has CON 36%(+1): LAB 38%(-1): LD 14%(+1): OTH 12%(-1) – so the LAB lead getting cut…
What about the ex-LAB Gen Sec’s analysis Peter Watt, the ex-Gen Sec of the Labour party, has put up a blog post in which he suggests that at the next election we might just see a Cleggmania part 2. PB is about about predictions of political outcomes and I just love those prepared to stick their neck out and put forward something that miles away from received opinion. Peter Writes:- “…Cameron has looked weaker than he did and Miliband only…
Telegraph What’ll be the impact of Milly’s parents giving evidence? It seems an age ago but it’s only four and a half months since the first allegations about the phone-hacking saga in relation to the deletion of Milly Dowler’s voice mails became public. It was that event that opened the floodgates to a whole series of developments including the closure of the News of the World, the repeated appearances of James Murdoch before a commons committee and the kicking into…
Reuters Another pollster has Gingrich in the lead The controversial ex-house speaker, Newt Gingrich, has moved into the lead in the GOP nomination race, brushing off concerns about his work for a troubled housing finance company. The latest survey, by Ipsos for Reuters has 24% of registered Republican voters supporting him – an increase of 8 points from roughly a week ago. Crucially the poll, was conducted on November 18-19 and after the allegations about his role working for Freddie…