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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Last Thursday’s local elections: Andy JS’s annual compilat

SystemSystem Posts: 12,213
edited May 2014 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Last Thursday’s local elections: Andy JS’s annual compilation of the actual vote totals from every ward that was fought

Thanks to Andy JS who has done a brilliant job collecting and recording the data from each of the thousands of individual seats that were fought on May 22nd. This is the second year he has done this and provides a vital resource.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    Don't the Lib Dems tend to do better in local elections (As evidenced by the err Hallam poll...) ?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,376
    Sorry to go off topic so soon, but the Lib-Dems really have provided some great fun these past few day's.

    Haven't enjoyed myself so much on PB for years.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030
    Pulpstar said:

    Don't the Lib Dems tend to do better in local elections (As evidenced by the err Hallam poll...) ?

    The LDs lost ~40% of the seats they were defending at the locals last week.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    RobD said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Don't the Lib Dems tend to do better in local elections (As evidenced by the err Hallam poll...) ?

    The LDs lost ~40% of the seats they were defending at the locals last week.
    I think 11.1% is an outperformance of how they'd do in a GE.
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,779
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Low number polled=higher margin of error.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Low number polled=higher margin of error.
    Ashcroft is 500/constituency too I think.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030
    Pulpstar said:

    RobD said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Don't the Lib Dems tend to do better in local elections (As evidenced by the err Hallam poll...) ?

    The LDs lost ~40% of the seats they were defending at the locals last week.
    I think 11.1% is an outperformance of how they'd do in a GE.
    This is why the 2010 LDs are always talked about here. Where they go may be key in the next election.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    The results are too good to be true ?
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    I think Oakshott dropped a chunk of ICM methodology which would've produced better Lib Dem scores.

    Also he didn't poll using candidate name which when done before has produced a large boost to Lib Dems.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,986
    GIN1138 said:

    Sorry to go off topic so soon, but the Lib-Dems really have provided some great fun these past few day's.

    Haven't enjoyed myself so much on PB for years.

    Glad to be of service. I'm sure the day will come when the Party you support is in deep trouble. On that day, please be assured that I won't be sticking in the knife on here.



  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,779
    stodge said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Sorry to go off topic so soon, but the Lib-Dems really have provided some great fun these past few day's.

    Haven't enjoyed myself so much on PB for years.

    Glad to be of service. I'm sure the day will come when the Party you support is in deep trouble. On that day, please be assured that I won't be sticking in the knife on here.

    Best to take the rough with the smooth... it's all part of life.
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Low number polled=higher margin of error.
    Ashcroft is 500/constituency too I think.
    I know in his recent marginals poll he did 1000/constituency.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    corporeal said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    I think Oakshott dropped a chunk of ICM methodology which would've produced better Lib Dem scores.

    Also he didn't poll using candidate name which when done before has produced a large boost to Lib Dems.
    Which might be enough to save Clegg. On these polls, Danny Alexander - not a chance.
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Pulpstar said:

    corporeal said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    I think Oakshott dropped a chunk of ICM methodology which would've produced better Lib Dem scores.

    Also he didn't poll using candidate name which when done before has produced a large boost to Lib Dems.
    Which might be enough to save Clegg. On these polls, Danny Alexander - not a chance.
    Actually yes.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    The Oakshott polls would seem to undermine the assertion that the lib dem votes hold up better in tory/lib marginals (where labour has no chance), than elsewhere.

    A poll showing Vince hehind in a constituency where he has a thumping majority and is very well known - blimey.
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    edited May 2014
    FPT:
    Slackbladder said:
    « hide previous quotes
    MikeK said:
    DecrepitJohnL said:
    dyedwoolie said:
    Cameron - be the statesman. tell the Lib Dems they have 48 hours to sort themselves out or you will take action to protect the country from their incessant squabbling. Do it! Twist that knife!
    ---------------------
    Cameron should dissolve the coalition and call a snap election? You are Ed Miliband AICMFP.
    ---------------------
    Cammo was too cute in 2010, he has hamstrung himself and his party by the 5 year rule for parliaments.
    ---------------------
    Meh, that rule can got around if the will was there.
    -----------------------------
    I wouldn't bet on that. Labour are in no position to support an early dissolution of parliament. Nor the L/Dems and many Tories would also be against. No Cammo is caught in a trap of his own making.
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    We've all got too much money bet on the LDs holding 40 seats? I'm starting to suspect we might be group-thinking here and you're right.
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    I've tweeted Paddy Power, asked if they'll put some markets up for these constituencies. They said they'll think about it.
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    Match Bet - Which party will receive the most votes at the next UK General Election?

    Lib Dems 5/6 (Ladbrokes)
    UKIP 11/8 (William Hill)
  • TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    taffys said:

    The Oakshott polls would seem to undermine the assertion that the lib dem votes hold up better in tory/lib marginals (where labour has no chance), than elsewhere.

    A poll showing Vince hehind in a constituency where he has a thumping majority and is very well known - blimey.

    Well, he can blame the Mansion Tax for that.

    And his fingerprints were all over the Student Fees, and Royal Mail sale, though I doubt the latter registers much in Twickers.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    http://www.icmresearch.com/data/media/pdf/2014_libdems_inverness.pdf

    Broadly In line with the results from the Euros.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,986
    On-topic, the results aren't quite as dire for the LDs as some were suggesting. Labour's performance is bolstered by their excellent results in London while the Conservative performance at 26% is as bad as their efforts in 1995 (2000 councillors lost in a night) and 1996 (600lost in a night) and we all know how well 1997 turned out for them.

    Labour's victory in London is invaluable in terms of capturing some key marginals though of course they need to be repeating that kind of performance elsewhere. Do we think the Greens will poll 6.5% in a GE ?

    What we do know is there is in effect now a five-party system with a not insignificant block of "Others" (excluding UKIP). Trying to remember the latest Ashcroft numbers, it's about 12-13% in the Others camp.
  • BobaFettBobaFett Posts: 2,789
    @Stodge

    You should try being a Labour supporter. They stick the knife in every single day!
  • Andy JS

    Am I to understand that because only some local areas were up for election last Thu (and one's which favour Labour a bit) then Labour's real performance was in reality even worse than what we saw in the headlines and which Rod Crosby analysed with his natty graph? Blimey.
  • JonathanDJonathanD Posts: 2,400
    Patrick said:

    Andy JS

    Am I to understand that because only some local areas were up for election last Thu (and one's which favour Labour a bit) then Labour's real performance was in reality even worse than what we saw in the headlines and which Rod Crosby analysed with his natty graph? Blimey.

    No because Rod was using the Rallings and Thrasher National Equivalent Vote share which corrects for the variation in local election locations

    http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/24/have-ukip-really-caused-a-political-earthquake-national-projections-show-vote-share-has-dropped-4739251/
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    http://www.icmresearch.com/data/media/pdf/2014_libdems_inverness.pdf

    Broadly In line with the results from the Euros.
    ICM - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey voting intention
    (+/- UK GE 2010)

    SNP 32% (+13)
    Lab 25% (+3)
    LD 16% (-25)
    Con 12% (-1)
    UKIP 7% (+6)
    Grn 4% (+2)
    oth 3% (+1)

    As I said before the Euros, I simply cannot fathom why the SNP are priced at 4/1 in this seat. It is quite simply madness.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,986

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    corporeal said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    I think Oakshott dropped a chunk of ICM methodology which would've produced better Lib Dem scores.

    Also he didn't poll using candidate name which when done before has produced a large boost to Lib Dems.
    Maybe someone on the Clegg side will pay for ICM to re-poll it properly...
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549

    corporeal said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    I think Oakshott dropped a chunk of ICM methodology which would've produced better Lib Dem scores.

    Also he didn't poll using candidate name which when done before has produced a large boost to Lib Dems.
    Maybe someone on the Clegg side will pay for ICM to re-poll it properly...
    You can do it yourself through looking at some of the tables.

    See Survation's take.

    http://survation.com/so-how-would-changing-leader-work-out-for-the-lib-dems-will-nick-clegg-lose-sheffield-hallam/
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,376
    stodge said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Sorry to go off topic so soon, but the Lib-Dems really have provided some great fun these past few day's.

    Haven't enjoyed myself so much on PB for years.

    Glad to be of service. I'm sure the day will come when the Party you support is in deep trouble. On that day, please be assured that I won't be sticking in the knife on here.



    As I'm not a member of any party I suspect when that day come's for the Tories I'll have abandoned ship long before and will be sticking the knife in myself. ;)
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549

    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    http://www.icmresearch.com/data/media/pdf/2014_libdems_inverness.pdf

    Broadly In line with the results from the Euros.
    ICM - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey voting intention
    (+/- UK GE 2010)

    SNP 32% (+13)
    Lab 25% (+3)
    LD 16% (-25)
    Con 12% (-1)
    UKIP 7% (+6)
    Grn 4% (+2)
    oth 3% (+1)

    As I said before the Euros, I simply cannot fathom why the SNP are priced at 4/1 in this seat. It is quite simply madness.
    Where are those odds from?
  • This is utterly unscientific, but I think there is a whiff of fear stalking the land. The polls are all over but one thing rings out - Ed Microband is an irredeemable lefty weirdo and 70% or more of the voters will be looking to keep him well away from No10 next May.

    Maybe the watermelons will actually vote Green, maybe the abandoned WWC will vote UKIP, maybe Dave will attract back a chunk of the UKIP 'loaned vote', maybe the yellow peril will really implode and the SW go Tory. Maybe DNV decide to vote after all, unable to face an Hollande type premiership. Who knows.

    Anyway, the monstering of his dweebiness is only just getting started. JackW is right.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    My 2010 Lib Dem colleague will be voting UKIP at next GE.

    She's told me that she thinks Ed Miliband is crap.
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    To those dismissing the polling on small sample size: You'd have a point if just one consituency was polled. However, given that 6(?) were done, then you can (sort of) treat it as a large poll of LD support across several key constituencies, which would have a much smaller MOE.

    I suspect that it would tell a similar story in terms of LD decline, although it would of course be useless in determining which party would benefit.

    Anyone feeling energetic enough to sum the results?
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,782
    Pulpstar said:

    My 2010 Lib Dem colleague will be voting UKIP at next GE.

    She's told me that she thinks Ed Miliband is crap.

    And which constituency is she in? (LD seat, LD marginal, UKIP likely target?)
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 42,144
    edited May 2014
    stodge said:


    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Highlands

    Liberal Democrats 14,550
    Scottish National Party (SNP) 14,393
    Conservative Party 6,728
    The Labour Party 5,325
    Scottish Green Party 3,806
    UK Independence Party 3,458

    Sorry, don't have percentages.

  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Anorak said:

    To those dismissing the polling on small sample size: You'd have a point if just one consituency was polled. However, given that 6(?) were done, then you can (sort of) treat it as a large poll of LD support across several key constituencies, which would have a much smaller MOE.

    I suspect that it would tell a similar story in terms of LD decline, although it would of course be useless in determining which party would benefit.

    Anyone feeling energetic enough to sum the results?

    It's more than sample size, it's Oakshott trying to produce polling that says what he wants.

    http://survation.com/so-how-would-changing-leader-work-out-for-the-lib-dems-will-nick-clegg-lose-sheffield-hallam/

    In summary..

    We believe that a candidate named, regular methodology poll from ICM would show Cambridge and Sheffield Hallam as clear Lib Dem holds.

    That Redcar is a likely Labour gain should be a surprise to no-one and Tessa Munt is not 20 points adrift in Wells.

    YouGov and Survation polling clearly show there’s no evidence an alernative leader is the medicine for the Lib Dem’s current pain.

    A mixed of prompt types were used in some of this polling which is unusual.

    There are also lots and lots of “missing” tables in the version we have – e.g. Table 51 in the Cambridge section is labelled as Q9a. There is no Table 52 or Q9b included in the published data – what the client is seeking to not show here may well be very interesting.

    Damian Lyons Lowe & Katy Owen.
  • SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    Lord Oakeshott's goodbye gift to the LDs was not just a backhander for Clegg.


    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/05/lord-oakeshott-accuses-lib-dems-cash-peerages
  • Max_EdinburghMax_Edinburgh Posts: 347
    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    Lennon said:

    Pulpstar said:

    My 2010 Lib Dem colleague will be voting UKIP at next GE.

    She's told me that she thinks Ed Miliband is crap.

    And which constituency is she in? (LD seat, LD marginal, UKIP likely target?)
    ROTHERHAM
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    Quincel said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    We've all got too much money bet on the LDs holding 40 seats? I'm starting to suspect we might be group-thinking here and you're right.
    As Lord Ashcroft advised with his battleground polls these polls are "just snapshots" and not predictions.

    There are a large number of Lib Dem 2010 voters who say they are "don't knows", and Clegg et al have the general election campaign to convince them to stick with him.

    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively a statistical dead heat given the margin of error.

    I wonder whether everyone is looking at the SDP/Alliance history and drawing the wrong conclusions for UKIPs chances at the next GE.

    It could be less a question of whether UKIP win one or two seats at the next GE, but if they win one or two dozen seats.

  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    corporeal said:

    Anorak said:

    To those dismissing the polling on small sample size: You'd have a point if just one consituency was polled. However, given that 6(?) were done, then you can (sort of) treat it as a large poll of LD support across several key constituencies, which would have a much smaller MOE.

    I suspect that it would tell a similar story in terms of LD decline, although it would of course be useless in determining which party would benefit.

    Anyone feeling energetic enough to sum the results?

    It's more than sample size, it's Oakshott trying to produce polling that says what he wants.

    http://survation.com/so-how-would-changing-leader-work-out-for-the-lib-dems-will-nick-clegg-lose-sheffield-hallam/

    In summary..

    We believe that a candidate named, regular methodology poll from ICM would show Cambridge and Sheffield Hallam as clear Lib Dem holds.

    That Redcar is a likely Labour gain should be a surprise to no-one and Tessa Munt is not 20 points adrift in Wells.

    YouGov and Survation polling clearly show there’s no evidence an alernative leader is the medicine for the Lib Dem’s current pain.

    A mixed of prompt types were used in some of this polling which is unusual.

    There are also lots and lots of “missing” tables in the version we have – e.g. Table 51 in the Cambridge section is labelled as Q9a. There is no Table 52 or Q9b included in the published data – what the client is seeking to not show here may well be very interesting.

    Damian Lyons Lowe & Katy Owen.
    Hmmm. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics, eh.
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    edited May 2014

    Quincel said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    We've all got too much money bet on the LDs holding 40 seats? I'm starting to suspect we might be group-thinking here and you're right.
    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively a statistical dead heat given the margin of error.
    Alternatively:

    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively 10% behind given the margin of error.
  • JonathanDJonathanD Posts: 2,400
    So for the Highland and Islands Euro vote change from 2009 is

    LD: 30% to 19%
    SNP: 30% to 31%
    Tory: 14% to 14%
    Labour: 11% to 14%
    Green: 8% to 9%
    UKIP: 7% to 12%

    Looking at the raw numbers shows that turnout was up 32% and that while the LD vote only went down by a couple of thousand, the problem was everyone elses vote went up by several thousand.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    edited May 2014
    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Taking the 7 parties of Scotland as a zero sum game, and assuming 48260 and 63683 figures are comparable for the Highlands. (Are they ?)

    LD 14550 30.15% 12189 19.14% -11.01%
    SNP 14393 29.82% 19810 31.11% 1.28%
    CON 6728 13.94% 9088 14.27% 0.33%
    LAB 5325 11.03% 9163 14.39% 3.35%
    GRN 3806 7.89% 5615 8.82% 0.93%
    UKIP 3458 7.17% 7818 12.28% 5.11%
    _______________________________________________________________
    48260 63683
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    Anorak said:

    Quincel said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    We've all got too much money bet on the LDs holding 40 seats? I'm starting to suspect we might be group-thinking here and you're right.
    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively a statistical dead heat given the margin of error.
    Alternatively:

    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively 10% behind given the margin of error.
    True, but for two of those four seats UKIP didn't even save their deposit at the 2010 GE, and these are marginal Lab/Con battlefields where UKIP are supposed to be squeezed to oblivion.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    edited May 2014
    I cannot believe ASalmond is being idiotic enough to argue in dollar terms about the benefits of independence. Or that DAlexander is being equally dense in responding in the same terms.

    LDs meanwhile? Just what on god's good earth did the LDs expect in coalition as junior member? Oakeshott is..[self-moderated].
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    They were commissioned by someone with an agenda. In the original Guardian report ICM were quick to point out some issues relating to the methodology. But mainly the results (eg Recard showing a drop from 45% to 10% while we know the Lib Dems were winning a by-election there) dont seem to chime with what we know is happening on the ground.

    I'm not going to lump in on Clegg and Cable losing their seats on the basis of these polls and I would suggest that anyone who does is being quite foolish.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    edited May 2014
    JonathanD said:

    So for the Highland and Islands Euro vote change from 2009 is

    LD: 30% to 19%
    SNP: 30% to 31%
    Tory: 14% to 14%
    Labour: 11% to 14%
    Green: 8% to 9%
    UKIP: 7% to 12%

    Looking at the raw numbers shows that turnout was up 32% and that while the LD vote only went down by a couple of thousand, the problem was everyone elses vote went up by several thousand.

    Was turnout really up 32% though - I have a feeling we may be comparing apples and oranges.

    Edit: No no, remarkably these figures are correct.
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621

    Anorak said:

    Quincel said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    We've all got too much money bet on the LDs holding 40 seats? I'm starting to suspect we might be group-thinking here and you're right.
    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively a statistical dead heat given the margin of error.
    Alternatively:

    That said, looking through the Ashcroft battleground polls and it is remarkable that in four of the seats UKIP are within 5% of winning - effectively 10% behind given the margin of error.
    True, but for two of those four seats UKIP didn't even save their deposit at the 2010 GE, and these are marginal Lab/Con battlefields where UKIP are supposed to be squeezed to oblivion.
    UKIP's current performance is remarkable, I agree. But the mathematical part of my brain spasmed when you said 'statistical dead heat' :)

    It's one step short of 'the rules of probability mean....'
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,986
    GIN1138 said:


    As I'm not a member of any party I suspect when that day come's for the Tories I'll have abandoned ship long before and will be sticking the knife in myself. ;)

    The trouble is I fear that's how too many people see politics and political activity. If all you ever want to do is stick the boot into your opponents then that's what the debate becomes and every time a party is having a "little local difficulty" the old tricouteuses of pb gather round the tumbril for a good gossip and a gloat.

    People shift allegiance in order not to be the victim - that's human nature perhaps but if all you have is the "wisdom of the crowd" that's not a lot of wisdom in my experience.

  • kierankieran Posts: 77
    New ABC / WaPo poll showing Hillary in a very strong position for the 2016 GE.

    Yes it is early but she is head and shoulders above anyone else at the moment, in a much better position to the comparable point in the 2008 cycle.

    52% would support her in a run for President, 43% would oppose her.

    The impressive thing is that this is happening while Obama is in the low-40s. I think she is the only Democrat who would have a chance if Obama's approval ratings stay low through to 2016.

    The extraordinary thing is the breadth of her support. She wins every demographic group (sex, age, race, region, ideology, party, education and income) except Republicans (gets 26%) and Conservatives (gets 33%).

    Bill has even better numbers - his favourables are 63 - 35 including 37% of Republicans and 45% of Conservatives.

    Still a very long way to go but the Republicans will have their work cut out to beat her.
  • surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    Andy deserves some kind of award for his work. Not just this time but the work he puts in continuously.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    TOPPING said:

    I cannot believe ASalmond is being idiotic enough to argue in dollar terms about the benefits of independence.

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job:

    In a car-crash radio interview preceding the press conference, John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Minister, was repeatedly challenged to say how much it cost to create the infrastructure of a separate Scotland but could not.

    Barely two hours later, Mr Salmond announced at the press conference the figure was £250 million.

    However, this cost did not feature in his document and contradicted a leaked report by Mr Swinney, which said the cost of a new Scottish tax agency alone would be between £575 million and £625 million.


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10860195/SNP-disarray-over-claims-UK-dividend-worth-1400-to-every-Scot.html
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    corporeal said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    http://www.icmresearch.com/data/media/pdf/2014_libdems_inverness.pdf

    Broadly In line with the results from the Euros.
    ICM - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey voting intention
    (+/- UK GE 2010)

    SNP 32% (+13)
    Lab 25% (+3)
    LD 16% (-25)
    Con 12% (-1)
    UKIP 7% (+6)
    Grn 4% (+2)
    oth 3% (+1)

    As I said before the Euros, I simply cannot fathom why the SNP are priced at 4/1 in this seat. It is quite simply madness.
    Where are those odds from?
    Shadsy, before he suspended all his constituency prices.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Are we going to get a thread of Prof Stephen Hawking's analysis of Englands' chances in the World Cup?
    Professor Hawking and colleagues also analysed all penalty shootouts since they were introduced at the 1978 World Cup. “As we say in science, England ‘couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo’,” said Professor Hawking.
    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4102200.ece
  • surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    That is a good sign ! The votes are going elsewhere. Clothes pegs on the nose time !
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Do it yourself if you are so interested.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    kieran said:

    New ABC / WaPo poll showing Hillary in a very strong position for the 2016 GE.

    Yes it is early but she is head and shoulders above anyone else at the moment, in a much better position to the comparable point in the 2008 cycle.

    52% would support her in a run for President, 43% would oppose her.

    The impressive thing is that this is happening while Obama is in the low-40s. I think she is the only Democrat who would have a chance if Obama's approval ratings stay low through to 2016.

    The extraordinary thing is the breadth of her support. She wins every demographic group (sex, age, race, region, ideology, party, education and income) except Republicans (gets 26%) and Conservatives (gets 33%).

    Bill has even better numbers - his favourables are 63 - 35 including 37% of Republicans and 45% of Conservatives.

    Still a very long way to go but the Republicans will have their work cut out to beat her.

    She's currently defined partly in opposition to Obama, which is why she's even getting reasonable support from Republicans and Conservatives. Once Obama was out of the picture and she was the main target for the right, her numbers would rapidly converge on the Generic Democrat.
  • MrJonesMrJones Posts: 3,523
    JonathanD said:

    Patrick said:

    Andy JS

    Am I to understand that because only some local areas were up for election last Thu (and one's which favour Labour a bit) then Labour's real performance was in reality even worse than what we saw in the headlines and which Rod Crosby analysed with his natty graph? Blimey.

    No because Rod was using the Rallings and Thrasher National Equivalent Vote share which corrects for the variation in local election locations

    http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/24/have-ukip-really-caused-a-political-earthquake-national-projections-show-vote-share-has-dropped-4739251/
    attempts to correct for the variation in local election locations

    It will break down if voting starts to balkanize in ways than didn't exist in the past.
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    surbiton said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    That is a good sign ! The votes are going elsewhere. Clothes pegs on the nose time !
    Err... so now you are telling us that you'd prefer a UKIP gain to a LAB gain? No wonder Miliband is heading for the pile of discarded politicians labelled "Losers".
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited May 2014
    Neil said:

    I'm not going to lump in on Clegg and Cable losing their seats on the basis of these polls and I would suggest that anyone who does is being quite foolish.

    Well, it would depend on the odds. Unfortunately Shadsy has taken down the Ladbrokes' markets, so we'll have to see what he comes back with.

    Meanwhile, I've been lovingly polishing my virtual betting slips on Lab gain Redcar (4/6), SNP gain Gordon (6/4) and a few others. I hope my £50 on Julian Huppert in Cambridge at 6/4 isn't £50 down the drain, though!
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,708
    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Actually I think some of the same criticisms hold for the Ashcroft poll. There's normally a first-term incumbency benefit, and if Ashcroft isn't really finding one, I'm more inclined to believe that his polling is wonky than that the effect is going to almost disappear this time. The fact that he doesn't name the actual candidates seems like an obvious reason why his polling would be missing it.
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job

    Cant have been as botched as the Treasury's analysis that was debunked today. The debasement of the fine tradition of civil service neutrality in the name of meeting their business objective of keeping Scotland in the UK is sad to witness.
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    BETTING TIP:

    Clegg is 1/3 with William Hill to win Hallam.

    Value bet for me.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Huzzah for the efforts of Mr. JS.
  • MrJonesMrJones Posts: 3,523

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Huzzah for the efforts of Mr. JS.

    ditto that
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821

    Huzzah for the efforts of Mr. JS.

    Yes, indeed. Splendid stuff
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030

    TOPPING said:

    I cannot believe ASalmond is being idiotic enough to argue in dollar terms about the benefits of independence.

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job:

    In a car-crash radio interview preceding the press conference, John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Minister, was repeatedly challenged to say how much it cost to create the infrastructure of a separate Scotland but could not.

    Barely two hours later, Mr Salmond announced at the press conference the figure was £250 million.

    However, this cost did not feature in his document and contradicted a leaked report by Mr Swinney, which said the cost of a new Scottish tax agency alone would be between £575 million and £625 million.


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10860195/SNP-disarray-over-claims-UK-dividend-worth-1400-to-every-Scot.html
    Wasn't the £1000 figure based on increasing employment/productivity etc, rather than simply being a natural dividend of independence. I suppose you could argue that employment and productivity would go up post separation.
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557

    Neil said:

    I'm not going to lump in on Clegg and Cable losing their seats on the basis of these polls and I would suggest that anyone who does is being quite foolish.

    Well, it would depend on the odds. Unfortunately Shadsy has taken down the Ladbrokes' markets, so we'll have to see what he comes back with.

    Meanwhile, I've been lovingly polishing my virtual betting slips on Lab gain Redcar (4/6), SNP gain Gordon (6/4) and a few others. I hope my £50 on Julian Huppert in Cambridge at 6/4 isn't £50 down the drain, though!
    I think the SNP were joint FAV at 11/8 to win the vacant Gordon seat (Malcolm Bruce is retiring), before the market was suspended.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 43,336
    Neil said:

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job

    Cant have been as botched as the Treasury's analysis that was debunked today. The debasement of the fine tradition of civil service neutrality in the name of meeting their business objective of keeping Scotland in the UK is sad to witness.
    Botched is far too polite a word for the Treasury job, it seems:

    "Patrick Dunleavy, politics professor at the London School of Economics, told the Financial Times the Treasury had manipulated his research to make the one-off costs of setting up a new government look ten times larger than they were likely to be.

    Speaking to the Financial Times, the academic said: "The Treasury’s figures are bizarrely inaccurate. I don’t see why the Scottish government couldn’t do this for a very small amount of money."

    On his Twitter account he also expressed astonishment that the Treasury would make such a mistake saying: "Could they be this crude?

    "Phone call from Treasury guy later confirms: Yes, they had been""

    http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/9250-blow-to-uk-treasury-as-senior-academic-describes-its-figures-as-qmisleadingq
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    Neil said:

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job

    Cant have been as botched as the Treasury's analysis that was debunked today. The debasement of the fine tradition of civil service neutrality in the name of meeting their business objective of keeping Scotland in the UK is sad to witness.
    Apart from the tin foil hat element of your post surely there would be 1,000 times as much work for the civil service (both of them) in the event of a Yes?
  • surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
    Apart from Orkney and Shetlands, only Kennedy will win. Danny will deserve a good thrashing.

    Who would have thunk Labour in the lead in Hallam ?
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Actually I think some of the same criticisms hold for the Ashcroft poll. There's normally a first-term incumbency benefit, and if Ashcroft isn't really finding one, I'm more inclined to believe that his polling is wonky than that the effect is going to almost disappear this time. The fact that he doesn't name the actual candidates seems like an obvious reason why his polling would be missing it.
    That was an interesting point of info from the Oakeshott polls - name recognition for Cable was about 70% compared to 1% for his Conservative opponent.

    Suspect the difference won't be as high for MPs which are not media darlings or senior Cabinet ministers, but it's going to be large and the voters will have the names in front of them on the ballot paper, so you may as well use them.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    RobD said:


    Wasn't the £1000 figure based on increasing employment/productivity etc, rather than simply being a natural dividend of independence. I suppose you could argue that employment and productivity would go up post separation.

    the Scottish government’s document is stuffed full of If. If and independent Scotland increased participation in the labour force by 3.4 per cent, if an independent Scotland increased productivity by 0.3 per cent each year, if an independent Scotland attracted significant numbers of new immigrants to offset the deleterious impact of an ageing population… If, if, if all these things were achieved an independent Scotland’s net fiscal balance could improve as a share of GDP by 1.2% relative to baseline forecasts.

    the Scottish government’s own forecasts might be best understood as a kind of accumulator bet. Sure, singles and doubles may pay-out but the full impact is only felt if every horse comes in first.
    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/05/scottish-independence-the-cost-of-living-like-this/
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    Neil said:

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job

    Cant have been as botched as the Treasury's analysis that was debunked today. The debasement of the fine tradition of civil service neutrality in the name of meeting their business objective of keeping Scotland in the UK is sad to witness.
    The civil service code includes the following:

    "Impartiality – acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving governments of different political parties equally well"

    Any reluctance to jump at the command of the government of the day risks a civil servant being found in breach of their duty of impartiality, even if doing so puts them in conflict of their duty of objectivity.
  • surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    surbiton said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    That is a good sign ! The votes are going elsewhere. Clothes pegs on the nose time !
    Err... so now you are telling us that you'd prefer a UKIP gain to a LAB gain? No wonder Miliband is heading for the pile of discarded politicians labelled "Losers".
    Tories losing is a Labour win !
  • Tissue_PriceTissue_Price Posts: 9,039
    Apropos nothing, Labour were quite unlucky with the Euros, winning the last seat in a region only once and being in line for the "next" seat in a region 6 times (out of 11 GB regions). UKIP were lucky to the tune of 5-2; their two instances of bad luck were both to the benefit of the Greens.

    The Lib Dems don't feature in this table - they won the 9th seat of 10 in the SE and would have won the 8th seat (out of 6) in the SW.
    Region     ¦ Last Seat ¦ "Next" Seat
    ======================================
    East ¦ CON ¦ LAB
    East Mids ¦ CON ¦ LAB
    London ¦ GREEN ¦ UKIP
    North East ¦ LAB ¦ CON
    North West ¦ UKIP ¦ LAB
    South East ¦ UKIP ¦ CON
    South West ¦ GREEN ¦ UKIP
    West Mids ¦ UKIP ¦ LAB
    Yorks & H ¦ UKIP ¦ LAB
    Scotland ¦ UKIP ¦ SNP
    Wales ¦ PC ¦ LAB
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    Pulpstar said:

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Taking the 7 parties of Scotland as a zero sum game, and assuming 48260 and 63683 figures are comparable for the Highlands. (Are they ?)

    LD 14550 30.15% 12189 19.14% -11.01%
    SNP 14393 29.82% 19810 31.11% 1.28%
    CON 6728 13.94% 9088 14.27% 0.33%
    LAB 5325 11.03% 9163 14.39% 3.35%
    GRN 3806 7.89% 5615 8.82% 0.93%
    UKIP 3458 7.17% 7818 12.28% 5.11%
    _______________________________________________________________
    48260 63683
    Ta.

    So, Highland Euro result, compared to 2009:

    SNP 31% (+1)
    LD 19% (-11)
    Lab 14% (+3)
    Con 14% (n/c)
    UKIP 12% (+5)
    Grn 9% (+1)
  • Stuart_DicksonStuart_Dickson Posts: 3,557
    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    That is a good sign ! The votes are going elsewhere. Clothes pegs on the nose time !
    Err... so now you are telling us that you'd prefer a UKIP gain to a LAB gain? No wonder Miliband is heading for the pile of discarded politicians labelled "Losers".
    Tories losing is a Labour win !
    That's a keeper.
  • LennonLennon Posts: 1,782

    Pulpstar said:

    A question for everyone....

    Why are some so disbelieving in these Lib Dem constituency polls when they are actually done on a broadly similiar basis to the Ashcroft Marginals ?

    Actually I think some of the same criticisms hold for the Ashcroft poll. There's normally a first-term incumbency benefit, and if Ashcroft isn't really finding one, I'm more inclined to believe that his polling is wonky than that the effect is going to almost disappear this time. The fact that he doesn't name the actual candidates seems like an obvious reason why his polling would be missing it.
    That was an interesting point of info from the Oakeshott polls - name recognition for Cable was about 70% compared to 1% for his Conservative opponent.

    Suspect the difference won't be as high for MPs which are not media darlings or senior Cabinet ministers, but it's going to be large and the voters will have the names in front of them on the ballot paper, so you may as well use them.
    Also worth bearing in mind that by the time of the election, the PPC will have had a year of campaigning in the seat and increasing name recognition (which at the moment will understandably be close to zero). I'm not saying that it will be as high as the incumbent MP, but moving up from 1% to 10% or 20% seems more than plausible.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,959
    RobD.

    You will appreciate this (from the guardian's live coverage of the cricket)

    "I once deftly proved one part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity on the bus from Ballymena to Antrim", brags Robert Wilson. "Using a polo mint. You wait for a bend in the road, you throw the polo mint absolutely straight, but in the relative situation of the turning bus, it curves.

    Right into the mouth of an extremely unforgiving pensioner lady. Who then beat me up with an umbrella (seemingly made of plutonium) while my friends laughed until they cried. This being the Ballymena bus, she broke my thumb. But pure knowledge is always worth it."

    Over 11


    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/28/england-v-sri-lanka-third-odi-live
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    edited May 2014
    LD 32 14.55% +4.59%
    SNP 67 30.45% +0.65%

    Others

    29 13.18% +1.09%
    38 17.27% -2.88%
    25 11.36% -2.55%
    29 13.18% -0.91%


    Highland results vs Respondees giving a VI.

    Margin of error for 220 sample size: 6.6%

    So the poll is not an outlier, though perhaps Lib Dems are sampled on the low side (Also possible Lib Dems are holding up better in Thurso/Kennedy's areas that aren't associated with the coalition so much, particularly Kennedy)


    MoE for 500 sample size = 4.4%

    Stretching the laws of probability massively in the Lib Dems favour:

    Adding in 22 voters for the Lib Dems to the weighted figures

    53 + 22 = 75

    Subbing off 22 from SNP

    117 - 22 = 95

    I'm trying to reach a Lib Dem victory but I can't quite make it !
  • MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699
    surbiton said:

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
    Apart from Orkney and Shetlands, only Kennedy will win. Danny will deserve a good thrashing.

    Who would have thunk Labour in the lead in Hallam ?
    Labour were not in the lead in Hallam
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,928
    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    That is a good sign ! The votes are going elsewhere. Clothes pegs on the nose time !
    Err... so now you are telling us that you'd prefer a UKIP gain to a LAB gain? No wonder Miliband is heading for the pile of discarded politicians labelled "Losers".
    Tories losing is a Labour win !
    Sorry but if Labour don't win in Newark they certainly need to be close. Anything else is a major disappointment.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Neil said:

    I'm not going to lump in on Clegg and Cable losing their seats on the basis of these polls and I would suggest that anyone who does is being quite foolish.

    Well, it would depend on the odds. Unfortunately Shadsy has taken down the Ladbrokes' markets, so we'll have to see what he comes back with.

    Meanwhile, I've been lovingly polishing my virtual betting slips on Lab gain Redcar (4/6), SNP gain Gordon (6/4) and a few others. I hope my £50 on Julian Huppert in Cambridge at 6/4 isn't £50 down the drain, though!
    The Cambs council election results were bad for the LD but not as bad as could have been - held onto the key museli belt seats of Newnham and West Chesterton..

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,406
    edited May 2014

    surbiton said:

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
    Apart from Orkney and Shetlands, only Kennedy will win. Danny will deserve a good thrashing.

    Who would have thunk Labour in the lead in Hallam ?
    Labour were not in the lead in Hallam
    Not in the locals, No. But the ICM did predict Lib Dems to be leading in the locals in the supplementary question.

    I haven't done stats for 10 years since Uni so my maths is probably wrong and rusty, but quite sure the ICM showed Lib Dems winning the locals in Hallam (Which tallies)
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030

    RobD.

    You will appreciate this (from the guardian's live coverage of the cricket)

    "I once deftly proved one part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity on the bus from Ballymena to Antrim", brags Robert Wilson. "Using a polo mint. You wait for a bend in the road, you throw the polo mint absolutely straight, but in the relative situation of the turning bus, it curves.

    Right into the mouth of an extremely unforgiving pensioner lady. Who then beat me up with an umbrella (seemingly made of plutonium) while my friends laughed until they cried. This being the Ballymena bus, she broke my thumb. But pure knowledge is always worth it."

    Over 11


    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/28/england-v-sri-lanka-third-odi-live

    Pretty sure that sort of stuff was understood before Einstein, but hey-ho. ;-)
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    TGOHF said:

    The Cambs council election results were bad for the LD but not as bad as could have been - held onto the key museli belt seats of Newnham and West Chesterton..

    Yes, I think Huppert has a pretty good chance of holding on. Certainly if he of all LibDem MPs can't, then the theory that the LibDems can only survive if they lurch to the left is blown out of the water.
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    edited May 2014
    TOPPING said:

    Neil said:

    It does appear to have been a bit of a botched job

    Cant have been as botched as the Treasury's analysis that was debunked today. The debasement of the fine tradition of civil service neutrality in the name of meeting their business objective of keeping Scotland in the UK is sad to witness.
    Apart from the tin foil hat element of your post surely there would be 1,000 times as much work for the civil service (both of them) in the event of a Yes?
    What is tin foil hat? That the Treasury analysis was botched? Or that their business objectives include working to keep Scotland in the UK? Or that there may be a link between the previous two facts?
  • MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699
    edited May 2014
    Pulpstar said:

    surbiton said:

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
    Apart from Orkney and Shetlands, only Kennedy will win. Danny will deserve a good thrashing.

    Who would have thunk Labour in the lead in Hallam ?
    Labour were not in the lead in Hallam
    Not in the locals, No. But the ICM did predict Lib Dems to be leading in the locals in the supplementary question.

    I haven't done stats for 10 years since Uni so my maths is probably wrong and rusty, but quite sure the ICM showed Lib Dems winning the locals in Hallam (Which tallies)
    The ICM poll underestimated the LD Hallam local vote by 6% , the same error on the GE vote would have put the LDs first
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030

    RobD.

    You will appreciate this (from the guardian's live coverage of the cricket)

    "I once deftly proved one part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity on the bus from Ballymena to Antrim", brags Robert Wilson. "Using a polo mint. You wait for a bend in the road, you throw the polo mint absolutely straight, but in the relative situation of the turning bus, it curves.

    Right into the mouth of an extremely unforgiving pensioner lady. Who then beat me up with an umbrella (seemingly made of plutonium) while my friends laughed until they cried. This being the Ballymena bus, she broke my thumb. But pure knowledge is always worth it."

    Over 11


    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/28/england-v-sri-lanka-third-odi-live

    Also, I assume the cricket is going terribly if they are resorting to physics anecdotes? :D
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,928

    surbiton said:

    stodge said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Newark by-election

    LAB have drifted to 61/1 at Betfair. Ouch!

    SNP looking good in Inverness -

    Now, who is going to commission the Orkney and Shetland poll... ?
    Why, do we have some new Inverness-specific data?

    Regarding the Northern Isles, these were the Euro results:

    Orkney: LD 1825 (35.2%) SNP 872 (16.8%) Con 679 (13.1%) Green 619 (12%) UKIP 618 (11.9%) Lab 466 (9%)

    Shetland: LD 1755 (33.9%) SNP 897 (17.3%) Green 638 (12.3%) UKIP 616 (11.9%) Lab 580 (11.4%) Con 543 (10.5%)

    So, the Lib Dems in the mid 30s. At the UK GE in 2010 the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael got 62.0% of the vote (11,989 votes). Even in their core territories, the Lib Dems are losing many thousands of voters.

    The Highland result was also telling:

    Highland: SNP 19,810 (30.3%) LD 12,189 (18.7%) Lab 9163 (14%) Con 9088 (13.9%) UKIP 7818 (12%) Green 5615 (8.6%)

    Lib Dems on less than 19% !! Remember, they hold ALL THREE Westminster seats in the Highland area: John Thurso, Charlie Kennedy and Danny Alexander.
    It would be nice if we had some proper statistical analysis instead of the old "let's compare apples and oranges to produce the result that fits my viewpoint" which seems to be how it's working on here at the moment.

    What were the 2009 Euro results for Orkney, Shetland and Highland ? Let's compare last week's results against those rather than with the 2010 GE. If we see a similar falloff in LD votes then your conclusions will be valid.

    Not sure about Orkney & Shetland but the Lib Dems were down by around 8% in the Highlands compared to 2009. I'm pretty sure they will hold Orkney & Shetland and Charles Kennedy's seat two with a decent chance of holding the other two Highland seats. Elsewhere in Scotland though I think they'll struggle quite badly.
    Apart from Orkney and Shetlands, only Kennedy will win. Danny will deserve a good thrashing.

    Who would have thunk Labour in the lead in Hallam ?
    Labour were not in the lead in Hallam
    All seems to come down to how you treat the don't knows. Maybe many saying don't know WILL go back to the Lib Dems. I'd certainly bet on that in Wells. The lefties will get behind Tessa Munt. But in Hallam? I'm not sure. People can switch to Labour without a real fear of letting the Tories in. That's why this poll was dynamite. Whatever its flaws it says Labour can win from third. The poll could create its own momentum.
  • corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    RobD said:

    RobD.

    You will appreciate this (from the guardian's live coverage of the cricket)

    "I once deftly proved one part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity on the bus from Ballymena to Antrim", brags Robert Wilson. "Using a polo mint. You wait for a bend in the road, you throw the polo mint absolutely straight, but in the relative situation of the turning bus, it curves.

    Right into the mouth of an extremely unforgiving pensioner lady. Who then beat me up with an umbrella (seemingly made of plutonium) while my friends laughed until they cried. This being the Ballymena bus, she broke my thumb. But pure knowledge is always worth it."

    Over 11


    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/28/england-v-sri-lanka-third-odi-live

    Also, I assume the cricket is going terribly if they are resorting to physics anecdotes? :D
    I just assume that from England and Wales playing.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,959
    RobD said:

    RobD.

    You will appreciate this (from the guardian's live coverage of the cricket)

    "I once deftly proved one part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity on the bus from Ballymena to Antrim", brags Robert Wilson. "Using a polo mint. You wait for a bend in the road, you throw the polo mint absolutely straight, but in the relative situation of the turning bus, it curves.

    Right into the mouth of an extremely unforgiving pensioner lady. Who then beat me up with an umbrella (seemingly made of plutonium) while my friends laughed until they cried. This being the Ballymena bus, she broke my thumb. But pure knowledge is always worth it."

    Over 11


    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/28/england-v-sri-lanka-third-odi-live

    Also, I assume the cricket is going terribly if they are resorting to physics anecdotes? :D
    We're winning and I'm freezing my nuts off
This discussion has been closed.