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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The economy could be growing too far and too fast

SystemSystem Posts: 11,730
edited October 2013 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The economy could be growing too far and too fast

It seems a long time ago that the opposition, members of the media and economic commentators were speculating about the possibility of a triple-dip recession.  In fact, it’s in only six months that the economic debate has changed markedly.  Gone are the arguments about flat-lining and the need for stimulus and instead the agenda’s moved on to the cost of living.

Read the full story here


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  • Options
    "The economy could be growing too far and too fast"

    Fear not, Monday's hurricane should take care of that.
  • Options
    IOSIOS Posts: 1,450
    From previous thread.

    I think it is very possible the Lib Dems could pick up maybe 6 seats of the Tories if UKIP do do well at the general election.

    At the end of the day the Lib Dems have the more active members in those battle grounds. Labour showed at the last election how you can defend a very unpopular government IF you have the people willing to stick the hours in on the ground. The Lib Dems don't have that throughout the country but they DO in the areas against the Tories where they need it.
  • Options

    "The economy could be growing too far and too fast"

    Fear not, Monday's hurricane should take care of that.

    Has Michael Fish said yet whether it is a hurricane or not?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,561
    Growth in Q3 was frankly disappointing and growth in Q4 is expected to be a little lower although there should (finally) be a pick up in north sea oil production and of course housebuilding which is currently going like the clappers.

    The continent is, if anything, slowing down again and it seems unlikely that a debt crisis can be postponed indefinitely there. China is also on the verge of a major bubble issue.

    In short too far, too fast growth is unlikely to be a problem that Osborne is unduly troubled with. Although next year's growth figures will look much better year on year I think we will do well to maintain a moderate pace of growth, let alone a gallop.

    By the election I think the government will be saying they have halved the deficit and that the job is only half done. There will be very little money for tax wheezes of any substance although no doubt we will get the usual fluff and certainly very little money for new spending.

    If real wages are also on the up the government will have an extremely good story to tell economically but then Major had that in 1997 too.
  • Options
    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    Cheers Mr Herdson – a sobering thought.

    “Weatherman Michael Fish, who famously failed to predict the 1987 storm, urged people to keep checking the forecasts as the storm path could change”

    It’s official – the storm is heading straight for us..!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10405947/Storm-forecasts-can-change-last-minute-warns-Michael-Fish.html
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,038
    Betting Post

    F1: here's the pre-race piece for India, including a tip:
    enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/india-pre-race.html

    I've backed Webber for the win at 6, hedged at 2.5. Whilst Vettel's rightly the favourite, I think Webber's also in a pretty good position.
  • Options
    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?

    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.
  • Options
    SMukeshSMukesh Posts: 1,650
    Hmm...Bit too soon for pieces like that-We are still 2.5% below the 2007 peak,so there is some way before we can catch up.While the U.S and Germany have caught up to their pre-recession peak and moved beyond.

    I remember some fantastic comments on PB about 1.5-2% growth the last quarter.But in the end it was a realistic 0.8.We`ll see what happens in the next quarter.
  • Options
    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?

    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    LAB supporters were saying the same thing when it wasn't looking good for their party.


  • Options

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

  • Options
    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,291
    PODMWAS...0-1.
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    edited October 2013
    FPT: Re: Steve Fisher's hilarious [academic] paper:

    I am a bit surprised that such "experts" do not take into account another very valuable source of data.

    The local election results !

    OK, they may not occur with a statistically unbiased distribution. But that can largely be taken out by only considering the swings.

    Also, the presence of two parties in government is taken care of by the simple knowledge that people voting in these local by-elections are aware of the existence of the coalition.

    I think the aggregate data of real votes over the years is a valuable source of data. I would also add a weighting. The nearer a date is to the next GE, the weights given would be higher.

    In other words, 2014 votes will be more "valuable" than 2011 votes !

    I am sure there is sufficient data to go back many, many, years.
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    SMukesh said:

    Hmm...Bit too soon for pieces like that-We are still 2.5% below the 2007 peak,so there is some way before we can catch up.While the U.S and Germany have caught up to their pre-recession peak and moved beyond.

    I remember some fantastic comments on PB about 1.5-2% growth the last quarter.But in the end it was a realistic 0.8.We`ll see what happens in the next quarter.

    Actually, I would wait for second and subsequent quarters of 2014.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,684
    DavidL said:

    Growth in Q3 was frankly disappointing and growth in Q4 is expected to be a little lower although there should (finally) be a pick up in north sea oil production and of course housebuilding which is currently going like the clappers.

    The continent is, if anything, slowing down again and it seems unlikely that a debt crisis can be postponed indefinitely there. China is also on the verge of a major bubble issue.

    In short too far, too fast growth is unlikely to be a problem that Osborne is unduly troubled with. Although next year's growth figures will look much better year on year I think we will do well to maintain a moderate pace of growth, let alone a gallop.

    By the election I think the government will be saying they have halved the deficit and that the job is only half done. There will be very little money for tax wheezes of any substance although no doubt we will get the usual fluff and certainly very little money for new spending.

    If real wages are also on the up the government will have an extremely good story to tell economically but then Major had that in 1997 too.

    I don't know how you can say a 3.2% annualised rate is disappointing. The figures were strong in all sectors except oil and gas extraction ans electricity production. Each of those knocked 0.1% off the headline figure.

    Like I said yesterday, the government/ONS need to shift the creative industries out of services and into production as we produce tangible goods in the industry, but on a digital level. I create assets that are used in a game, it is production, not services. That would show a better rebalance than what we see now.
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    edited October 2013
    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

  • Options
    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,380
    FPT:

    IOS said:

    Edmund

    The fact the Lib Dems are getting killed in places like Broxtowe but not in places like Eastleigh is not by chance but rather than the design. The Lib Dems simply do not - nor should they - care about how they do in places like Broxtowe. Losing all their votes will only cost them a deposit..

    The Lib Dems are not getting killed in Broxtowe , they held all their CC seats there in May much to NickexMP's chagrin .
    Both right. Broxtowe has loads of sophisticated leftish tactical voters who like their LibDem councillors but try to be realists about the GEs. At every county election, we try to get them to vote Labour, and they generally say nah. At every GE, the LibDems try to get them to believe the LibDems might win and the voters generally say pull the other one. In 2010, unusually, quite a lot of people thought they might have a shot - Labour was on the slide, there was a Nottingham Post voodoo poll showing them ahead of us (sample of 20 random shoppers) and the Cleggasm had left its residue, so there was lots of confused switching both ways and they ended up with 17%.

    This time they've not chosen a candidate and won't until sometime next year, the 2005/2010 candidate has said he's not interested, and their GE budget is a rounding error close to zero: their focus is on defending their borough councillors, all of whom are up for election the same day.
  • Options
    TimT2TimT2 Posts: 45
    I don't know if people have started betting on the Republican nominees for 2016, but I think those taking a portfolio approach should be getting something on Ted Cruz before his price gets too rich. I don't think he will get the nomination and sincerely hope he will not, but he is a very effective speaker - no notes, no teleprompter - who knows how to rabblerouse the grass roots. I think there is a good chance that the nomination will end up being a show-down between him and the last man standing of the GOP Establishment.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,684
    edited October 2013
    SMukesh said:

    Hmm...Bit too soon for pieces like that-We are still 2.5% below the 2007 peak,so there is some way before we can catch up.While the U.S and Germany have caught up to their pre-recession peak and moved beyond.

    US recession - 4.3% fall over 4Q
    German recession - 7.0% fall over 4Q
    UK recession - 7.4% fall over 5Q

    Our recession was deeper and longer, plus our we had the deficit of the US with a recession deeper than Germany. This idea that we're not doing as well as other nations is a load of old crap that Labour love to throw about. Other countries didn't have the same structural problems we did (and still have). We lost GDP in the recession that will never come back because it was in the financial sector, it means other sectors need to grow in order to make up the difference. The US and Germany did not have these problems, they did not have to change the nature of their economies in order to make it back, for them the bounce back was easy.

    The US in particular had a much shallower recession so any direct comparison is not even worth looking at, which is why Balls seems so intent on making one.

    Labour left the nation unprepared and undefended against the worst recession to hit since the 1930's. Worse still given the nature of it, the effects are still felt today since two of the high street banks are in part public ownership. It's been 5 years since LBG and RBS were nationalised and the government have sold just 6% of their stake in the smaller bank. Labour's box ticking culture that led to regulatory failures has made the job of recovering even harder since two out of the big four have had to restructure their operations significantly which has hit lending to businesses large and small.
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714
    edited October 2013
    According to Labour List EdM has established a General Election Strategy Committee. The members are

    Douglas Alexander
    Ed Balls
    Yvette Cooper
    Michael Dugher
    Caroline Flint
    Harriet Harman
    Sadiq Khan
    Ivan Lewis
    Gloria De Piero
    Rachel Reeves
    Chuka Umunna
    Rosie Winterton

  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    MaxPB said:

    SMukesh said:

    Hmm...Bit too soon for pieces like that-We are still 2.5% below the 2007 peak,so there is some way before we can catch up.While the U.S and Germany have caught up to their pre-recession peak and moved beyond.

    US recession - 4.3% fall over 4Q
    German recession - 7.0% fall over 4Q
    UK recession - 7.3% fall over 5Q

    Our recession was deeper and longer, plus our we had the deficit of the US with a recession deeper than Germany. This idea that we're not doing as well as other nations is a load of old crap that Labour love to throw about. Other countries didn't have the same structural problems we did (and still have). We lost GDP in the recession that will never come back because it was in the financial sector, it means other sectors need to grow in order to make up the difference. The US and Germany did not have these problems, they did not have to change the nature of their economies in order to make it back, for them the bounce back was easy.

    The US in particular had a much shallower recession so any direct comparison is not even worth looking at, which is why Balls seems so intent on making one.

    Labour left the nation unprepared and undefended against the worst recession to hit since the 1930's. Worse still given the nature of it, the effects are still felt today since two of the high street banks are in part public ownership. It's been 5 years since LBG and RBS were nationalised and the government have sold just 6% of their stake in the smaller bank. Labour's box ticking culture that led to regulatory failures has made the job of recovering even harder since two out of the big four have had to restructure their operations significantly which has hit lending to businesses large and small.
    Sorry ! The US also has a large financial sector which also had a recession. In fact, the expression "credit crunch" came over from there.

    Remember, Lehmann Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freedie Mac, UBS, ING, Citicorp.....

    They were all Labour's fault.
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

    I will answer your stupid remarks by quoting Fisher himself

    Incompatible probabilities:

    •Pr(Lab majority) = 15% & Pr(Lab largest party) = 12% are not compatible.
    •How can Lab have a bigger chance of a majority than being the largest party?
    Fair cop. These figures are logically incompatible. Clearly I need to revise the method to ensure these are fully consistent, and I will do.


    An academic who simply did not do his homework. Very poor and sub-standard.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,684
    edited October 2013
    surbiton said:



    Sorry ! The US also has a large financial sector which also had a recession. In fact, the expression "credit crunch" came over from there.

    Remember, Lehmann Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freedie Mac, UBS, ING, Citicorp.....

    They were all Labour's fault.

    The difference being that the TARP was much more successful than Labour's banking bail outs. Not only was the TARP concluded profitably, but it also returned the US banking sector to health within a couple of years. Here we are 5 years into owning the number one and two high street banks with little to no returns for the taxpayer or the economy.

    Labour allowed RBS to get too big and it forced Lloyds TSB down the aisle with HBOS. Labour's regulations failed after Brown's big idea of tripartite crap. The banks took a dump on the UK economy and Labour cheered them on while they did it and then bailed them out when the going got tough. Labour, socialising losses and privatising profit. When Barings went bankrupt, it went bankrupt, it's shareholders didn't get bailed out and it's board didn't get nice fat pension packets at the expense of the taxpayer. Labour made the taxpayers pay the price for the failure of their regulatory system thought up by Brown, Balls and Miliband.
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,876

    According to Labour List EdM has established a General Election Strategy Committee. The members are

    Chuka Umunna

    Interesting!

    No Dr The Honourable Tristram 'I've got a PhD from Cambridge you know Hunt then?

    What with Education being such a Labour strong suit and so important to 2010 Lib Dems......

    I'm sure its just 'new boy on Front Bench'.....nothing more than that......

    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/tristrams-handy-if-ed-miliband-loses-labours-love-8891653.html
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,038
    Indeed, Mr. Max.

    It's also worth mentioning the £153bn of unnecessary deficits Brown ran as Chancellor in the years preceding the crash.
  • Options
    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    MaxPB said:

    surbiton said:



    Sorry ! The US also has a large financial sector which also had a recession. In fact, the expression "credit crunch" came over from there.

    Remember, Lehmann Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freedie Mac, UBS, ING, Citicorp.....

    They were all Labour's fault.

    The difference being that the TARP was much more successful than Labour's banking bail outs. Not only was the TARP concluded profitably, but it also returned the US banking sector to health within a couple of years. Here we are 5 years into owning the number one and two high street banks with little to no returns for the taxpayer or the economy.

    Labour allowed RBS to get too big and it forced Lloyds TSB down the aisle with HBOS. Labour's regulations failed after Brown's big idea of tripartite crap. The banks took a dump on the UK economy and Labour cheered them on while they did it and then bailed them out when the going got tough. Labour, socialising losses and privatising profit. When Barings went bankrupt, it went bankrupt, it's shareholders didn't get bailed out and it's board didn't get nice fat pension packets at the expense of the taxpayer. Labour made the taxpayers pay the price for the failure of their regulatory system thought up by Brown, Balls and Miliband.
    No. Finance, as a percentage of our GDP is much bigger in the UK than in any other country leaving aside the casinos like Cayman Islands, Leichtenstein etc. The source of that lies in Thatcher's Big Bang of 1987 and well beyond that.
  • Options
    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,291
    For benefit of OGH.

    "We have a candidate for strangest red card of the season, as Burnley mascot Bertie Bee is sent off for handing the linesman his glasses during the top-of-the-table Championship clash with Queens Park Rangers."
  • Options
    dugarbandierdugarbandier Posts: 2,596
    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

    I will answer your stupid remarks by quoting Fisher himself

    Incompatible probabilities:

    •Pr(Lab majority) = 15% & Pr(Lab largest party) = 12% are not compatible.
    •How can Lab have a bigger chance of a majority than being the largest party?
    Fair cop. These figures are logically incompatible. Clearly I need to revise the method to ensure these are fully consistent, and I will do.


    An academic who simply did not do his homework. Very poor and sub-standard.
    no, i don't think so- an academic trying to use a method not subject to any "add on the number you first thought of" factor

    trying to use past performance in an unbiased manner.

    doesn't make it accurate, necessarily, but its not sloppy
  • Options
    MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699

    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

    I will answer your stupid remarks by quoting Fisher himself

    Incompatible probabilities:

    •Pr(Lab majority) = 15% & Pr(Lab largest party) = 12% are not compatible.
    •How can Lab have a bigger chance of a majority than being the largest party?
    Fair cop. These figures are logically incompatible. Clearly I need to revise the method to ensure these are fully consistent, and I will do.


    An academic who simply did not do his homework. Very poor and sub-standard.
    no, i don't think so- an academic trying to use a method not subject to any "add on the number you first thought of" factor

    trying to use past performance in an unbiased manner.

    doesn't make it accurate, necessarily, but its not sloppy
    I am sure that if any student had presented Dr Fisher with a paper including figures which were sloppy and illogical he would have marked it C minus at best .
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,261

    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

    I will answer your stupid remarks by quoting Fisher himself

    Incompatible probabilities:

    •Pr(Lab majority) = 15% & Pr(Lab largest party) = 12% are not compatible.
    •How can Lab have a bigger chance of a majority than being the largest party?
    Fair cop. These figures are logically incompatible. Clearly I need to revise the method to ensure these are fully consistent, and I will do.


    An academic who simply did not do his homework. Very poor and sub-standard.
    no, i don't think so- an academic trying to use a method not subject to any "add on the number you first thought of" factor

    trying to use past performance in an unbiased manner.

    doesn't make it accurate, necessarily, but its not sloppy
    I am sure that if any student had presented Dr Fisher with a paper including figures which were sloppy and illogical he would have marked it C minus at best .
    This is rather tangential, but surely it depends on the thought processes that went into the work piece, rather than the actual result. A good teacher (and lecturer) should not only be concerned with the result, but the method by which the student reached the result. It may be an innovative approach worthy of praise, that has not been fully thought-through.

    A good lecturer would give a student tips on improvement, and mark innovative work highly.
  • Options
    MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699

    surbiton said:

    surbiton said:

    I wonder if sometime between now and GE15 pb.com will get round to posting a thread that's positive about the Conservatives?


    At least Mike is presumably now regretting his "pure fantasy" remark about the Tory chances of a majority.

    Didn't you read the thread about Dr Fisher's authorative analysis predicting a Tory majority in 2015 ?

    It was the best Tory propaganda for years. Albeit laughable !

    Dr Fisher is an eminent academic with an impeccable reputation .
    Your opinion is and has been shown to be worthless.

    I will answer your stupid remarks by quoting Fisher himself

    Incompatible probabilities:

    •Pr(Lab majority) = 15% & Pr(Lab largest party) = 12% are not compatible.
    •How can Lab have a bigger chance of a majority than being the largest party?
    Fair cop. These figures are logically incompatible. Clearly I need to revise the method to ensure these are fully consistent, and I will do.


    An academic who simply did not do his homework. Very poor and sub-standard.
    no, i don't think so- an academic trying to use a method not subject to any "add on the number you first thought of" factor

    trying to use past performance in an unbiased manner.

    doesn't make it accurate, necessarily, but its not sloppy
    I am sure that if any student had presented Dr Fisher with a paper including figures which were sloppy and illogical he would have marked it C minus at best .
    This is rather tangential, but surely it depends on the thought processes that went into the work piece, rather than the actual result. A good teacher (and lecturer) should not only be concerned with the result, but the method by which the student reached the result. It may be an innovative approach worthy of praise, that has not been fully thought-through.

    A good lecturer would give a student tips on improvement, and mark innovative work highly.
    The innovative work would save him from an F for Fail
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    Very amusing piece by Matthew Norman in today's Torygraph. Apparently, Nick Clegg used to be his fag at Westminster, and he brilliantly links how his failure to beat him for jamming 2 slices Hovis inside a toaster made him supremely self-confident, thus entering politics rather than other professions less dominated by the self-possessed. Had he beaten him Chris Huhne would have become LD leader, Vicky Pryce would have exposed him over his speeding points before the election, and Cameron would thus have won a majority and there been no Coalition!
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10404852/If-only-Id-given-Nick-Clegg-the-beating-he-needed.html
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,876
    Hope we have an entertaining thread Sunday evening - doesn't look like I'll be getting much sleep:

    Wind, West Gale F8 soon increasing Severe gale F9 with gusts to 85mph by midnight veering southwest then south Storm F10 to severe storm F11 with gusts to F12 for a time. Decreasing Gale F8 to Severe Gale F9 and veering West by dawn becoming Southerly F7 to Gale F8 by afternoon with gusts to 60mph
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    TimT2 Cruz is formidably bright, at Harvard Law School his tutor Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant." He was a brilliant lawyer too. Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America, by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America, and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century. On paper he would be one of the most qualified candidates ever to run for the White House. There is only one problem - he is a nutter!
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    I do think the 2016 GOP nomination will come down to a fight to the death between Chris Christie who will end up the champion of the GOP establishment and moderates, and either Cruz or Rand Paul who will be the Tea Party champion. Meanwhile while they beat each other up, Hillary will have comfortably steamrollered over the token opposition in the Democratic primaries by the end of January, and will then have time to amass a huge warchest to crush the life out of whoever is the last man standing from the GOP punchup!
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    Carlotta It is predicted to be the most powerful storm since the 1987 hurricane
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    Batten down the hatches says Michael Fish
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,876
    edited October 2013
    tim said:

    Hope we have an entertaining thread Sunday evening - doesn't look like I'll be getting much sleep:

    Wind, West Gale F8 soon increasing Severe gale F9 with gusts to 85mph by midnight veering southwest then south Storm F10 to severe storm F11 with gusts to F12 for a time. Decreasing Gale F8 to Severe Gale F9 and veering West by dawn becoming Southerly F7 to Gale F8 by afternoon with gusts to 60mph


    Last time I saw Sky reporters as excited as this some gypsies were stealing blonde children.

    The Telegraph Science Correspondent may give them a run for their money - he was forecasting winds at 12 on the Richter scale.....

  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    TimT2 said:

    I don't know if people have started betting on the Republican nominees for 2016, but I think those taking a portfolio approach should be getting something on Ted Cruz before his price gets too rich. I don't think he will get the nomination and sincerely hope he will not, but he is a very effective speaker - no notes, no teleprompter - who knows how to rabblerouse the grass roots. I think there is a good chance that the nomination will end up being a show-down between him and the last man standing of the GOP Establishment.

    It's a shame Cruz has no chance. He'd be a fantastic President and as such would be great for the world too. But the lefty media will churn the Democrat talking points even louder than usual because he's a threat.

    I've got my early runners for both parties already backed and I'm not going to fiddle with it yet as news cycles come and go. Cruz was brilliant in the filibuster and deserved better, but lack of support from the RINOs in such an important battle this far out means he'll definitely lack the squishy vote later on.

  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    “Peter Lilley was told that despite being Shadow Chancellor, only 2 per cent of the public recognised a picture of him. He replied: “Well that’s more than the number of members of the public I recognise.” – Lord Finkelstein
  • Options
    firstlight40firstlight40 Posts: 69
    edited October 2013
    David,

    Thanks for another interesting post. Rising interest rates on mortgages (and it's still probably at least 6 months and more likely a year away) will take some of the froth out of the housing market but the increasing costs will mostly affect those who are financially astute and on the very lowest life time trackers - probably those who can most afford the increase anyway.

    More importantly savings rates will start going up in time for the election and the most enthusiastic voters - pensioners - will see their income going up from saving too. Expect to see lots of government huffing at big financial institutions which do not increase their savings rates. I would imagine this would benefit the coalition.

    I would expect the deficit to unwind quite quickly as companies open their investment spigots - first VAT receipts and income tax then eventually corporation tax receipts will rise. The state owned banks will be returned to the private sector.

    My personal experience (admittedly limited) is that private sector capital spending and mergers and acquisition activity is going up as well.
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    Steve C in Blackpool: I think Bale is already wearing his ghost costume for Halloween as he doesn't seem to have any presence on the pitch.

    #bbceurofooty
    Matthew12341324: I feel for Bale, he looks like a very expensive fish out of water.



    Come home Gareth - the Lane will welcome you back any day!!
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,241

    Steve C in Blackpool: I think Bale is already wearing his ghost costume for Halloween as he doesn't seem to have any presence on the pitch.

    #bbceurofooty
    Matthew12341324: I feel for Bale, he looks like a very expensive fish out of water.



    Come home Gareth - the Lane will welcome you back any day!!

    I am sure he will wait where he is and collect his 90M
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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    This 33/1 tip from Henry G from last March is looking very good. Sadiq Khan is the top LAB figure in betting - now 10/1

    http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/03/22/yes-he-khan-sadiqs-a-great-33-1-bet-for-london-mayor/
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    YELLOW CARD - Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid
    Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale is booked - and it's not for diving.

    The former Tottenham man and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique both go in with high feet but Bale catches Pique's and goes into the book.


    Hmm... his mind must be wandering back to THFC.... Barcelona or Hull....
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    FPT:

    Nick P said:

    "That's reasonably easy to establish factually. If someone (andrea? AndyJS?) has the time to list Con/Lab marginals (say anything with the gap <5%) in sequence of strength of LibDem vote, we'd have a clearer idea of what we're talking about (just don't have time myself). It seems likely that LD->Lab tactical switching is at least as high (probably much higher) here than in LD-held seats."

    I'm working on that at the moment, unless anyone else has already done it.
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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983

    This 33/1 tip from Henry G from last March is looking very good. Sadiq Khan is the top LAB figure in betting - now 10/1

    http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2013/03/22/yes-he-khan-sadiqs-a-great-33-1-bet-for-london-mayor/

    Tessa is 5/1 with Paddy Power!
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,290
    edited October 2013
    OGH Alan Sugar worth a bet? He may decide to run as an Independent and with Boris either in parliament and Cameron's likely successor or bearing the brunt of the less than popular government which scraped re-election a year earlier he would be a formidable candidate and with better name recognition than anyone Labour or the LDs put up. Of course Boris may decide to stand down anyway. Independents have a good record of winning Mayoral elections, look at Bloomberg in New York!
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,149
    HYUFD said:

    TimT2 Cruz is formidably bright, at Harvard Law School his tutor Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant." He was a brilliant lawyer too. Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America, by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America, and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century. On paper he would be one of the most qualified candidates ever to run for the White House. There is only one problem - he is a nutter!

    Wasn't he born in Canada?
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    HYUFD said:

    OGH Alan Sugar worth a bet? He may decide to run as an Independent and with Boris either in parliament and Cameron's likely successor or bearing the brunt of the less than popular government which scraped re-election a year earlier he would be a formidable candidate and with better name recognition than anyone Labour or the LDs put up. Of course Boris may decide to stand down anyway. Independents have a good record of winning Mayoral elections, look at Bloomberg in New York!

    I'd agree with you about independents having a good record as mayors, but if I recall you've picked a really bad example there.

    Bloomberg was a registered Democrat. There was no visible way through the dem primary process for him so he switched parties. The Republicans welcomed him, seeing money and an high profile R win - which they got. Although he became nominally Independent by quitting the party, his name was on the Republican ballot line in his third victory.

    So yes, Independents with a good record. No, Bloomberg not your best pick as an example :)

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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    Steve C in Blackpool: I think Bale is already wearing his ghost costume for Halloween as he doesn't seem to have any presence on the pitch.

    #bbceurofooty
    Matthew12341324: I feel for Bale, he looks like a very expensive fish out of water.



    Come home Gareth - the Lane will welcome you back any day!!

    Over-hyped, over paid and over there !

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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    tim said:

    Hope we have an entertaining thread Sunday evening - doesn't look like I'll be getting much sleep:

    Wind, West Gale F8 soon increasing Severe gale F9 with gusts to 85mph by midnight veering southwest then south Storm F10 to severe storm F11 with gusts to F12 for a time. Decreasing Gale F8 to Severe Gale F9 and veering West by dawn becoming Southerly F7 to Gale F8 by afternoon with gusts to 60mph


    Last time I saw Sky reporters as excited as this some gypsies were stealing blonde children.

    The Telegraph Science Correspondent may give them a run for their money - he was forecasting winds at 12 on the Richter scale.....

    You are joking, right ?
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    RichardNabaviRichardNabavi Posts: 3,413
    edited October 2013
    tim said:

    How immigration raises educational standards, particularly for the poorest

    And there was me thinking that Labour's utterly disastrous record in education - taking us to near-bottom in the OECD tables - might partly be explained by their policy of letting immigration get out of control.

    So, if immigration is not the excuse, and given that they doubled expenditure, that doesn't leave much, does it? Labour's running of education was an unmitigated disaster. Thank goodness for Michael Gove.

    Incidentally, the focus on Free Schools by Labour and the vested interests is providing such useful cover for his other reforms (notably the explosion in the number of academies) - which are all going through with virtually no opposition - that I'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't one of the principal aims.
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    Czech Republic parliamentary elections 99% counted

    Turnout 59.48%

    Social Democrats 20.46% / 50 seats (-6 compared to 2010)
    ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) 18.65 / 47 (+47)
    Communists 14.91/ 33 (+7)
    TOP09 (Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09) 11.99/ 26 (-15)
    ODS (Civic Democratic Party) 7.72/ 16 (-37)
    Usvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy) 6.88/ 14 (+14)
    Christian Democrats 6.77/ 14 (+14)

    ANO is led by an multi-millionaire entrepreneur

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    Someone get Gareth some red sparkly shoes, click them 3 times, 'there's no place like spurs, there's no place like spurs'


    GET INVOLVED - #bbceurofooty
    Like a Villas-Boas: Only when they play together can you see the significant gap in quality between Messi/Ronaldo & Bale.

    The ex-Tottenham forward hasn't been at his best today, it's got to be said - yet to complete a 90 minutes for Real Madrid.

    Grant Shipcott: I honestly didn't even realise Bale was playing until he was subbed. Anonymous.

    Richard in Putney: Bale wasted on the right wing. Perez's transfer plan looking flawed already, already have the best left wing in the world so buy the second best. Then play him on the right.


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    surbiton said:



    You are joking, right ?

    No, there was a link on here yesterday to the DT website. Ir will be on yesterday's thread if you're interested.
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    surbiton said:

    tim said:

    Hope we have an entertaining thread Sunday evening - doesn't look like I'll be getting much sleep:

    Wind, West Gale F8 soon increasing Severe gale F9 with gusts to 85mph by midnight veering southwest then south Storm F10 to severe storm F11 with gusts to F12 for a time. Decreasing Gale F8 to Severe Gale F9 and veering West by dawn becoming Southerly F7 to Gale F8 by afternoon with gusts to 60mph


    Last time I saw Sky reporters as excited as this some gypsies were stealing blonde children.

    The Telegraph Science Correspondent may give them a run for their money - he was forecasting winds at 12 on the Richter scale.....

    You are joking, right ?
    It's been stealth-edited away now but it's still visible if you look at the first item on a search for "telegraph 12 richter scale"

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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    HYUFD said:

    OGH Alan Sugar worth a bet? He may decide to run as an Independent and with Boris either in parliament and Cameron's likely successor or bearing the brunt of the less than popular government which scraped re-election a year earlier he would be a formidable candidate and with better name recognition than anyone Labour or the LDs put up. Of course Boris may decide to stand down anyway. Independents have a good record of winning Mayoral elections, look at Bloomberg in New York!

    In London in particular the LAB machine is very good which makes it very difficult for indies to come into this race. If the BBC followed pattern from 2012 mayoral race Sugar would not be allowed into debates.

    If LAB win GE2015 then the mayoral contest will take place a year later - just when the problems start to occur. The Tory would be in with good chance.

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    TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 40,414
    edited October 2013
    HYUFD said:

    Very amusing piece by Matthew Norman in today's Torygraph. Apparently, Nick Clegg used to be his fag at Westminster, and he brilliantly links how his failure to beat him for jamming 2 slices Hovis inside a toaster made him supremely self-confident, thus entering politics rather than other professions less dominated by the self-possessed. Had he beaten him Chris Huhne would have become LD leader, Vicky Pryce would have exposed him over his speeding points before the election, and Cameron would thus have won a majority and there been no Coalition!
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10404852/If-only-Id-given-Nick-Clegg-the-beating-he-needed.html

    Not bad, though if Norman had beaten him Little Clegg might have been more cautious about jamming his party's electoral chances in the toaster of public opinion.
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    Greetings from Barcelona, where the entire population - more or less - has just erupted. Wonder goal; game over. Poor old Gareth Bale. Very, very badly advised by his now incredibly wealthy agent. He needed another year or two at Spurs. The Madrid fans will turn on him very quickly, especially as his arrival forced Ozul out.
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    tim said:

    How immigration raises educational standards, particularly for the poorest

    @Bickerrecord: Blogged http://t.co/cx2GPxO5zt About time we +evly correlated immigration and educational advantage, I reckon. It's what the data tells us.

    Is that the poorest people already here or poorest immigrants ?

    Even after Labour's education disaster our schools are still better than those of Somalia and Afganistan.
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    If LAB win GE2015 then the mayoral contest will take place a year later - just when the problems start to occur. The Tory would be in with good chance.

    Mike, you reckon that if Labour win, it will be about a year before the problems start to occur?

    p.s. Championship Table makes good reading tonight.
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    Is there any point to Rugby League anymore ?

    In the 1980s and early 90s it was a better game than RU, now it looks embarrassing.

    If England RU played half their games at Old Trafford, Elland Road, Anfield etc it would finish off RL.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,038
    Good evening, everyone.

    If you backed Webber to win at 6 (reasoning/comments here: http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/india-pre-race.html) then you could now hedge for a zero risk (but obviously smaller potential profit) bet, as he's fallen to 4.7.

    I do think Vettel's the likeliest winner, but Webber is in good shape.

    On-topic: the eurozone will either become a nation-state or cease to be in the next few years. I imagine either will lead to economic turmoil as the egotistical edifice crumbles, or the EU tries to force disparate realms into the bland uniformity of a bureaucratic empire.
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    Greetings from Barcelona, where the entire population - more or less - has just erupted. Wonder goal; game over. Poor old Gareth Bale. Very, very badly advised by his now incredibly wealthy agent. He needed another year or two at Spurs. The Madrid fans will turn on him very quickly, especially as his arrival forced Ozul out.

    Gareth Bale, the new Laurie Cunnigham.

    Will hopefully not have the same fate.

    Still I struggle to have much sympathy for a habitual cheat.
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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    edited October 2013



    If LAB win GE2015 then the mayoral contest will take place a year later - just when the problems start to occur. The Tory would be in with good chance.

    Mike, you reckon that if Labour win, it will be about a year before the problems start to occur?

    p.s. Championship Table makes good reading tonight.
    Indeed. After they'd had to get rid of Charlie Austin I was quite fearful for this season. So the amazing run has come as such a surprise.

    Great stuff and because Burnley is going to be an AWS Ali Campbell won't be LAB candidate at
    GE2015.

    Next week Millwall
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    tim said:

    tim said:

    How immigration raises educational standards, particularly for the poorest

    @Bickerrecord: Blogged http://t.co/cx2GPxO5zt About time we +evly correlated immigration and educational advantage, I reckon. It's what the data tells us.

    Is that the poorest people already here or poorest immigrants ?

    Even after Labour's education disaster our schools are still better than those of Somalia and Afganistan.
    The poorest here, as you can see from the research into London.
    Not surprising as immigrants into London are more likely to have further education than the native population.

    The counter argument would of course suggest that New York is behind the Mid West and Deep South, which of course would be deeply stupid.

    Five top cities in the world, NY, London, Paris, Abu Dhabi, Sydney -born abroad rates of 35%,35%,20%,80%, 40%

    http://www.ipsos-mori.com/newsevents/blogs/datafizz/1476/Ipsos-MORIs-Top-Cities.aspx



    That 'world cities' attract those of above average intelligence, education and motivation is not surprising.

    And I'm increasingly tempted by the idea that London should be allowed to do as it will while being used as a cash cow for the rest of the country.

    But immigration has clearly led to a lowering of educational standards elsewhere - deprived schools not being improved by an influx of deprived non-English speaking pupils in Bradford or Barnsley.

    Of course the subsequent lowering of educational standards in such places is then used as a justification for even more immigrants "our teenagers are too thick, don't know how to read and write properly, are too lazy etc so we need to have immigrants as workers".

    And we have a negative feedback loop.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Which is the best bookie for US Congressional races?

    Want to put a bet on a mate who is running (to show support rather than anything else as I'm not allowed to donate!)
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    surbiton said:

    MaxPB said:

    SMukesh said:

    Hmm...Bit too soon for pieces like that-We are still 2.5% below the 2007 peak,so there is some way before we can catch up.While the U.S and Germany have caught up to their pre-recession peak and moved beyond.

    US recession - 4.3% fall over 4Q
    German recession - 7.0% fall over 4Q
    UK recession - 7.3% fall over 5Q

    Our recession was deeper and longer, plus our we had the deficit of the US with a recession deeper than Germany. This idea that we're not doing as well as other nations is a load of old crap that Labour love to throw about. Other countries didn't have the same structural problems we did (and still have). We lost GDP in the recession that will never come back because it was in the financial sector, it means other sectors need to grow in order to make up the difference. The US and Germany did not have these problems, they did not have to change the nature of their economies in order to make it back, for them the bounce back was easy.

    The US in particular had a much shallower recession so any direct comparison is not even worth looking at, which is why Balls seems so intent on making one.

    Labour left the nation unprepared and undefended against the worst recession to hit since the 1930's. Worse still given the nature of it, the effects are still felt today since two of the high street banks are in part public ownership. It's been 5 years since LBG and RBS were nationalised and the government have sold just 6% of their stake in the smaller bank. Labour's box ticking culture that led to regulatory failures has made the job of recovering even harder since two out of the big four have had to restructure their operations significantly which has hit lending to businesses large and small.
    Sorry ! The US also has a large financial sector which also had a recession. In fact, the expression "credit crunch" came over from there.

    Remember, Lehmann Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freedie Mac, UBS, ING, Citicorp.....

    They were all Labour's fault.
    Not in percentage terms. Wall Street is an irrelevance for most of America.

    (And UBS is Swiss, while ING is Dutch. But they might both be in Cornwall for all you know...)
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    NinoinozNinoinoz Posts: 1,312
    I have the two articles cited by tim and I don't really have a high opinion of them.

    London has a much higher rate of religious observance than the rest of the country (due to its very high ethnic minority population), but religion simply isn't mentioned in the articles. Considering the high number of Faith Schools in the capital, this is simply laughable.

    Also not mentioned in the articles are private schools. I think they've been excluded, with all the talk of GCSEs.

    However, there is a trend (certainly in Catholic circles) for the rich to send their children to State schools as they are so good, thus pushing their standards higher still. Harriet Harman, Tony Blair and Nick Clegg being the most famous examples.

    The articles don't mention it, but one reason for superior performance is the sheer diversity of provision in the Capital, private or state, faith or community, diplomatic or whatever-the-new-thing-is-today. All within a fairly small area so that there is genuine choice.

    League tables, of course, have brought what previously anecdotal to the surface.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Greetings from Barcelona, where the entire population - more or less - has just erupted. Wonder goal; game over. Poor old Gareth Bale. Very, very badly advised by his now incredibly wealthy agent. He needed another year or two at Spurs. The Madrid fans will turn on him very quickly, especially as his arrival forced Ozul out.

    May be Spurs can buy him back? £30m sounds about right ;-)
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    Charles said:

    Greetings from Barcelona, where the entire population - more or less - has just erupted. Wonder goal; game over. Poor old Gareth Bale. Very, very badly advised by his now incredibly wealthy agent. He needed another year or two at Spurs. The Madrid fans will turn on him very quickly, especially as his arrival forced Ozul out.

    May be Spurs can buy him back? £30m sounds about right ;-)
    Return him in the original packaging with the receipt and ask for a refund?
    He must be under warranty.

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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,149

    HYUFD said:

    Very amusing piece by Matthew Norman in today's Torygraph. Apparently, Nick Clegg used to be his fag at Westminster, and he brilliantly links how his failure to beat him for jamming 2 slices Hovis inside a toaster made him supremely self-confident, thus entering politics rather than other professions less dominated by the self-possessed. Had he beaten him Chris Huhne would have become LD leader, Vicky Pryce would have exposed him over his speeding points before the election, and Cameron would thus have won a majority and there been no Coalition!
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10404852/If-only-Id-given-Nick-Clegg-the-beating-he-needed.html

    Not bad, though if Norman had beaten him Little Clegg might have been more cautious about jamming his party's electoral chances in the toaster of public opinion.
    Beatings of a junior boy by a senior! I think a police investigation is called for!

    AFAIK the vast majority, even of senior police officers didn't go to such "educational" establishments.
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    Charles said:

    Which is the best bookie for US Congressional races?

    Want to put a bet on a mate who is running (to show support rather than anything else as I'm not allowed to donate!)

    Ah, you mentioned this chap (although by party, not name iirc) and his district a few months ago. Are we going to get reports from the front line?

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    The Labour PPC in Burnley is Julie Cooper, the 2005 losing candidate. She's also the council leader now.

    because Burnley is going to be an AWS Ali Campbell won't be LAB candidate at GE2015.

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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    GeoffM said:

    Charles said:

    Which is the best bookie for US Congressional races?

    Want to put a bet on a mate who is running (to show support rather than anything else as I'm not allowed to donate!)

    Ah, you mentioned this chap (although by party, not name iirc) and his district a few months ago. Are we going to get reports from the front line?

    To an extent. At the moment it's a fun b1tch slap - he's challenging an incumbent Democrat in the primary... Nancy Pelosi against him, the Kennedys and Petreaus are backing him. DCCC is very neutral ;-)
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    NinoinozNinoinoz Posts: 1,312
    GeoffM said:

    Charles said:

    Greetings from Barcelona, where the entire population - more or less - has just erupted. Wonder goal; game over. Poor old Gareth Bale. Very, very badly advised by his now incredibly wealthy agent. He needed another year or two at Spurs. The Madrid fans will turn on him very quickly, especially as his arrival forced Ozul out.

    May be Spurs can buy him back? £30m sounds about right ;-)
    Return him in the original packaging with the receipt and ask for a refund?
    He must be under warranty.

    Nah. Chelsea tried that with Torres but Liverpool said the sale was strictly on a non-refundable basis.
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    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714
    edited October 2013
    Sorry, 2010. Julie Cooper was 2010 GE. 2005 was the first year of the Kitty Usher car crash
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    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    Charles said:

    GeoffM said:

    Charles said:

    Which is the best bookie for US Congressional races?

    Want to put a bet on a mate who is running (to show support rather than anything else as I'm not allowed to donate!)

    Ah, you mentioned this chap (although by party, not name iirc) and his district a few months ago. Are we going to get reports from the front line?

    To an extent. At the moment it's a fun b1tch slap - he's challenging an incumbent Democrat in the primary... Nancy Pelosi against him, the Kennedys and Petreaus are backing him. DCCC is very neutral ;-)
    Any Dem on Dem infighting is great stuff in my book. If he makes it to the General Election, though, it'd be great to have a guest article or two from the campaign (even if it was penned by staffers). Perhaps you could put in a good word for those of us who follow the US scene too please?

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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
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    Read the book of Daniel. The "recovery" has feet of clay, it will collapse and dissolve as if it never was.
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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    edited October 2013
    Survation poll coming out. I've got the embargoed copy and am waiting for news that it has been published. If anybody sees it, perhaps on Sky and or Twitter, can you drop me an email at Mike at Politicalbetting dot Com

    I am all ready to post.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited October 2013
    Nick requested this earlier today. It's the Labour targets from the Conservatives ranked according to the Labour deficit to LD vote ratio:

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At91c3wX1Wu5dE0wZTMyZW1nYko1TE15MDVJVF8zYXc#gid=0

    It uses the conventional top 100 Labour targets, excluding targets from parties other than the Conservatives, (which gives 83 Tory seats).

    For instance, at the bottom of the list is Basildon South & Thurrock East. This is because the Conservative majority over Labour is 5,977 compared to a LD vote of 5,772. The ratio is almost 1 because Labour would have to win virtually all the LD votes to overturn the Tory majority.

    Seats like Warrington South and Plymouth Sutton&Devonport are much higher up the list than they are in the conventional target list because of the high LD votes in those seats.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,013

    Czech Republic parliamentary elections 99% counted

    Turnout 59.48%

    Social Democrats 20.46% / 50 seats (-6 compared to 2010)
    ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) 18.65 / 47 (+47)
    Communists 14.91/ 33 (+7)
    TOP09 (Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09) 11.99/ 26 (-15)
    ODS (Civic Democratic Party) 7.72/ 16 (-37)
    Usvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy) 6.88/ 14 (+14)
    Christian Democrats 6.77/ 14 (+14)

    ANO is led by an multi-millionaire entrepreneur

    What do the various parties stand for?
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,044
    Mike I think its been leaked. Emailed you
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    The list isn't all that interesting I must confess, but it does at least show how the seats at the bottom could be particularly difficult for Labour to win if the Tory share is holding up at the same sort of level as 2010, which means seats like Burton, Harlow, Battersea, Crawley, Ilford North.
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    QuincelQuincel Posts: 3,959
    Off-Topic:

    Is there some reason Labour are considered favourites to win most seats in the 2014 Euros but not most votes? They both got the same seats last time on similar votes, so why are the bookies so sure there is an electoral bias?
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Quincel said:

    Off-Topic:

    Is there some reason Labour are considered favourites to win most seats in the 2014 Euros but not most votes? They both got the same seats last time on similar votes, so why are the bookies so sure there is an electoral bias?

    I thought the whole point of the system is that there isn't such a bias...
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    QuincelQuincel Posts: 3,959
    AndyJS said:

    Quincel said:

    Off-Topic:

    Is there some reason Labour are considered favourites to win most seats in the 2014 Euros but not most votes? They both got the same seats last time on similar votes, so why are the bookies so sure there is an electoral bias?

    I thought the whole point of the system is that there isn't such a bias...
    My thoughts exactly. It's regional PR over some pretty large areas. Is this a really easy arb? Lab 3/2 to win most votes, UKIP 7/4 most seats?
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    @Andy

    I've another just chosen Lab PPC for you...Weston-super-Mare: Tim Taylor

    @Sean Fear

    they all sound right wing with the exception of Social Democrats and Communists. But even them are probabloy right wing

    Seriously...Dawn of Direct Democracy fights for direct democracy...their candidates include former Christian Democrats and Public Affairs (a party that won seats last time but seem disappeared now) members.
    ODS was the current main ruling party. They are among Tory's allies in EU Parliament.
    TOP09 was born as a free market split of Christian Democrats
    ANO is a sort of populist outfit campaigning against corruption and co. As they are led by an entrepreneur, I guess they are free market friendly. They are open to collaborate with everybody on paper except for the Commies.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Quincel said:

    AndyJS said:

    Quincel said:

    Off-Topic:

    Is there some reason Labour are considered favourites to win most seats in the 2014 Euros but not most votes? They both got the same seats last time on similar votes, so why are the bookies so sure there is an electoral bias?

    I thought the whole point of the system is that there isn't such a bias...
    My thoughts exactly. It's regional PR over some pretty large areas. Is this a really easy arb? Lab 3/2 to win most votes, UKIP 7/4 most seats?
    There may be some good betting opportunities if the bookies have f****d up.
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    MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,322
    edited October 2013
    Survation Poll per Twitter on Thursday:

    C 29 (+2)
    L 37 (=)
    UKIP 16 (-1)
    LD 10 (=)

    Poll not reported on PB or UKPR before today so is this it?
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    MikeLMikeL Posts: 7,322
    Link for Survation poll per Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/Survation
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    MarkSeniorMarkSenior Posts: 4,699
    AndyJS said:

    Quincel said:

    AndyJS said:

    Quincel said:

    Off-Topic:

    Is there some reason Labour are considered favourites to win most seats in the 2014 Euros but not most votes? They both got the same seats last time on similar votes, so why are the bookies so sure there is an electoral bias?

    I thought the whole point of the system is that there isn't such a bias...
    My thoughts exactly. It's regional PR over some pretty large areas. Is this a really easy arb? Lab 3/2 to win most votes, UKIP 7/4 most seats?
    There may be some good betting opportunities if the bookies have f****d up.
    The only bookie offering odds on most seats is Paddypower they have Labour odds on fav . 3 other bookies are offering odds on most votes all have UKIP as favourite .
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 36,013

    @Andy

    I've another just chosen Lab PPC for you...Weston-super-Mare: Tim Taylor

    @Sean Fear

    they all sound right wing with the exception of Social Democrats and Communists. But even them are probabloy right wing

    Seriously...Dawn of Direct Democracy fights for direct democracy...their candidates include former Christian Democrats and Public Affairs (a party that won seats last time but seem disappeared now) members.
    ODS was the current main ruling party. They are among Tory's allies in EU Parliament.
    TOP09 was born as a free market split of Christian Democrats
    ANO is a sort of populist outfit campaigning against corruption and co. As they are led by an entrepreneur, I guess they are free market friendly. They are open to collaborate with everybody on paper except for the Commies.

    Thanks. Will that result in a right-wing coalition, or will we see the current trend for centre-right parties forming coalitions with centre-left ones continue here.

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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    Tories fiddling figures on free schools.

    Labour criticises government's 'false' data on free schools http://gu.com/p/3jq4p/tf
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    maaarshmaaarsh Posts: 3,391

    Tories fiddling figures on free schools.

    Labour criticises government's 'false' data on free schools http://gu.com/p/3jq4p/tf

    Is that not just the same old point of only including figures since they made the inspection tougher.

    Fair play to Labour trying to carry on the same tune, but it's not a very serious point.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,038
    Good evening, everyone.

    Sounds grim outside already. I hope the winds aren't too bad here. I remember walking the hound when the weather was comparably bad a few years ago (a tree had been snapped in two by the wind opposite the house). That was an experience.
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    felixfelix Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2013

    Tories fiddling figures on free schools.

    Labour criticises government's 'false' data on free schools http://gu.com/p/3jq4p/tf

    I think on reading the article it's pretty clear there is no 'fiddle' at all. If there is fiddling it would appear to be on the other side with Labour using percentages from the old 'softer'inspection regime to justfiy their claim. Worth remembering that neither Labour or the Guardian should be seen as bywords for accuracy or honesty when commenting on government policies they oppose. Although the Labour view on free schools is somewhat multi-faceted these days.
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