politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Labour’s massive challenge: Support for Corbyn as “best PM”

@paulwaugh: Owen Smith: Labour 'is not respected' at the moment under Corbyn's leadership.
Says tragic that TimesPoll shows Lab voters prefer May to JC

I'm proud of mine. I me a few Corbyns when they were teenagers. Most got better.

@rustinpeace00: Remember that Labour is a party currently taking itself to court. Owen Smith & Jeremy Corbyn are two cheeks of the same totally inept arse.

Theresa May led Tory Party = The Byzantine Empire

Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party = The Bulgars

The 2020 General Election = The Battle of Kleidion

Re Owen Smith's smash Theresa May lines,

The Labour Leader of Camden council accused me of being sexist for calling Theresa May's reshuffle the night of the long kitten heels.

What say you now!

Mr. Glenn, the enormo-haddock take great exception to your unwarranted slur on their character.

Cyclefree said:

williamglenn said:

Owen Smith is one of the worst leadership candidates I've ever seen anywhere: soporific voice, tone-deaf rhetoric, reheated failed policy ideas and the gravitas of a haddock.

Hey! That "haddock" reference is mine.......

It's become a meme.

williamglenn said:

Cyclefree said:

williamglenn said:

Owen Smith is one of the worst leadership candidates I've ever seen anywhere: soporific voice, tone-deaf rhetoric, reheated failed policy ideas and the gravitas of a haddock.

Hey! That "haddock" reference is mine.......

It's become a meme.

Sounds fishy to me

So Smith's pitch is that he'd be every bit as left wing as Corbyn but dress marginally better? Labour really are deep in it.

FPT:

HurstLlama said:

@John_M

"Goldman sounds as dodgy as fuck..."

What do you mean Goldman Sachs sounds as dodgy as fuck. This is the company that was caught out selling an investment whilst at the same time trading against it, so its value went down. It was also the company who conspired to fix the greek's books so that it appeared they qualified for Euro membership.

Goldman should have been run out of the City years ago.

The first criticism is an odd one. When someone sells you insurance they are selling you something, and then betting against it happening. There are hundreds of traders in Goldman's London office (and thousands worldwide), and they will have different positions, and different risks they need to hedge against. If I buy a product from Goldman Sachs (or Barclays Capital or UBS or Morgan Stanley) the chances of someone in that firm taking an opposite view to mine and 'trading against me' is close to 100%.

As regards the Greeks, yes that was pretty bad behaviour. Although I don't think all the blame should be laid at Goldman's door: ultimately, they were asked to do something by their clients, the Greek government, i.e., to find a way of issuing debt that would not be included in calculation of debt-to-GDP. How is that different from whichever consultant advised HM Treasury that PFI schemes enabled the government to spend money (and run up debts) that would not be included in the government debt-to-GDP numbers?

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Thanks for that.

It's a shame to see PB descend into the anti-Corbyn gutter. Your recent record is tainting past glories.

BannedInParis said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Thanks for that.

I just want clarity

FPT
MonikerDiCanio said:

» show previous quotes
Brittania unbound. Thanks Boris.

3 new sets of troughers living high on the hog

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

LOL, frothers are down to using subsamples now, you used to get banned on here for that when it was not Tories

TheScreamingEagles said:

BannedInParis said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Thanks for that.

I just want clarity

When Sophie Ridge asked him if he stood by the comment he said that he wasn't advocating violence, while swinging his arm to illustrate the image that he absolutely didn't want to create...

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

Dunno, but since 23 is less than half of 53, we must await breathlessly that second sign of the end of days.

On topic, whilst I think these polls are flattering Mrs May and the Tories because of her honeymoon, on the flip side I can't see how Corbyn survives a 6 week general election campaign.

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

malcolmg said:

FPT
MonikerDiCanio said:

» show previous quotes
Brittania unbound. Thanks Boris.

3 new sets of troughers living high on the hog

Don't judge everyone by the SNP's gross grasping standards. There are still decent and honest public servants.

FPT:

John_M said:

Scott_P said:

@SophyRidgeSky: Owen Smith says he wants to "smash austerity" & replace the Dpt of Work & Pensions with a Ministry of Labour https://t.co/MAr9CZxXqh

I'd like to know what the actual fuck 'privatising the national debt' is supposed to mean.

Listened to a lot of it. He sounds waaaay more professional than his opponent and seemed to have real passion. He would be a lot, lot more appealing that JC in the North and Scotland (and Wales, natch).

However, to my right-wing ears if somebody had played the speech and told me it was from a Labour conference in 1978, I'd have believed them. Must have mentioned 'workers' over 50 times; 'workers rights' 20 times. Firm belief in the Magic Money Tree.

EDIT: Looking at the photos, it clearly sounded more professional than it looked!

Can't fault Theresa's work ethic. Currently in Italy.

John_M said:

Can't fault Theresa's work ethic. Currently in Italy.

She needs to go shopping for a new pair of heels after a nasty encounter with Owen Smith.

david_herdson said:

If Owen Smith is the answer, is the question "who could deliver the 1983 manifesto and looks like President Hollande"?

He does a bit. Hollande has some virtues though, his response to terrorism is a hell of a lot more forthright than anything you will get from a Labour politician.

"The first criticism is an odd one. When someone sells you insurance they are selling you something, and then betting against it happening."

We prefer to call it "reinsuring", not "betting against"......

@paulwaugh: Owen Smith in 2010: "The Liberals will file for divorce as soon as the bruises start to show through the make-up" https://t.co/1tDzaPz7ap

Theuniondivvie said:

grabcocque said:

malcolmg said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

Not quite half the SNP score, but next year's Scottish council elections are going to be fun.

Still can't get over those Scottish YouGov leader ratings from yesterday

Tory fanboys wetting their pants on a subsample

It seems to be pretty much unarguable now that the Tories are the party on the march in Scotland, and are best placed to hoover up the SNP when their arrogance and incompetence finally smashes them on the rocks.

Let me guess, another 'expert' who couldn't name another SCon msp without a Google let alone identify any strength in depth among their ranks.

1 Scottish MSP other than Ruth Davidson follow me on twitter, so I can name at least one.

F1: surprising headline. James Allison has left Ferrari. He was their technical chief (did great things for Lotus and may be the best designer in the business):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36902822

Edited extra bit: he won't have much impact at the next team he goes to (assuming he does go to a new team) in the 2017 season, but for 2018, his presence would be a significant benefit.

rcs1000 said:

FPT:

HurstLlama said:

@John_M

"Goldman sounds as dodgy as fuck..."

What do you mean Goldman Sachs sounds as dodgy as fuck. This is the company that was caught out selling an investment whilst at the same time trading against it, so its value went down. It was also the company who conspired to fix the greek's books so that it appeared they qualified for Euro membership.

Goldman should have been run out of the City years ago.

The first criticism is an odd one. When someone sells you insurance they are selling you something, and then betting against it happening. There are hundreds of traders in Goldman's London office (and thousands worldwide), and they will have different positions, and different risks they need to hedge against. If I buy a product from Goldman Sachs (or Barclays Capital or UBS or Morgan Stanley) the chances of someone in that firm taking an opposite view to mine and 'trading against me' is close to 100%.

As regards the Greeks, yes that was pretty bad behaviour. Although I don't think all the blame should be laid at Goldman's door: ultimately, they were asked to do something by their clients, the Greek government, i.e., to find a way of issuing debt that would not be included in calculation of debt-to-GDP. How is that different from whichever consultant advised HM Treasury that PFI schemes enabled the government to spend money (and run up debts) that would not be included in the government debt-to-GDP numbers?

Goldman Sachs was fined $550 by the SEC for selling debt to one customer whilst arranging for another customer to profit from a fall in the value of that same debt.

See BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10656699

"The SEC charged Goldman with failing to disclose "vital information" that one of its clients, Paulson & Co, helped to choose which securities were packaged into a mortgage portfolio that was then sold to investors in 2007.

It claimed Goldman did not disclose that Paulson, one of the world's largest hedge funds, had bet that the value of the securities would fall.

The SEC alleged that investors in the mortgage securities, packaged into a vehicle called Abacus, lost more than $1bn (£650m) in the US housing market collapse.

All of that $1bn was then paid out to Paulson, who - unknown to the investors - stood on the other side of the deal as a "short" investor in the deal."

By lucky accident Smith has hit upon something to distract the press from the awfulness of his policy platform...

@GerriPeev: What did Owen Smith want for lunch? Fish and chips. Apparently he loves a good battering

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

Pulpstar said:

rottenborough said:

Owen Smith to build 300,000 homes a year in next Parliament. Yeh, right. 'Cos no one else has had the same aspiration in last twenty years.

I can get behind the more homes and more money for the NHS, but not sure about the IHT...

Building homes is great. But how? How is going to deliver this? Brown wanted to do it. Cameron wanted to do it.

Morris_Dancer said:

F1: surprising headline. James Allison has left Ferrari. He was their technical chief (did great things for Lotus and may be the best designer in the business):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36902822

Edited extra bit: he won't have much impact at the next team he goes to (assuming he does go to a new team) in the 2017 season, but for 2018, his presence would be a significant benefit.

I read somewhere else he wasn't going to be working full time for another team for a few years because of his family situation.

He might do some part time consulting for a British based team

Theuniondivvie said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Theuniondivvie said:

grabcocque said:

malcolmg said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

Not quite half the SNP score, but next year's Scottish council elections are going to be fun.

Still can't get over those Scottish YouGov leader ratings from yesterday

Tory fanboys wetting their pants on a subsample

It seems to be pretty much unarguable now that the Tories are the party on the march in Scotland, and are best placed to hoover up the SNP when their arrogance and incompetence finally smashes them on the rocks.

Let me guess, another 'expert' who couldn't name another SCon msp without a Google let alone identify any strength in depth among their ranks.

1 Scottish MSP other than Ruth Davidson follow me on twitter, so I can name at least one.

Queen's 11 Murdo or WATP Tomkins?

Professor Tomkins.

Dare I ask what 'WATP' means?

After herring this latest performance by Smith, I think I’ll vote for the haddock.

For those interested, my Total Politics article is up.

https://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/opinion/david-herdson-harold-wilson’s-‘moral-crusade’-has-been-re-invented-corbynites

F1: on Allison, seems his wife died recently, so it may be he wants to spend more time with his family.

rottenborough said:

Pulpstar said:

rottenborough said:

Owen Smith to build 300,000 homes a year in next Parliament. Yeh, right. 'Cos no one else has had the same aspiration in last twenty years.

I can get behind the more homes and more money for the NHS, but not sure about the IHT...

Building homes is great. But how? How is going to deliver this? Brown wanted to do it. Cameron wanted to do it.

I think there is alot both Brown and Cameron could do, but didn't. Ironically the posts of @Currystar seemed to indicate that housebuilding was really starting to pick up pre-Brexit

Personally I think a mix of LA and private is best - it's something that's best being non ideological about.

Ms Cyclefree,

Be fair to Jezza, he has some elements of being a UK Christian. He loves their enemies.

Unfortunately, he hates them and their friends

David_Evershed said:

rcs1000 said:

FPT:

HurstLlama said:

@John_M

"Goldman sounds as dodgy as fuck..."

What do you mean Goldman Sachs sounds as dodgy as fuck. This is the company that was caught out selling an investment whilst at the same time trading against it, so its value went down. It was also the company who conspired to fix the greek's books so that it appeared they qualified for Euro membership.

Goldman should have been run out of the City years ago.

The first criticism is an odd one. When someone sells you insurance they are selling you something, and then betting against it happening. There are hundreds of traders in Goldman's London office (and thousands worldwide), and they will have different positions, and different risks they need to hedge against. If I buy a product from Goldman Sachs (or Barclays Capital or UBS or Morgan Stanley) the chances of someone in that firm taking an opposite view to mine and 'trading against me' is close to 100%.

As regards the Greeks, yes that was pretty bad behaviour. Although I don't think all the blame should be laid at Goldman's door: ultimately, they were asked to do something by their clients, the Greek government, i.e., to find a way of issuing debt that would not be included in calculation of debt-to-GDP. How is that different from whichever consultant advised HM Treasury that PFI schemes enabled the government to spend money (and run up debts) that would not be included in the government debt-to-GDP numbers?

Goldman Sachs was fined $550 by the SEC for selling debt to one customer whilst arranging for another customer to profit from a fall in the value of that same debt.

See BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10656699

"The SEC charged Goldman with failing to disclose "vital information" that one of its clients, Paulson & Co, helped to choose which securities were packaged into a mortgage portfolio that was then sold to investors in 2007.

It claimed Goldman did not disclose that Paulson, one of the world's largest hedge funds, had bet that the value of the securities would fall.

The SEC alleged that investors in the mortgage securities, packaged into a vehicle called Abacus, lost more than $1bn (£650m) in the US housing market collapse.

All of that $1bn was then paid out to Paulson, who - unknown to the investors - stood on the other side of the deal as a "short" investor in the deal."

Yes; and they were rightly fined.

Back in 2007, demand for mortgage backed securities was so great, that banks were creating synthetic securities for investors.

Scott_P said:

@dlknowles: Labour MPs want to stop Jeremy Corbyn because they think he will win a general election, says Ken Livingstone:https://t.co/wOJ8IWF5Um

Of course! It was so obvious!

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

And now I know that Owen Smith thinks Theresa May is a WILF.

I thought she was a FLOTTILF...

Theuniondivvie said:

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

Dunno, but since 23 is less than half of 53, we must await breathlessly that second sign of the end of days.

I was using SNP arithmetic.....

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

And now I know that Owen Smith thinks Theresa May is a WILF.

I thought she was a FLOTTILF...

Is May's title First Lady of the Treasury, or does the title not change with a female Premier?

Philip_Thompson said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

And now I know that Owen Smith thinks Theresa May is a WILF.

I thought she was a FLOTTILF...

Is May's title First Lady of the Treasury, or does the title not change with a female Premier?

Nope, still the First Lord of the Treasury, same way with the Duke of Normandy regardless of whether the monarch is male or female

Philip_Thompson said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

And now I know that Owen Smith thinks Theresa May is a WILF.

I thought she was a FLOTTILF...

Is May's title First Lady of the Treasury, or does the title not change with a female Premier?

Mrs Thatcher was First Lord of the Treasury, so I don't think it changes.

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

rcs1000 said:

Cyclefree said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

When Owen Smith says he wants to smash Theresa May back on her heels, he's not meaning 'smash' in the urban dictionary sense is he?

Am I going to regret asking what "'smash' in the urban dictionary sense" means?

Yes

I like to help educate Cyclefree for her job, thanks to me, she now knows why so many of the staff she regulates change at Baker Street

And now I know that Owen Smith thinks Theresa May is a WILF.

See thanks to me, not only do you get excellent betting advice, political analysis, pop music references, science knowledge, subtle puns, and a deeper understanding of how the youth speaks these days.

malcolmg said:

CarlottaVance said:

Scottish Tory Surge Klaxon

Westminster voting intention (Scotland n=154)
Con: 23
Lab: 11
LibD: 3
UKIP: 6
SNP: 53

I know its a subsample, but have the Tories ever been more than double Labour (and more than half the SNP(!)) before?

LOL, frothers are down to using subsamples now, you used to get banned on here for that when it was not Tories

It is clearly a joke when people show the subsamples - it is amusing and harmless. You can tell when someone is being overly serious about it.

MonikerDiCanio said:

It's a shame to see PB descend into the anti-Corbyn gutter. Your recent record is tainting past glories.

It's going to the gutter to reflect general pundit opinion on Corbyn? Maybe it is totally off base and there is a hidden groundswell of support for the man, but sometimes mainstream thought is mainstream for a reason.


This will come off as rank hypocrisy, but some people get way too worked up about political opinions, even on this place.