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The picture above is from ConHome’s regular polling on the next Tory leader from October 2015, Osborne would lead for five months in a row, yet he failed to become David Cameron’s successor.
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And the second favourite, and the third favourite...
Maudling 1965
Butler (twice) 1957 and 1963
Hailsham 1963 (arguably)
Halifax (arguably) 1940
Curzon 1923
Austen Chamberlain (although he was successful later) 1911
Stafford Northcote 1881-85
The favourite has succeeded on the following occasions since Derby in 1846:
Disraeli 1868
Balfour 1902
Austen Chamberlain at the second attempt in 1921
Neville Chamberlain in 1937
Antony Eden in 1955
The latter list have in common that with the partial exception of the first they were all disastrous failures.
In Tory terms, electing the favourite doesn't work.
We simply don't have a strike bowler. Broad and Anderson have bowled tidily, but often a foot too short; Overton is a decent third seamer; Ali is a wicket taking threat when on form, but in this test, like the last, is nowhere near that - Root has bowled better.
Australia have correctly worked out that if they are patient, they can grind out substantial scores - and accelerate when England's heads drop.
And they have a half way decent set of bowlers. They are also probably a bowler short, and if our openers could stick around long enough to tire them, we too could grind out some decent totals (though Lyon has looked a far better spinner than Ali)... but see above comment about Cook.
The challenge is not difficult - it is just that the EU are rightly scared to death that the moment we leave we will become far more efficient by ditching all the pointless regulation on which the EU is so obsessed. So they will try and force us to comply with their regulations even though that is not appropriate for an FTA. If they want to offer us quasi-SM membership it is reasonable to insist that we follow common standards. But if a CETA FTA is all that is on offer, their demands should be refused. Shame our Government has not got the courage to say no.
A 50/1 leadership tip coming off? That's not very likely.
F1: my post-season review, complete with lovely graphs, is up here:
http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/2017-post-season-review.html
Although I think I was unlucky multiple times this season (more than average. Maybe that's just because I finished behind, but still), the extra stats I collected did seem useful.
But there's very little interest in any significant group in diverging standards. Industry think they're a nuisance ("all our products now have to satisfy two different sets of regs? Ugh."). Ministers don't AFAIK have many particular differences in mind that they are longing to achieve. And voters think this is technical stuff. The only political element to it is who determines that the standards are still the same, and a political deal is needed to satisfy Brexiteers that the answer to that is not the European Court of Justice.
Mind you, PBUG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) isn't even finished yet and has millions, if not tens of millions, of regular players.
What price was Jezza in 2015??
Games and esports can be useful in some surprising ways. A bug with World of Warcraft that effectively created a plague led to a wide variety of player behaviour that was actually useful to scientists. Some players isolated themselves to avoid infecting others, whilst some deliberately tried to spread the disease.
I recall a few years ago, Nissan ran a similar competition with the first prize a season’s contract to race their real GT car. That winner was Jann Mardenborough, who a decade later is still a top GT racer.
It's hardly perfect grammar and I think it's wrong but it would make sense
More seriously I think any current price for Corbyn as next PM is too long. There has to be (a) an unexpected election that the Tories cannot install a replacement for - which would in a real emergency take one week - and (b) he has to win. The odds of the first happening cannot be more than 1 in 10 and the second is a fifty/fifty shot at best.
That October 2015 poll of Tory members proved to be pretty accurate given May was already the leading candidate of those who actually stood for the leadership in June 2016.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5053804/meghan-markle-will-make-royal-family-modern-say-brits/
The reason that FTAs never have any trouble with disputes is that they are always referred to an independent arbitrator but as they largely relate to product standards they are not that hard to resolve. But the EU are planning to try and hold the UK within their overall regulatory framework, not just product standards, and that will require them to involve the ECJ. The fight over ECJ for citizens is just a precursor for the real fight over regulatory control. If you follow what Barnier is saying, it is quite clear.
Is Hunt today the betting Thatcher of 1975?
The research, from Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH) and Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN), found that Samut Sakhon had the highest levels of dioxin contamination. The level of contaminants known as polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PBDD/Fs) was 33 times higher than European Union standards, Meanwhile, 46 per cent and 55 per cent respectively of fruit and vegetables were found to contain pesticides and herbicides.
Ref https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1014186-study-finds-high-pesticide-levels-in-local-food/?utm_source=newsletter-20171203-0915&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news
Just saying.
No, I don't pass the cricket test. I still support England (God knows why) not really because I cannot transfer allegiances, but because the Australian cricket team are so unlikeable, something that most Australians also concede. But, as I am not an Australian citizen, I still get to choose.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5054361/top-tories-tell-theresa-may-to-give-brexit-divorce-bill-ultimatum/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=380Mh4jqs14
It's hard not to feel quite a bit of respect for Harry. He's already clocked up one big achievement, with his Invictus Games, and he's probably doing more than any other Royal to support and promote the Commonwealth overseas.
Oh, and Essex for county cricket.
Early + last night x (too much gin + a bottle of barolo I found in the cupboard) = not getting it this morning.
Apols.
Thatcher simply filled the gap left by Joseph's withdrawal, had Joseph stood he may well have won and would have had Thatcher's backing, Joseph was already a very close third favourite then.
F1: just idly checking the market, and seen some small changes. Shortening in Bottas' price (now 9 on Betfair Exchange) and lengthening of Verstappen/Alonso. Could be just statistical bobbling, might indicate doubts over the Renault engine.
I'm a fan of bringing back the magic circle now.
I get the feeling you'd back Hunt over those two?
Sweden has the highest projected at 21%, then France at 17% then the UK at 16%.
Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have the least projected at under 0.5%.
https://mobile.twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/937258767707754496
There is no Catch 22. Under FTAs, you agree product standards and very, very high level limitations on anti-competitive behaviour (eg dumping) - you do NOT try and tie in your trading partners to your internal social, environmental and economic policies. But, make no mistake, that is what the EUI intend to do with the UK, mainly because they know that May will never walk away.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-01/corbyn-heads-to-portugal-as-u-k-labour-develops-ties-with-eu
It is a commoner, and of mixed ethnicity, that makes her most interesting. It is a fundamental modernisation of the basis of Monarchy. Monarchy, like all Aristocracy, is based on bloodline and the explicit idea that inheritance matters. Monarchy is the antithesis of self improvement and meritocracy.
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9mSs3dY0SNazR0AUQdB4iA5;_ylu=X3oDMTByMWk2OWNtBGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1512325593/RO=10/RU=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/world/europe/uk-royal-wedding-harry-meghan-markle.html/RK=2/RS=ajJTTeXj4ylAaharialcWzVOIBs-
http://commentcentral.co.uk/the-dummies-guide-to-negotiating-with-the-eu/
I've dropped Damian an email asking for an ETA and the client.
Mr. Sandpit (2), interesting idea on WTO, but can't see May doing that.