politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Pulpstar on the Republican Nomination

kle4 said:

Speedy said:

kle4 said:

Maybe it's just me, but are stories about politicians having affairs really 'sleaze' scandals, unless there is something else about the affair that makes it sleazy? Frankly, while I don't approve of breaking marriage vows, if they are good enough at their actual job, I cannot say I'd let that personal failing influence my vote any. I feel like true sleaze stories would not be so easily overlooked.

It's always the hypocrisy:
Labour MP's taking bribes while preaching economic equality, Tory MP's in sex scandals while preaching moral virtue.

Yes, I suppose, if the person committing the affair is a moralising type, that would make it more relevant. Do either of these two fit the bill?

Speedy said:

kle4 said:

Speedy said:

kle4 said:

Maybe it's just me, but are stories about politicians having affairs really 'sleaze' scandals, unless there is something else about the affair that makes it sleazy? Frankly, while I don't approve of breaking marriage vows, if they are good enough at their actual job, I cannot say I'd let that personal failing influence my vote any. I feel like true sleaze stories would not be so easily overlooked.

It's always the hypocrisy:
Labour MP's taking bribes while preaching economic equality, Tory MP's in sex scandals while preaching moral virtue.

Yes, I suppose, if the person committing the affair is a moralising type, that would make it more relevant. Do either of these two fit the bill?

Well Lopresti voted against gay marriage, so it's only a matter of time to find a speech of him praising traditional marriage.
http://www.representativedemocracy.org.uk/mps-who-listened-to-you/

More like saving traditional infidelity.

Tim_B said:

Dair said:

flightpath01 said:

Dair said:

Pong said:

Meh.

Andy Murray 361,446
Kevin Sinfield 278,353
Jessica Ennis-Hill 79,898
Tyson Fury 72,330
Lewis Hamilton 48,379
Chris Froome 39,007
Mo Farah 31,311
Max Whitlock 25,925
Greg Rutherford 23,492
Lizzie Armitstead 22,356
Adam Peaty 13,738
Lucy Bronze 13,236

The market overestimated Ennis but otherwise was pretty much on the money.

This tallies with what I said in September about Ennis having no real chance. The market hugely overpriced her.

If the BBC had the regular superleague season (and not SKY) as well as the Challenge Cup and internationals (although Sinfeld had retired) then Sinfield would have probably won!
O'Loughlin's try in the first test against NZ was worth an award in anyones book.

The BBC have little top live sport and given the pathetic performance of local rugby union and the pointlessness of professional footballers (and the collapse of Hamilton after winning his title) then the big difference in votes between 2nd and the rest is not surprising. (Athletics is far too tied up with chemistry anyway) They have never been heard of by the voting public.

Plus Clare Balding has gone on record as wishing for Sinfield as the son she never had...

You don't have to persuade me as to the merits of League, it is by far the better sport compared to all it's comparative versions. But it is still a tiny, minority sport played in three countries (and that is being VERY generous with how much New Zealand is an RL country).

I wish, truly, it were otherwise. But it isn't.

League was on the BBC for decades and failed to grow. It's not really grown much since Superleague but it's probably benefited to some degree both from the additional money and from a slightly wider profile that the BBC never gave it but Sky have.

If Eddie Waring couldn't raise League's profile then nobody can. He was hilariously mimicked by Graeme Garden in the 70s.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

MikeL said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MikeL said:

Who did we actually beat in the Davis Cup?

Federer and Wawrinka didn't play for Switzerland.

We just beat a whole pile of no hopers in a competition nobody else could even be bothered with.

No DJOKOVIC either.

Indeed - it's a complete farce - illustrated by GB beating a Belgium team in the final with nobody who anyone had ever heard of.

Stop dissing Belgium.

I love Belgium, a nation invented to get up the nose of the French.

What's not to love about the Belgians?

But over one-third of the population speak French!

flightpath01 said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

flightpath01 said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

flightpath01 said:

Don't forget the lace, there is always the lace.
Yes but apart from the battlefields and the chocolates and the beer what have...
The Menin Gate!
Of course the Menin Gate, thats a given. But... apart from the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and lace and the Menin...
Eddie Merckx!
Er...
Yes and Audrey Hepburn...
Well of course there's Audrey Hepburn, but apart from...
Potato Chips!
Eh?
They invented potato chips.
All right then, but... apart from Sprouts and the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and the lace and the Menin Gate and Eddie Mercks and Audrey Hepburn and potato chips...! What have the Belgians ever done for us!

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen can't climb a speed bump. He doen't count.

There's plenty of uphill bits in the classics. He's done alright in those.

I'm afraid the best bit of toilet graffiti I have ever seen (not least for its dedication and earnestness) was 'Eddie Mercks is God!'
Boonen cannot compete with that.

I didn't say he could.
Your list was about what Belgians have achieved.
Tom Boonen is certainly a worthy addition to that list.

Am I being taken too seriously? There was I thinking that if I could perfect my soft shoe shuffle I could overtake Alan Johnson in the betting for next labour leader.

I am still annoyed I forgot the waffles.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

MikeL said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MikeL said:

Who did we actually beat in the Davis Cup?

Federer and Wawrinka didn't play for Switzerland.

We just beat a whole pile of no hopers in a competition nobody else could even be bothered with.

No DJOKOVIC either.

Indeed - it's a complete farce - illustrated by GB beating a Belgium team in the final with nobody who anyone had ever heard of.

Stop dissing Belgium.

I love Belgium, a nation invented to get up the nose of the French.

What's not to love about the Belgians?

But over one-third of the population speak French!

I can speak French.

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

flightpath01 said:

Don't forget the lace, there is always the lace.
Yes but apart from the battlefields and the chocolates and the beer what have...
The Menin Gate!
Of course the Menin Gate, thats a given. But... apart from the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and lace and the Menin...
Eddie Merckx!
Er...
Yes and Audrey Hepburn...
Well of course there's Audrey Hepburn, but apart from...
Potato Chips!
Eh?
They invented potato chips.
All right then, but... apart from Sprouts and the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and the lace and the Menin Gate and Eddie Mercks and Audrey Hepburn and potato chips...! What have the Belgians ever done for us!

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen can't climb a speed bump. He doen't count.

There's plenty of uphill bits in the classics. He's done alright in those.

He hasn't won a classic in 3 years, he;s over, finished and never made a breakthrough in a proper race. He had the chance in his early career to shed the weight and do what Wiggins or Thomas has done and convert from classics man to a proper bike race. He refused.

Of course the stupid Belgians are happy with that, given how poor their recent record has been. But in all honesty, of their generation, Gilbert is the better man.

But that wasn't the question.
The question was about Belgians generally.
Boonen fits the criteria.

MikeL said:

Pong said:

Meh.

Andy Murray 361,446
Kevin Sinfield 278,353
Jessica Ennis-Hill 79,898
Tyson Fury 72,330
Lewis Hamilton 48,379
Chris Froome 39,007
Mo Farah 31,311
Max Whitlock 25,925
Greg Rutherford 23,492
Lizzie Armitstead 22,356
Adam Peaty 13,738
Lucy Bronze 13,236

Which confirms nobody cares less about the Olympic sports.

Ennis-Hill surprisingly low and Sinfield polled very well indeed.

I would happily bet that Gerrard would have been in the top 3 if nominated.

Dair said:

flightpath01 said:

Dair said:

flightpath01 said:

Dair said:

Pong said:

Meh.

Andy Murray 361,446
Kevin Sinfield 278,353
Jessica Ennis-Hill 79,898
Tyson Fury 72,330
Lewis Hamilton 48,379
Chris Froome 39,007
Mo Farah 31,311
Max Whitlock 25,925
Greg Rutherford 23,492
Lizzie Armitstead 22,356
Adam Peaty 13,738
Lucy Bronze 13,236

The market overestimated Ennis but otherwise was pretty much on the money.

This tallies with what I said in September about Ennis having no real chance. The market hugely overpriced her.

If the BBC had the regular superleague season (and not SKY) as well as the Challenge Cup and internationals (although Sinfeld had retired) then Sinfield would have probably won!
O'Loughlin's try in the first test against NZ was worth an award in anyones book.

The BBC have little top live sport and given the pathetic performance of local rugby union and the pointlessness of professional footballers (and the collapse of Hamilton after winning his title) then the big difference in votes between 2nd and the rest is not surprising. (Athletics is far too tied up with chemistry anyway) They have never been heard of by the voting public.

Plus Clare Balding has gone on record as wishing for Sinfield as the son she never had...

You don't have to persuade me as to the merits of League, it is by far the better sport compared to all it's comparative versions. But it is still a tiny, minority sport played in three countries (and that is being VERY generous with how much New Zealand is an RL country).

I wish, truly, it were otherwise. But it isn't.

League was on the BBC for decades and failed to grow. It's not really grown much since Superleague but it's probably benefited to some degree both from the additional money and from a slightly wider profile that the BBC never gave it but Sky have.

My main point is how little sport outside the Olympics and Wimbledon the BBC has. A lot of name recognition is zero.
The BBC do follow the RL regular season with a highlights programme which will have given Sinfield some exposure (as well as that he has been a fixture for over 10 years).
RL is the national winter sport in Australia.

In Scotland you have to watch the RL on iPlayer.

but outside of that, i think you are wrong. Tennis is on Eurosport, not the BBC and Eurosport has far more coverage of Tennis than the BBC, Athletics is the same, RL is on Sky predominantly and fourth place Fury is on PPV.

The BBC is pretty much irrelevant for sport these days, Triathlon, umm, the football highlights, umm, it really isn't a sports channel any more.

Pulpstar said:

Remember the market had Jess Ennis Hill as odds on for a good while.

DoubleCarpet said:

Thanks all for the Spanish updates - will be interesting to see how things unfold now.

All pretty much counted in 4 hours - only Madrid had electronic voting, everywhere else was paper ballots, and like most democracies apart from UK/Ireland/India/Japan, counting was done at the polling stations which is why it was so fast. That said, Spain is probably the fastest-counting major country which doesn't have nationwide electronic voting.

kle4 said:

Speedy said:

kle4 said:

Maybe it's just me, but are stories about politicians having affairs really 'sleaze' scandals, unless there is something else about the affair that makes it sleazy? Frankly, while I don't approve of breaking marriage vows, if they are good enough at their actual job, I cannot say I'd let that personal failing influence my vote any. I feel like true sleaze stories would not be so easily overlooked.

It's always the hypocrisy:
Labour MP's taking bribes while preaching economic equality, Tory MP's in sex scandals while preaching moral virtue.

Yes, I suppose, if the person committing the affair is a moralising type, that would make it more relevant. Do either of these two fit the bill?

Dair said:

Are you Belgian?

Mercx was a heavy user of PEDs and much like Kelly his transition from Sprinter/Classics to Grand Tour was entirely based on his drug regiment.

Choosing a cycling hero in the 60, 70s, 80s, 90s or early 2000s will always choose a drug cheat. You have to choose other values and other achievements. Personally, I'd go with Joop,.

NickPalmer said:

Curious tweet from the Cs leader:

“From the new political centre, it’ll be easier to talk to those who don’t think like us.”

Pulpstar said:

So what is the next Spanish Gov't ?

Pulpstar said:

MikeL said:

Pong said:

Meh.

Andy Murray 361,446
Kevin Sinfield 278,353
Jessica Ennis-Hill 79,898
Tyson Fury 72,330
Lewis Hamilton 48,379
Chris Froome 39,007
Mo Farah 31,311
Max Whitlock 25,925
Greg Rutherford 23,492
Lizzie Armitstead 22,356
Adam Peaty 13,738
Lucy Bronze 13,236

Which confirms nobody cares less about the Olympic sports.

Ennis-Hill surprisingly low and Sinfield polled very well indeed.

I would happily bet that Gerrard would have been in the top 3 if nominated.

Who is Gerrard ?

If you're talking about Stephen Gerrard, no idea why he should be in the running for SPOTY this year.

Dair said:

NickPalmer said:

Curious tweet from the Cs leader:

“From the new political centre, it’ll be easier to talk to those who don’t think like us.”

As I predicted, Citizen's will group with the Left to block out the Free People in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, etc.

The political class are an evil organisation, only there to prevent the people from making a choice.

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

flightpath01 said:

Don't forget the lace, there is always the lace.
Yes but apart from the battlefields and the chocolates and the beer what have...
The Menin Gate!
Of course the Menin Gate, thats a given. But... apart from the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and lace and the Menin...
Eddie Merckx!
Er...
Yes and Audrey Hepburn...
Well of course there's Audrey Hepburn, but apart from...
Potato Chips!
Eh?
They invented potato chips.
All right then, but... apart from Sprouts and the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and the lace and the Menin Gate and Eddie Mercks and Audrey Hepburn and potato chips...! What have the Belgians ever done for us!

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen can't climb a speed bump. He doen't count.

There's plenty of uphill bits in the classics. He's done alright in those.

He hasn't won a classic in 3 years, he;s over, finished and never made a breakthrough in a proper race. He had the chance in his early career to shed the weight and do what Wiggins or Thomas has done and convert from classics man to a proper bike race. He refused.

Of course the stupid Belgians are happy with that, given how poor their recent record has been. But in all honesty, of their generation, Gilbert is the better man.

But that wasn't the question.
The question was about Belgians generally.
Boonen fits the criteria.

The question was about positive Belgians. Of which Boonen is not one. He's like JJ Abrams Star Wars. Forget something good, just a play it safe remake without taking any chances.

HYUFD said:

flightpath01 said:

HYUFD said:

HurstLlama said:

Cromwell said:

...

In the age of TV politics , appearance and ''likability '' is crucial

If that is true then how do explain Hilary Clinton?

Hillary is the Democrats Nixon, she may well end up lucky in her opponents, just as Nixon probably would have lost to Bobby Kennedy in 1968 had he faced him rather than Hubert Humphrey and then George McGovern, so Hillary is lucky in that she may face Trump and Cruz rather than Rubio. 8 years earlier facing the charismatic and likeable JFK Nixon was narrowly beaten, just as in 2008 Hillary lost to the more likeable and charismatic Obama

Tyson Fury could have beaten McGovern, but HH was easily as well respected a Democrat as RFK.

Being respected is not the same as being charismatic and while HH ran Nixon close polls showed Bobby Kennedy would have beaten Nixon

flightpath01 said:

HYUFD said:

flightpath01 said:

HYUFD said:

HurstLlama said:

Cromwell said:

...

In the age of TV politics , appearance and ''likability '' is crucial

If that is true then how do explain Hilary Clinton?

Hillary is the Democrats Nixon, she may well end up lucky in her opponents, just as Nixon probably would have lost to Bobby Kennedy in 1968 had he faced him rather than Hubert Humphrey and then George McGovern, so Hillary is lucky in that she may face Trump and Cruz rather than Rubio. 8 years earlier facing the charismatic and likeable JFK Nixon was narrowly beaten, just as in 2008 Hillary lost to the more likeable and charismatic Obama

Tyson Fury could have beaten McGovern, but HH was easily as well respected a Democrat as RFK.

Being respected is not the same as being charismatic and while HH ran Nixon close polls showed Bobby Kennedy would have beaten Nixon

Fair points if a bit obvious and perhaps a bit over optimistic. But the other obvious point was that Kennedy had not got the nomination when he was assassinated. Would he?

But leaving aside comparisons - it is indeed clear that Hilary is going to be lucky in her opponent, whoever it may be.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

Dair said:

Hertsmere_Pubgoer said:

flightpath01 said:

Don't forget the lace, there is always the lace.
Yes but apart from the battlefields and the chocolates and the beer what have...
The Menin Gate!
Of course the Menin Gate, thats a given. But... apart from the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and lace and the Menin...
Eddie Merckx!
Er...
Yes and Audrey Hepburn...
Well of course there's Audrey Hepburn, but apart from...
Potato Chips!
Eh?
They invented potato chips.
All right then, but... apart from Sprouts and the chocolates and the battlefields and the beer and the lace and the Menin Gate and Eddie Mercks and Audrey Hepburn and potato chips...! What have the Belgians ever done for us!

Tom Boonen

Tom Boonen can't climb a speed bump. He doen't count.

There's plenty of uphill bits in the classics. He's done alright in those.

He hasn't won a classic in 3 years, he;s over, finished and never made a breakthrough in a proper race. He had the chance in his early career to shed the weight and do what Wiggins or Thomas has done and convert from classics man to a proper bike race. He refused.

Of course the stupid Belgians are happy with that, given how poor their recent record has been. But in all honesty, of their generation, Gilbert is the better man.

But that wasn't the question.
The question was about Belgians generally.
Boonen fits the criteria.

The question was about positive Belgians. Of which Boonen is not one. He's like JJ Abrams Star Wars. Forget something good, just a play it safe remake without taking any chances.

YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! It was said that you would destroy the Prequels, not join them! Bring balance to the Franchise, not leave it in darkness!

Pong said:

Pretty shitty day to be gay in Slovenia.

http://www.politico.eu/article/slovenia-says-no-to-gay-marriage-lgbt-lgbti-rights/

Referendums on minority rights ain't the way forward.

BigRich said:

MikeL said:

Worth noting that the total electorate of Spain has gone down by well over 1 million in the last 4 years.

ie total of voters + abstentions.

http://resultadosgenerales2015.interior.es/congreso/#/ES201512-CON-ES/ES

I hadn't spotted that,t have just checked, and when you include the reduction in the number of spooned ballet papers the difference increases to almost 1.5 Million, (from 36,430,507 to 35,023,510(+11,533 still to count))

Some may be to emigration with the bad economy, some may be demographics (falling birth rates 20/30 years ago = less voters now) bet even so this seems a lot of people, I wonder if there have been any changes to the rules on who could vote?

MikeL said:

BigRich said:

MikeL said:

Worth noting that the total electorate of Spain has gone down by well over 1 million in the last 4 years.

ie total of voters + abstentions.

http://resultadosgenerales2015.interior.es/congreso/#/ES201512-CON-ES/ES

I hadn't spotted that,t have just checked, and when you include the reduction in the number of spooned ballet papers the difference increases to almost 1.5 Million, (from 36,430,507 to 35,023,510(+11,533 still to count))

Some may be to emigration with the bad economy, some may be demographics (falling birth rates 20/30 years ago = less voters now) bet even so this seems a lot of people, I wonder if there have been any changes to the rules on who could vote?

Blank / spoiled ballot papers are in the total of voters.

Votes for parties add up to 24,927,000.

Blank / spoilt = 415,000

Total voters = 25,342,000

(As at 99.97% counted)