politicalbetting.com

At the weekend I got my “booster” jab and unlike my earlier two vaccinations, it was the Pfizer one and not Astrazeneca which was given to tens of millions of Brits like me in the first waves of the vaccination programme. Having a genetic condition that has led to two pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lung) in the past I have been very aware of the risks posed by COVID and have been ultra-careful in my behaviour. I know…

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One thing that we know is almost a certainty – that the decade’s biggest current betting market by far will be on who will be elected President in November 2024. Even with three years to go the betting is pretty active with the money piling on Trump who has made it clear that he would like to be the nominee next time. Although Jo Biden is in second place in the betting it is very difficult seeing him wanting or…

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A few weeks ago I wrote about the Smarkets market on whether the government would reimpose covid restrictions before the new year. The market, put up shortly prior to the end of restrictions in July, is called ‘Any Covid restrictions to be re-introduced in England during 2021‘. The ‘subheading’ then reads ‘Will the government re-introduce any legally enforceable restrictions on social contact in England before the end of 2021?‘ There have been three clarifications in the detailed rules provided by…

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Thanks to leading political academic, Paula Sturridge, for highlighting this – what those who told pollsters six months before an election actually did on the day. Based on the extensive British Electoral Study data she has produced the above chart which really is quite revealing. People might say they are going Green six months before polling day but a majority in the case of each of the three elections did not end up voting for the Green Party. The reason,…

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Since 1979, British governments have tended to hold elections in the Spring.  According to Nigel Lawson’s memoirs, this was because Mrs Thatcher, having won in the Spring of 1979, thought that May and June were her lucky months, but subsequent Prime Ministers continued the practice.  Of the last 11 elections, only one (the most recent) was not held in April, May or June.  Subject to the five-year limit, the Prime Minister controlled the timing of the elections until the passage…

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In one or two posts this week I have been critical of Tory MPs for, in the main, not wearing masks in the chamber. Well things seem to be moving but why has it taken so long? Let us hope that in the meantime none of the earlier maskless Tories has caught COVID. Mike Smithson