This afternoon I interviewed Mike Smithson, the creater of Political Betting.com, about his website and his new book The Political Punter, which comes out shortly. I know very little about political betting so anything which helps me understand it is very welcome. Mike's a lovely man and it was a fascinating 30 minutes. The show can be viewed HERE and you can pre-order his book HERE..
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Political Betting for Dummies
This afternoon I interviewed Mike Smithson, the creater of Political Betting.com, about his website and his new book The Political Punter, which comes out shortly. I know very little about political betting so anything which helps me understand it is very welcome. Mike's a lovely man and it was a fascinating 30 minutes. The show can be viewed HERE and you can pre-order his book HERE..
What? Nothing about Dave Cameron cheating the tax paper out of cash and getting censured?
ReplyDeletePresumably you have a post on the way about this story?
Keir Hardie...
ReplyDeleteThat's not fair, Iain has shown his disgust many times for cash-for-access incidents, and I expect he is typing out a firm rebuke right about now.
How dare you imply hypocrisy? Unbelievable
I wouldn't bet on it... ho ho ho
ReplyDeleteNo, nor would I. I'm sure it will be covered on plenty of anti-Tory blogs. David Cameron has issued a full apology, something you very rarely get from Labour politicians when they have been censured by Sir Philip - remember Byers et al...
ReplyDeleteIain - guess who's on Question Time tonight.
ReplyDeleteI bet you can hardly wait
Iain - guess who's on Question Time tonight.
ReplyDeleteI bet you can hardly wait . . .
Iain's favourite lady
Cameron's whole life, Eton, Oxford, the Tory Party, funding the 2005 campaign and now the Leader's Office is one long tale of cash for access.
ReplyDeleteI hope in private that Iain has the decency to condemn this as he condemns Labour in public.
I admire loyalty, just make sure it doesn't start to smell like hypocrisy.
Iain,
ReplyDeleteShame on you for not including something on David Camemoron's rebuke. Although your colours are nailed to the mast, I though that you were capable of a bit of balance.
one suspects that Iain is still holding out for a seat and a job on the front bench (I hope in opposition) after the next election.
ReplyDeleteGive the man a job!
Hope you're not turning into the Tory version of the New labour pager drones, blindly loyal to the party leader...
by the way Iain,
ReplyDeletesorry to go off message but any thoughts on the bloggers code of conduct?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6502643.stm
I condemn 'cash for access' wherever it happens. But I am not going to take lessons from anyone on this. I stood at the last election with 10 promises of how I would conduct myself in Parliament. I was the only Tory candidate to do it and got a lot of flack for it. I regret not a bit of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind people having a bit of a flutter on elections, but it is worrying when it becomes the subject of growing businesses.
ReplyDeleteI have a contact at a major betting company who says that the reason Chris Huhne suddenly became a prospect in the LibDem leadership race was because his supporters backed him heavily on the betting sites, and the media took the bait.
I'm not talking about the end of the world, but I am concerned that if this grew it has the potential to skew the debate.
Ah yes, North Norfolk - that would be the Conservative Association that received large sums of money from Michael Ashcroft whilst you were the candidate Iain, failed to declare them and then got told off by the Electoral Commission for breaking the law.
ReplyDeleteDear Iain,
ReplyDeletelooking at this exchange about not posting on David Cameron’s lunch club, your response looks reasonable. However, I support the sentiments of Anonymous 8:28 in urging you to ensure that you remain reasonably balanced.
You are quite open about your political affiliation which I respect and you seem to have a cross-party readership. You are clearly not impartial, but I like your blog because you generally keep a balance and sense of fairness that keeps your blog interesting to non-Tory readers like me,
Lambasting Labour sleaze (quite rightly) and then ignoring indiscretion from Conservatives is not balanced.
Should I find an anti-tory blog to read about this?
all the best
MAC
Have begun to read the articles but no longer the comments on this blog, I thought I'd give it another chance but this has just reminded me why - they're now just full of people who think they run the internet.
ReplyDeleteGo off and start your own blogs if you think your views are that important!
(It saves time by not reading them though).
Excellent interview of Mr Smithson, Ian. Congratulations and thanks.
ReplyDeleteIain - this is your blog, my son.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIt was via politicalbetting.com that I first stumbled across this blog. At that time I would read Mike Smithson's excellent pieces almost every day and I remember you being a regular contributor in the comments section, Iain.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we were poles apart politically, I always felt a certain affinity with Tony Banks and when he died you kindly referred me, on pb.com, to a couple of his humurous books, which I bought from Politicos at remaindered prices if I remember correctly - where the P&P was actually twice the cost of the paperbacks!
Subsequently I tired of pb.com - this had nothing whatsoever to do with Mike's tireless efforts, but rather to a very cliquey bunch of posters who came to dominate the comments section for up to 18 hours a day, commenting on anything under the sun except political betting!
I've returned there recently - a number of the same boring old farts are still there, but thankfully there is a great deal more betting input now, which is after all what it's supposed to be about!
This happy turnabout has happened not least as a result of the contributions of the likes of Peter the Punter, who I see has commented above.
Iain - hope to see you at Mike's book launch party for pb.comers next month.
Iain - That was an intriguing interview with Mr Smithson. And you asked all the questions I would have asked myself.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he has any opinions on the US primaries.
Verity -
ReplyDeleteThere's lots of views on pb.com on the US political scene.
I have an interest myself from a betting perspective, as I see a complete outsider having a real chance of winning the Republican nomination ....now who could I have in mind??
Peter from Putney - Gosh, I don't know. I can't identify any dark horses so far.
ReplyDeleteIt's not going to be Guiliani. Jeb Bush can't run this time. McCain is steady, but isn't gaining support.
I don't know who your dark horse is.
Verity -
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about Sam Brownback both on this blog (I think) and elsewhere. The view was that he is very charasmatic and has all the necessary political skills and that if he can just get his campaign running, then the sky is the limit.
On the strengh of such comments, I rushed off to Betfair and put a few quid on him at 25-1 to win the Republication nomination.
How do you rate his chances - please tell me I haven't thrown my money doen the pan!
He's a senator. In the main, I am opposed to senators because they don't have the administrative experience of a CE.
ReplyDeleteI want to see a Rep second-term governor emerge.
...... or on that basis, maybe a Reaganesque style Governor would fit the bill perfectly - should one exist. It's probably too late now for a new face to emerge.
ReplyDeleteVerity
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter from Putney that the Republican race is open to an outsider coming through late. Brownback is a good call. Another possibility is Fred Thompson, who has been well supported in the betting market recently.
US elections are discussed regularly on PB.com , as PfP indicated. Please visit the site some time. I think you will find it informative and, on the whole, friendly and welcoming.