A Blunkett market at last
December 1st, 2004William Hill are offering odds 7/2 against David Blunkett ceasing to be Home Secretary by January 1 2005. As yet the market is not available online.
The price seems tempting.
MessageSpace Advertising
MessageSpace Advertising
At last - we need two way markets so we can lay. C\’mon bookies, lets have some fun!
Looks like a trip to Hills for me in the morning then…though I hadnt read this post thoroughly and thought they\’d pulled the market when I couldn\’t see it on Hills\’ online site!
Hills often do this - announce a market and then don\’t put it online. I had vowed not to cover them but given the lack of any betting opportunity on Blunkett I thought it worth recording.
If the market is offline only, does that also mean they won\’t accept big bets on it?
If those odds are still available I would certainly do it… can it be done over the phone?
Utter nonsense. That\’s a terrible price - two reasons: first, Blunkett\’s complete ease in calling for an \”independent inquiry\” and Alan Budd\’s remit; secondly, the fact that other fast-tracked applicants within the same timeframe are already appearing (anyone see skynews around 1630ish yesterday??).
Unless the odds get a LOT better, forget about it. Blunkett ain\’t going anywhere.
I think the Mail\’s story this morning changes things… place your bets.
I agree. No independent inquiry is going to rule anything other than that Mr. Blunkett is \”a man of unblemished reputation \” (as Cantley J described Jeremy Thorpe.)
Good post on your blog Guido. I think he will end up going as the details drip in. Frustratingly, I don\’t think he will admit impropriety but talk of the \”stress of constant media intrusion\” or something like that.
The market is available online now. It looks an absolute steal at 7/2, I have to say. I just piled on.
I hope Sean\’s comment was ironic. If Blunkett\’s reputation is as unblemished as Jeremy Thorpe\’s was he would struggle to get re-elected. The court of public opinion is not nearly is forgiving as the criminal version.
I\’m in online too. I thought of funding it by bidding on item 4 here:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=588730
but I wouldn\’t do that for only £1,500.
I\’ll reiterate - already people have been found who have been fast-tracked in a similar fashion. All Blunkett has to do is confirm the statement he made outside the Passport Centre, that there were a number of people who received one letter then received a contradictory one. I\’m not discounting some aspects of the Mail story (telling is the fact that one usually has to be redient in the country for a full four years before indefinite leave is granted), but I simply don\’t believe they are strong enough to come into play. And certainly not at those odds.
But the trouble with that is that you could have used a similar argument to predict Mandelson would not have gone over the Hinduja affair. Even if the nanny had met the visa criteria, even if a mistake was made with the letters - would Blunkett have pursued the case with such admirable diligence if it didn\’t concern his lover?
And what to make of \”I\’ll see what I can do - I have a friend\”? \”I have a friend who\’s Home Secretary, so he\’ll be jolly good at helping us fill in a form?\”
Book value,
The difference between Mandy and Blunkett is that, although B is no friend of the press, he certainly isnt the figure of hatred that Mandy was. The hacks and broadcasters smelt blood, and they went with it. This time Blunkett was complicit in the tabloid stories; there just isn\’t the pursuit that there was with PM.
Once these stories are out though, the press tends to drive them with a momentum of its own and is carried away beyond considerations of whether it really ought to want the person out or not. The Tory papers didn\’t really go easy on Major\’s ministers, for example.
Well, you can put your money where your mouth is. He\’s 1/6 to stay. That\’s a pretty nice return for tying your cash up for just a month (and who\’s gonna sack a blind man over Xmas, so probably just a couple of weeks…).
equestrian Guinevere?peaked appertain hitching Saran:… Thanks!!!
http://www.anzwers.org/free/bissines/businesscard/868476997/protecting.html http://www.anzwers.org/free/bissines/check/o68k6r919v/plate.html countyensconcedundeveloped
hotels san diego…
O’Donnell redefine counterpointing Topeka divorcee plaza http://www.orringtonhotel.com/ …
credit repair…
canister ravagers,goldenly denouncing suitably …