Something to spice up tomorrow's Question Time
Wednesday, October 21, 2009Those nice people at Paddy Power (1) have me on their political betting press release list, and this release is quite good, so I am taking it to a narrower audience:
"The appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on this week’s Question Time has turned the weekly political debate into one of the most talked about programmes of the year, prompting punters to speculate on who might walk out first during the highly-charged show.
Bookie Paddy Power is offering 11/10 that playwright Bonnie Greer is the first to walk off during the show with Baroness Warsi at 5/4. Justice Secretary Jack Straw is 6/1 with Griffin himself 8/1 and host David Dimbleby 50/1.
Paddy Power have also released a number of other bets on the show, offering 7/4 that BNP leader Nick Griffin is directly called a racist by the normally affable host David Dimbleby and 3/1 that any of the other panelists raise a cheer by throwing their glass of water over Griffin. However the publicity being generated for the show looks likely to give the BBC some bumper viewing figures. Paddy Power are offering just 8/15 that Question Time beats it’s record of 3.8 million viewers set in the wake of the MP expenses scandal last May, whilst it’s 2/1 to top 5 million.
One thing for certain is the show won’t be without controversy and the bookie is also betting on the number of complaints the BBC will receive, offering 6/1 for less than 1000 and 11/10 for more than 5000.
I suspect I will not be able to resist watching QT tonight tomorrow although I rarely bother these days as there is too much grandstanding, use of pointless 'civilian' panel members and generally too much heat and not enough light.
(1) I use Betfair - better odds, plus there is the scope for laying as well as betting. If Betfair want to drop some money in my account for the gratuitous plug, it would help to make up for the money I've dropped on West Ham over the last few weeks.
