Being a teacher requires that when you realize that the message has gotten past that thick skull you are instinctively withdrawn into that moment when you yourself were drawn by the teacher. Its not a moment of inspiration mixed with awe, its a moment of pure pleasure. David Davis expressed that moment in the fringe speach in which he made some of the audience fall into a trance. The gutter snipes of course only noticed that it seemed as if the audience was falling asleep. Meethinks that they were but temporarily closing their eyes to the reality of the world in which we live. I think that come what may DD is a very clever individual. Loosing this ballot might be the best political move that he has ever made.

It’s not that I mind that I have to go to school today knowing that I shan’t be able to fall asleep tonight unless I get reasonably drunk because I can’t understand the torrential outpourings of the mind set of the children of today that I’m supposed to teach the Mathematics curriculum to that makes me so unhappy with the government. Nor the fact that I have to spend the weekends getting drunker over my being held accountable over my level of productivity. Sure I’m pissed off with the government because it’s still there: stripping itself of its seven veils of socialism like a fleeting tribe of hoodlums indulging itself on borrowed money, and clothing itself again when it wakes up the next afternoon. But that’s just the fault of human nature. That’s just the excesses of capitalism. The more the merrier. No! What I can’t understand is why having lost the middle ground; the conservative party is unwilling to retreat to the high ground. After all Mosses did it. After leading the people out of slavery he left them to their own devises and took to the high ground and came back down with more than anyone expected. Jesus also took refuge in the solitude of the mountains and came back stronger than he ever was. I am not a perpetual voter because I’m a catholic (with a small c) which implies that having cast my vote I’m obliged to stick to it come hell or high water. Consequently I have never voted for a political party in my life. Likewise this excludes me from being a membership of the Conservative party. Thus I have no say in the outcome of your election. But this does not exclude me from having the right to protect a man who is being slighted. Whatever the outcome of your election might be, as an outsider I have to protest against the way in which you are trying to elevate David Davis to level of being a martyr. He is after all only a politician. He should be judged only on his willingness to make decisions be they right or wrong and nothing more. If the conservative party decides upon a candidate who does not represent their credentials then I believe that the world will be made all the poorer for it and undoubtedly I will be given the sack. By all accounts you will be doing me a service by putting me out of my misery and out of my job. But on the other hand, you try standing up in front of a class room and try telling a bunch of kids that they are all equal. I tell you 1) You will never regain the overall trust that is a prerequisite for the art of teaching, 2) The ones that will be won over will be the ones that will come to you for advice upon how to usurp power.

DC is a panic button. He is still agreeing with everyone. DD, KC must be feeling sorry that they didn't try to stop him from being let loose on the public. LF must be feeling that sinking feeling that of a prime minister feels when he realized how stupid his opposition is.

boy do I hate being right

Ok I'm drunk and QT is on the air but still watching it now I can see how Cameron has flunked it but he is still a great general. Leading the forces forward from the back-benches. Better having a devil's advocate that having an advocate for prime minister.

Ok I was a little excited by that response. Basiccally as the law stands you can sue a newspaper, or a news agents if they don't give you your money back when one of the pieces in the papers turns out to be a falsehood. Which bassically means that you can sue them if the weather forcast is wrong.

In the UK you can take the press to court just like you can take any PLC to court if you feel that they have sold you short. Namelly if you buy a newspaper that as a newspaper could be argued in a UK court of law that they were under an obligation to supply you with that which they are selling themself as, namely a newssheet, then if that newspapper reports something that is subsequently prooved to be false then you have thr right to take that newspaper back to the vendor and ask for you money back.

That is a perfect example of what IDS was talking about when he said that the blog could change the world for the better. After all in the UK there is no constitutial ammendement that gives the press the freedom to do anything that they want.

"Angela Watkinson did raise the issue of drugs and his position on the legal status of ecstasy. Mrs Watkinson served with him on the Home Affairs Select Committee when he adopted liberal policy positions." When did DC change his liberal position? and if the best scientific advice of the time changes will it alter the position that he now holds?

I hope that it's not being suggested that Hague should become Cameron's tutor and give him a short series of lectures on how to deal with difficult opponents across the dispatch box. If that were the case then why not just let Hague do the job himself. There is nothing in the rules that say that the opposition leader can't delegate his duties at PMQ's to someone else.

DD 65 DC 43 LF 47 KC 43 Based on the idea that young Carninals don't vote for a young Pope. Which means that there will have to be a second Ballot.

My suggestions that you should revise you're estimates again was based solely on the fact that being a pollster is not an honerable proffesion. Creating a table of values against people is the same as selling people for sex. I don't beleive that this web site has to descend to that point.

Dear EU Surf In answer to your question " Why is DD still being considered as the front runner" the answers are 1 Have you listened to the speech that he was giving at the time 2 Do you beleive everything that you see on telivision 3 As a conservative voter have you ever considered going to a conservative party meeting before you decide who you vote for

Dear Henri Cook you should revise you optimism its more like Davis 76 Cameron 48 Clarke 32 Fox 32 Undecided ??

My piece of fiction was intended to elicit rhetoric other that mere condemnation. That is the only way that the conservative part can take back what has been spuned into being called the middle ground. Personally I am disgusted with the Labour party but what annoys me more is the fact that the conservative party isn't willing to fight against the republican corruption that is winging its way to this island just as swiftly as the chicken pox.

I agree that's why I'll donate my winning to the party if Clake wins

Anyway! I was merely trying to point out that LF tactically positioned himself with his speach on the sea-side so as to gain respect rather that to gain votes.

Stop calling me Sherly!

Dear James Hellyer Have you studied LF's voting in parliment? If so how can you say that he is right wing? It should read... KC, LF, DC, DD.

Looks as if JFK has either to put up or shut up now???

I'm not a conservative but I think that it was one of you lot that said something about lies damn lies and statistics, but I think that the time has come to realise that it's not just politicians that use figures to confuse the issue. I remember how when I was young I watched a Nigel Lawson budget and I was amused by thinking that the opposition was completely silenced because they couldn't understand what the hell he was going on about. Neither could I! but I could, at least, appreciate his mastery of numbers. Having then just read Carl Marx's capital it was a pleasure to see and listen to a politician introducing so many variables into a problem that quite rightly required so many of them. The labour party by the nature of its core electorate is forced to follow the rule of Occam's razor which I'll remind you is that one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities beyond what is necessary. In fact this is just an anglo-saxon translation of a basic principle of Calculus that Descartes established, but that's besides the point. The point is that the press is faced with the fact of extinction. The likes of the Ruppert Murdock's Empire is a dodo. Faced with that loss, every hack will crawl out from beneath the stone that they are sheltering under and use any means by which to try to affect the world that they never dared to get involved with, other than preying upon it. The only weapon that they have left to fight with is the Poll. But consider the fact that we shall never again see again the likes of Peter Snow and his swingometer. Are the rats leaving the sinking ship? Their last effort is to try to influence the election of the oldest political party in the world. As a mathematician I call upon you to use your powers of historical reasoning to make sense of the present, and ignore what people are trying to tell you because they are doing just that. Or to paraphrase the words of Bux Fizz, its time for making your own mind up.

There is an interesting piece in the times today, "Things will change..." by Peter Riddell that suggest that the Cameron phenomenon is a "speculative bubble". He could be right. I placed $500 on Cameron at 8.5 in the Betfair market after the Newsnight program, and gladly watched as the price dropped and dropped. On the way there where some strange blips where I sold of parts of my shares. Now finally this morning I've laid of the whole amount and spread it so that have almost $1500 spread equally on Cameron-Davis and Fox. If Clark wins I'm on a zero gain. Now that I'm guaranteed a hefty profit or just the fun of the ride I must admit that the betting markets have behaved in a very weird way. There were times when I began to wonder if the candidates themselves where using it as a way to gain publicity. You might think that this is impossible, but with about $50,000 you can make the markets do more or less do what you want. I suspect that there are a lot of other punters out there that have enjoyed the ride a have laid Cameron off by now. The act of laying off all those profits is what has prevented the dead-cat-bounce so far. Whatever has happened, Cameron has receive a million pounds worth of publicity for less, the only question is who's paid for it?