Well, well who'd a thunk such an innocent observation would provoke such an avalanche? I got to say, I ,along with millions of other Brits, indulge in a sport which is probaly incomprehensible to Americans, namely we like to wager on the outcome of political elections. You can only do this legally in Britain, of course, where bookmakers are legal. I have been doing this since 1964 when I was legally too young to bet, and may I say I have not made a losing wager in all the intervening years, and I have bet on all the American presidential elections as well as the British general elections.(I even got the last Labour victory right !).

So, people, I am not arguing the rights and wrongs, the wills and wonts, the whys and wherefores. I am telling you this : the American public is not going to elect George Bush as president, and I have put my money right beside my mouth.

Murray