We have launched a new website and this page has been archived.Find out more

[Skip to Content]

09 November 2012

The Weekly WHIP 9 November 2012

The Alpha and the Delta

He went to Eton, started working life as an oil trader including stints in Nigeria, and only became a bishop last year. He has also just been announced as the next Archbishop of Canterbury. His name is Justin Welby, (£) and if you've had your ear to twitter or the bookmaker's odds, the news will hardly come as a surprise. It seems that as soon as the name was passed from the Church commission given the task of picking Rowan Williams' successor to 10 Downing Street, a flurry of bets from newly opened accounts were placed on the man who signs himself Dunelm. It led one bookie to declare, "is nothing sacred?!"

Before he even takes over the reigns in January, the Church of England is likely to have decided what to do over women bishops, and Welby is currently on the parliamentary committee looking into banking standards.

Back to Barack

For a while it seemed as though the announcement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury might overshadow other minor polls taking place across the Atlantic. But due to some scheduling challenges the rumour mongers had to wait a few days.

Barack Obama easily won re-election due to the machinations of the US electoral college but by a comparatively small margin in the popular vote. Donald Trump didn't seem too happy about this.

Post vote analysis seemed to focus on why people had chosen to have a go at a statistician for getting his numbers right. There was also the curious incident of Republicans wondering if there might have been candidates better suited to taking on Obama than Mitt Romney, not that this occurred to them when selecting him. But that would leave them without something to fight about now the election is over. That and working out how other countries manage to get people to vote without queues the length of the Mississippi.

The result does open up the prospect of a race in 2016 between the political dynasties of the past two decades. Hillary Clinton Vs Jeb Bush.

Get me out of there, and into Get me out of here

Nadine Dorries is off to the jungle. All the puns and jokes about this have already been over done, out of one jungle into another, eating worms will be a luxury, etc. She's in trouble with her party for not asking permission, and her local constituents don't seem too excited about it either. But her daughter will be tweeting her progress so that's okay.