Letter: Paddy's chance of winning the election

Sir: Peter Bottomley (Letters, 29 March) asks whether the Liberal Democrats are going to win the next election. Enoch Powell once defined an amateur in politics as "Someone who predicts the result of the next general election". Anyone, even the Conservatives, might win the next election. Rather than making predictions, I prefer to look at the odds. It is 140,000 times more likely that the Liberal Democrats will win the next election than that an individual punter will win the Lottery. The public are ready to take a chance on one possibility so why not on the other. Since Bottomley has asked, "Yes Paddy, it might be you."

Earl Russell

House of Lords

London SWl