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Hello everyone. My name is Dr Simon
Preval. I am based in JA801.<br>
<br>
As you will no doubt know, the 2015 UK
General Election is just around the corner, with England, Wales,
Scotland, and Northern Ireland participating. This election will be
very difficult to call, making this an excellent opportunity to call
a sweepstake!<br>
<br>
The rules are simple. All you have to
do is tell me what the distribution of party seats will be after all
votes are counted, and all constituencies are declared. The person
that provides the closest guess will be declared the winner. <br>
<br>
To determine the winner, I will take
your guess, subtract it from the actual results, and sum the number
of seats remaining. For example, suppose you guess 250 seats for
Labour, 350 seats for Conservative, and 50 for the Liberal
Democrats.
The result is then declared as 260 for Labour, 340 for Conservative,
and 50 for the Liberal Democrats. The difference is then 10 for
Labour, 10 for the Conservatives, and 0 for the Liberal Democrats,
meaning your guess was off by 20 seats. The person with the smallest
difference, then, is declared the winner. In the event that more
than
one person scores the same difference, the prize will be divided
equally between the winners. I will accept guesses for any party, so
don't be afraid to guess 2 seats for the UK Communist Party if
that's
what you believe! Furthermore, some parties have multiple branches,
such as Scottish Labour, or the Green Party of England and Wales.
Don't worry about specifying the location of the party, as I will
take it to mean Labour or the Green Party as a whole.<br>
<br>
The entrance fee is £1 per entry, and
you are allowed to enter as many guesses as you wish. I will happily
record your guesses either in person, or by email, however, payment
MUST be received by Thursday 7th May at 5:00pm. <br>
<br>
I am based
in Office 801 in the John Anderson Building. I will send you an
acknowledgment when I have entered your guess into the spreadsheet.
Anyone of any nationality is welcome to participate. The results
will be announced on Friday 8th May, provided all seats have been
declared.<br>
<br>
Finally, as this is UK wide, remember
there will be lesser known parties participating such as Sinn Fein,
and the DUP. <br>
<br>
I wish you all the best of luck!<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Simon<br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr Simon Preval
Department of Physics
University of Strathclyde
John Anderson Building
107 Rottenrow East
Glasgow
G4 0NG
email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:simon.preval@strath.ac.uk">simon.preval@strath.ac.uk</a></pre>
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