Will it be a White Christmas this 2008? Well according to the weathermen and the bookies there is a very likely chance it will happen. But where? Betting on the weather is a favourite pastime in the UK and none-more-so than at Christmas time. Everybody wants the white fluffy stuff to fall on Christmas Day, it makes things even more special. It’s time to have a ponder and guess which major city in the UK will have snow this Christmas.

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Martin Johnson, the England Rugby Union team manager, is said to be denying that our team has been handed a fairly kind draw for the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup in New Zealand. Argentina could be a threat and the encounter with Scotland will be ‘hell of a game’, he says. Nice to see you expressing such confidence, Martin. Rugby Union betting fans take note - even if England ends up top of their group, they face New Zealand in their quarter-final where they will doubtless be used for floor cleaning purposes.

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This Saturday, things start getting tasty on ITV1 as we get to the semi final round of X-Factor 2008. Not that things have been quiet in previous rounds. We’ve seen judges fall out with the contestants over song choices, judges fall out with each other and the voting system go into melt down as potentially the best voices in the competition fail to make it through. So whom are we left with and what are there X-Factor semi final betting chances of winning the competition?

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The terrible events in Mumbai have brought the England cricket tour of India to a close and the tourists have returned home. Two One Day Internationals have been abandoned but no one is too bothered about that with England five down and facing a whitewash. Two test matches are currently planned for the 11th and 19th December in Ahmedabad and Chennai with a warm-up match at Baroda still to be scheduled. There is talk of returning for these matches and the current view seems to be that it will be left to the players to decide.

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In an encouraging display of good taste and fine judgement, the British public has dumped Euro MP, Robert Kilroy-Silk from ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’. On the first eviction day, to his amazement, he was forced to trudge out of camp with his customary bewilderment at people’s failure to grasp what a fabulous person he is. Everyone though the bland, one-dimensional Brian Paddick would be first out but clearly the people enjoy the spectacle of campers being bored to death by him.

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The Twenty20 Cricket Champions League due to take place next Wednesday in Mumbai, India has been postponed due to the recent terrorist killings. More than a hunded people have been shot dead with hundreds more injured it has been reported. Under this black cloud, the Indian officials have called off the event, stating that they cannot insure the safety of the players.

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Perhaps, like me, cricket betting fans occasionally muse about the Duckworth / Lewis duo, imagining them to be roughly a cross between the cricketing encyclopaedia and enthusiast, Jonathan Agnew and that bloke off Channel 4 that did the Test match computer graphics. The kind of guys who would let slip a couple of anecdotes about old Freddie Trueman or a reflection on the fluidity of Peter May. You would be disappointed. Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis are statisticians whose sole terms of reference were cold and clinical, mathematical data from other matches when they invented their method of producing incomprehensible and seemingly outrageously unfair results in cricket matches that routinely crush the dreams of a nation.

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It’s edging closer to that time of year when the famous Lakeside resort, for 9 days in January, hosts the 2009 Darts World Championship. The prize money for the eventual winner of the Men’s tournament has been increased to a whopping £95,000. As usual the atmosphere will be electric for BDO’s premier competition with ticket allocations for all 9 days of play virtually snapped up.

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It’s a good job the England football team are back on track and Ricky Hatton retained his world title in Las Vegas because, for rugby fans, the cricket results from India and the rugby results from everywhere are nothing short of terminally embarrassing for English sport. We can mutter about the gruesome tortures we would visit upon Messrs Duckworth and Lewis and grumble about the lack of experienced England rugby caps but, at the end of the day, we might just have to concede that we’ve gone the same way as the Australians and that it’s a struggle for us to be good at sport any more.

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Well, let’s start with the bad news first – India deserved to win the third One Day International in Kanpur. Their spin bowlers still have mastery over the English bat and their batsmen are more consistent than ours. The good news for cricket betting fans is that we’re improving. Our bowling aggression and accuracy is on the up and casting Ravi Bopara in the role of opener, in place of Matthew Prior with Captain, Kevin Pietersen, at number three, seems to have worked well. Ravi Bopara needs to settle into the role but is showing every sign that he will.

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