Betting News – Mortenson Is The Early Prize Pick

From a punting perspective, it is highly unlikely there was much money made when Frederic Passy was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize back in 1901. In those days, the award normally went to a parliamentarian before attention predictably switched to diplomacy in the inter-war years. Then, from the 1940s up to the 1990s, the Nobel Committee in Norway looked favourably on those working to curb the arms race. Of course, with the tearing down of the Iron Curtain, detente became unfashionable and the issue of human rights came to the fore and, more recently, people like Wangari Maathai and Al Gore have been rewarded for their stand on climate change. All very interesting you may or may not think, but why am I talking about this on a betting blog? Well that’s down to Paddy Power, who are the first leading bookmaker to price up nominees for the 2009 Peace Prize, which is awarded in October. The Dublin firm have Chinese democracy activist Hu Jia (who is currently serving a jail sentence for inciting subversion) as their 5-1 market leader ahead of Buddist monk Thich Quang Do (6-1), a long-standing opponent of the Vietnamese regime and another who has spent plenty of time behind bars because of his stance. Politician and anti-corruption activist Ingrid Betancourt, who spent more than six years as a hostage in Columbia, is an 8-1 chance but with the Afghan conflict uppermost in everyone’s thoughts at this time, it could be that Paddy Power have overpriced Greg Mortenson at 14-1. The American author and humanitarian, whose book Three Cups Of Tea: One Man’s Mission To Promote Peace One School At A Time currently tops the New York Times Best Sellers List, has made it his life’s work to provide education for both boys and girls in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, often overcoming daunting cultural and political obstacles in the process. Already awarded the Star Of Pakistan, that country’s highest civil medal, the former mountaineer would be a worthy addition to the role of honour.