Other polls show the Tories further ahead, but most of the political insiders I met were privately predicting a hung parliament.

While some company executives privately predict that workers will rush to take part, others may feel that a better package could be offered later if they simply wait.

Many of the 300 physicists attending an international neutrino meeting here predicted privately that the discovery could eventually be rewarded with one or more Nobel Prizes.

Wall Street is cutting jobs by the tens of thousands, and big banks and investment banks are privately predicting a dire downturn in the financial services business.

The Louisville coaches predicted privately that once they instilled their planned regimen of discipline, Myles would be the first player to leave.

Lawyers privately predicted that lawsuits might eventually win awards of $300 million or more for the victims of the New Year's Eve fire or their families.

Even today, officials in the Senate and the Assembly were privately predicting that the other side had "sacred cows" that they could not bear to cut.

And Government officials privately predict that a long list of generals and other officers once thought untouchable will be arrested during the next year.

President Bush said Iraqi losses amounted to a rout, and allied generals predicted privately that the war could end within a few days.

A member of Belgium's delegation predicted privately that, before the 1990 meeting, public opinion would create pressure for stringent protection of Antarctica's environment.