hiding to nothing

A difficult situation that is unlikely to result in success. Primarily heard in UK. I'm on a hiding to nothing right now trying to persuade my teacher to give me an extra credit assignment.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Vasuda	-	Indian, Hindi (Rare)
Takuya	tah-koo-yah	Japanese
Aleksei	ah-lyek-SYAY (Russian), ah-leek-SYAY (Russian)	Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
DemÉTrio	-	Portuguese
Folcher	-	Ancient Germanic
Alta	['æltə]