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The BBC has recently presented a significant news event in a way that seems to me to be utterly irresponsible and biased. It shows how reporting the news can slide into creating a news story to achieve an implicit goal.

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This week in the United Kingdom, two people were thrust into the headlines. One is a university professor. The other is a convicted criminal whose rehabilitation as a local counsellor is being backed by the leader of the Conservative Party.

It sometimes seems that such stories have an increased chance of success if the key figure has an extremely unusual name, or unconventional appearance...

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One of those stories you want to believe in, even if you suspect there is an element of promotional wishful thinking about it.

The four grandmothers, Lynn, Susie, Rose, and Christine met wrestler Gordon DeReiss while travelling to Las Vegas to scatter the ashes of Rose's late husband, Pete.

As sometimes happens, Gordon was sitting in one of their seats. He was wise enough not to get into an argument with the four grandmothers …

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I wrote it this song initially for myself. It is called Dusky Come Ride with Me. An Anglo-Welsh Odyssey.

I hope someday it will be heard and maybe sung by a new generation, with a deeper appreciation of the dynamic interplay between the English and Welsh languages and their cultures.

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Recently, a new nightmare known as Gazundering has entered into the process of selling a house…

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Guess what?

I lost my phone yesterday. I did all the usual stuff searching many times in the same place and getting the same result.

That’s one definition of insanity according to Albert Einstein.

As I was carrying out my futile search, the enormity of my loss struck me. The first obvious reason was that I could not contact anyone to help in my search, because I had deprived myself of my main means of communication…

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For many years, local elections in England have been brightened by the appearance of a bizarre figure dressed in a surreal costume topped by a space age dustbin.

Some have been angered by what they see as making a mockery of the sacred democratic process. Others have celebrated it as an example of quirky English humour lighting up the drab political scene.

Count Binface grabbed the publicity from Nigel Farage when in July 2026 the latter announced his intentions to retire as an MP and then fight for his return in a by-election at Clacton.

The plan took a bizarre turn when major parties refused to take part in the election leaving at one stage the possibility of a two horse race between Binface and Nigel Farage

Binface was quick to advertise his manifesto which captures his surreal humour far better than I can...

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Coming up with a new idea for a product is one of those examples of a search for everyday creativity. The challenge crops up in a wide range of contexts and the approach I’m going to describe is one of various ways of carrying out a successful search.

It can, however, be applied across a wide range of practical situations. I will take an example an attempt to provide a title for a new song by a small team of songwriters.

I will describe the process in a general way so that it may be tried out in practice by anyone interested.

The list:

Injury

Ambidextrous

Flashback

Dresden

Model estate

Towpath

Romance

Language

Ecstasy

Dead in a silo

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As regular listeners to my audio casts will know, I am addicted to detective thrillers and particularly to those in the so-called golden age roughly between the first and second world wars.

Among the galaxy of star writers, one blazed more brightly than the others. Agatha Christie‘s personal life has become as much a mystery in several ways as those fictional mysteries which brought her fame and fortune.

I have acquired two of her works that were unknown to me but reissued recently. Perhaps they are clues in them I have not detected. But on the first reading, one had all the brilliance that makes Christie‘s work original and brilliant. The other might have been written as an attempt to imitate Agatha Christie by a far less gifted author.
And that’s the mystery I found myself thinking about…

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Keir Starmer’s historic final hours as prime minister.

Shortly after 9 am, it was clear the moment was imminent, when he and his wife Victoria appeared in front of No 10 Downing Street.

It is often a symbolic changing of the political guard. Staff from No 10 are in the street applauding.

Starmer begins the most difficult speech he has ever had to make…

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Over the course of many years, I had probably over quoted the story about Archimedes and his moment of discovery which has become known as the Eureka phenomenon.

As it gets taught in universities around the world, Archimedes discovered his famous principle while in his bath prompting him to leap out and run through the streets of Athens crying something loosely transliterated into English as Eureka, that is to say ‘I’ve found it’.

The Eureka moment is the moment of discovery accompanied by intense emotional pleasure.

So we have the Eureka moment. Today is my example of a eureka moment which I offer as a replacement for some of the overused examples.

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I’m still getting my head around what I witnessed watching Question Time, yesterday evening. I was attracted to the idea of the programme with the leading candidates in the Makerfield by-election.

Some years ago, I enjoyed Question Time, when it permitted intelligent debate between guests with interventions from the audience. This seemed to change with the departure of the authoritative but skilfully impartial chairmanship at the time, by Robin Day and his successor David Dimbleby…

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The question of copyright has become a hot issue with the rise of creative products assisted by artificial intelligence systems.

I started thinking about this recently with a specific case example. It cropped up the work directed by Jonathan Levitt in

producing a wide range of songs supported by his lyric writers, including myself, with Stephen Tranter, and a range of distinguished poets whose work has passed beyond the limit of copyright legislation.

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This example of dark Russian humour was published on X translated from a Portuguese source.
The story is about the interrogation of President Putin in a question and answer session at a Russian school. The first question is from Sasha….

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How to spot a traitor

This audio Post was triggered by the timing of my return from a visit to my tennis club every Saturday morning.

I still enjoy listening to radio five for the sports programs. On Saturdays, there is a problem called ‘spot the traitor’. It involves three football fans, each eulogising on the football team. However, one of the fans is fake, a traitor if you like. I understand spotting a traitor has become a National TV pastime. thanks to another program.

Listening week after week, I began to see the ways in which a guest of the program attempts to identify the traitor, after listening to brief statements from each of the would be authentic fans…

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I use Amazon a lot. But my appreciation of Amazon’s outstanding delivery service goes along with a considerable concern I have about the impact of its business practices at a local and a global level.

I asked Dr Google ‘Why is Amazon criticised for its business practices?’

This is what I learned …

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Celtic win breaks Hearts

Hearts football club lost the title in a race they had been leading through throughout most of the season too many times champions Celtic. They lost in a devastating fashion at the last minute.

Celtic have been serial winners of the competition. Hearts have never won it. Celtic fans enjoyed that fantastic moment.

Hearts returned to their home territory where they were welcomed by their faithful fans. as heroes as if they had returned with victory.

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Yesterday I was left feeling depressed at what I saw as hideous bias in the coverage of the upcoming local elections. Very late, I knew what I wanted to happen and feared it was probably too late

How to warn people about voting for charlatans?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I asked myself, if everyone could listen to my message before they cast their votes on Thursday. After that the idea almost wrote itself.

So here it is, a cry that may have to wait for another occasion for it to be heard…

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It is now nearly a year since I became involved in a music-making project. The music is generated by an AI system by one member of a small team.

This may become a more common approach to generating music which also has implications for theory and practice.

We have now reached the inevitable stage of a start-up operation, namely the creation of a website. As a starting point, our team leader and music maker GM Jon has drafted a mission statement.

Yes, that’s one of the features of conventional businesses likely to be familiar to most listeners to this podcast…

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Life is sadness, life’s a bitch

I thought it might be interesting to record an audiotape about the origins of a song currently being worked on by music-making colleague GM Jon.

Sometimes you can trace an idea to some starting event. In this case, it was a suggestion from Jon that we should put together several candidate lyrics on the general topic of old age.

The idea struck me as sufficiently distant from most songs we had worked on that it at least considered serious considerations

I even had some thoughts that we could stray into regions that would result in the song being banned for dealing with some tricky issues such as euthanasia.

I even mentioned one of my favourite films it brought to mind, Springtime for Hitler in Germany…

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I came across a splendid analysis of the weakness of relying on natural talent, in a piece published in the Quora website. The author publishes under the title Halftime Legend.

It makes sense, and may even contribute to the debate on the nature of creativity.

It may be of more interest to Chess players, than to other listeners to my podcasts.

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Where do new ideas come from?

To compensate for my abysmal failure in steps per day, (according to my distance walked App) I resort to the treadmill at my local gym.

Recently, the experience was weird. My pounding on the treadmill seemed to produce a reaction. It was as if as if the treadmill was telling me something.

I interpreted its message as if I had been listening to a mechanical version of the Oracle at Delphi. The rest of this brief podcast explains what I heard and how I interpreted it…

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Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards

I cannot claim to have invented the Houdini tactic in chess. However, I hinted at it in one of my least successful books, The Double Houdini.

As will become obvious, the tactic does not work when you’re playing against a computer program.

This week, it contributed to a much needed victory by our second team, still with a fighting chance of gaining promotion into the first division of the Stockport league. Much needed, as some consolation for the dive into the second division by our first team.

I will now explain the basic principles of the Houdini tactic in preparation for next season, in whatever divisions we find ourselves….

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Every year, the masters golf championship at Augusta, Georgia gets worldwide television coverage. The traditions are well-known, including ritual acceptance by the winner of the iconic green jacket, handed over by last year‘s winner.

This year, a contingency plan was smoothly executed as Rory McIlroy became the first player since 2002 to defend the Augusta title successfully.

But amid the drama and spectacle, there is a darker story of the most famous golf club, which can be seen as the Twickenham or Wembley of Golf…

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Donald Trump, in the midst of saving the world, finds time to excoriate his multiple enemies in a classic late-night rant on Truth Social...

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Listeners to this podcast will be aware that I have borrowed its title from a recent Channel 4 documentary entitled Kier Starmer: where did it all go wrong.

The broadcast triggered off a storm of criticism of its presenter Lewis Goodall, led by many disappointed supporters of his work in the United Kingdom, which had made him an icon of the left in a profession widely dominated by politically right-wing leaning journalists.

It was certainly a provocative headline by Channel 4. It was widely presumed to be signalling another hatchet job on the Prime Minister who has received more than the usual criticism of a new first minister from the largely conservative oriented mainstream media...

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A rendition of poem based on a favourite in the days of radio broadcasting by the BBC. With some help from tennis partners this morning (Lindsay, Neil, and Gordon) we reassembled what we believe to be the first lines of the poem, and quickly tracked down the original…

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In the middle of the fantasy politics show starring Donald Trump, it was good for us to be reminded of some of the eccentric politicians that had recently departed the scene.

One such figure was former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.

This week, impatient with the suggestions of lesser Mortals, Newt popped up to offer the world a dynamic solution to The Strait of Hormuz problem…

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Eze Kingsley Ohaji posts on X about financial and political matters @ohajielom. His creative description of the war against Iran deserves wide circulation.

Trump: Open the Strait in 48 hours or I strike your power plants.

Iran: No.

Trump: You have 48 hours.

Iran: You said that already.

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A WOMAN’S HISTORY

by

W H Davies

When Mary Price was five years old

And had a bird that died

She laid its body under flowers;

And called her friends to pray to God,

And sing sad hymns for hours

When she before her fifteenth year

Was ruined by a man,

The neighbours sought him out, and said-

‘You’ll come along and marry her

Or hang till you are dead’

When they had found the child he wronged

And playing with her doll

‘ I’ll come along with you’ said she -

‘But I’ll not marry anyone

Unless my doll’s with me’

With no more love’s heat in her than

The wax upon her arm;

With no more love-light in her eyes

Than in the glass eyes of her doll -

Nor wonder, nor surprise.

When Mary Price was thirty-five,

And he was lying dead,

She wept as if her heart would break:

But neighbours winked to see her tears

Fall on a lovers’s neck

Now Mary Price is seventy-five

And skinning eels alive:

She, active, strong, and full of breath

Has caught the cat that stole an eel,

And beaten it to death

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In my book Mourinho Matters I take Jose Mourinho as a case example of a charismatic leader.
I will draw on the account as described in the book. I have selected an exerpt of the occasions when I was embarrassingly misunderstood by two other charismatic leaders, Pat Riley of Miami Heat, and sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.

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David Atherton is a scholarly contributor to X He explains that he has became increasingly disillusioned with his reach on X, and decided to write about stuff he likes

.You can follow David on X , where he publishes as @DaveAtherton20.

In a recent post, he selects as his topic, English idioms. In it, he describes the origin of the terms: one for the Road, being on the wagon, pulling your leg, and money for old rope.

There is a grim humour about his selected topic as you will now hear:

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In this podcast, I’m taking the approach which I found useful in introducing graduate level workshops on creativity and leadership.

I would invite the Group to share their understanding of a current leadership issue and then discussing it through the perspective of leadership challenges provided by it.

So that’s where I want to go with this podcast. I’m assuming that listeners to this podcast are taking place in a discussion about leadership dilemmas which confront individuals, corporations and in this case even countries.

The discussion would draw on the evidence provided through media reports and irrelevant announcements from major figures, including of course from Donald Trump and his spokespersons.

Over the last month, one story has dominated media coverage. It has recently been described as the Middle East conflict with the main protagonists the United States of America, which with Israel is engaged in military operations against Iran...

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My topic for today is developing a plan for successful innovation.

The subject is one which continues to attract attention, and books continue to be published offering various approaches some with more outrageous claims than others.

I want to describe one approach which worked for many and varied organisations mainly in the United Kingdom. I believe it can be applied to today’s fast-changing world, in which so many activities are being influenced through IT products and practices

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The adventures of Keith have attracted a faithful following on X.

His biographer Sama Holle has chronicled the adventures of a range of eco-friendly animals on a farm, but I am only reporting on a day in the life of Keith as summarised on X.

I have added a short poem in honour of Keith and his eco
friendly farm friends.

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As a long-time exile from Wales, I have to confess that my grasp of the language is pretty bad. So much so that I struggle even to follow the commentary in Welsh of rugby games on SC4.

At the present time, this might be regarded as a blessing in disguise.

However, I am aware of Saint David’s Day falling on March 1 if only because of fading schoolboy memories.

At risk of demonstrating this I’ll have a go, with help from a pronunciation guide, to demonstrate that I only speak a little bit of Welsh, perhaps with a residual Pontypridd accent.

Anyway here goes.

“Dw i’n dim ei siarad Gumraig”

[Continued in English…]

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Overnight, a sensational political event. A resurgent Green Party wins a by-election in a close contest against the right wing Reform party and against the Government, the traditional party of the Left in England...

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Reflections on the difficulties experienced in revising the acknowledgements section for the fourth edition of a textbook.

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Why Nigel Farage Recruits Tories

By Russ Jackson

Dr Russ Jackson is one of the deepest thinkers currently posting on social media. This is an abridged podcast version with some interventions by myself of a post on X this week.

It examines an interview by Nigel Farage with the BBC‘s Nick Robinson.

Dr Jackson points out that the leader of the Reform party has to deal with an awkward fact. He had declared the Conservative Party “dead” (and not to be trusted). Yet party is composed almost entirely of former @Conservatives, including himself…

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The political news in the United Kingdom this week has been dominated by sensational stories about the imminent humiliation and resignation of Keir Starmer.

Various explanations were offered often justified by evidence of his shocking incompetence and implications of his duplicity...

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This can be seen as a follow-up to my recent podcast on the developing political crisis facing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The story a week ago was posed as an exercise in the dilemma confronting Keir Starmer as he considered the appointment of Mendelson as Ambassador to the United States

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1945222/episodes/18634941-keir-starmer-s-political-crisis-a-dilemma-of-leadership.mp3?download=true

A week later, the story has moved on considerably…

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I’ve prepared this podcast in the form that makes it suitable for studying as an example of a leadership dilemma.

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A nearly honest account of how I set about decluttering my life, starting with my sitting room sofa...

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I hesitate to explain my approach to teaching Chess. It is a fact universally recognised among close friends that I am not the strongest Chess player on Buzzsprout. Indeed, I am not the strongest Chess player in my circle of friends.

Nevertheless, I have found myself introducing the game to pre teenage members of my tennis club.

I find it a quite rewarding experience. Maybe it has been possible for me to draw on many years working with post-graduate business students…

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The free ocean effect was generated by prescriptive text as a title for my next podcast. Returning to the original note, I was puzzled at first.

Because nothing I was working on dealt with a free ocean effect.

But when I retraced the note I had made I realised that the prescriptive text had translated something quite out of context from its original intention.

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I look at a widely-held belief that you may need a hundred ideas for every successful one that you find ...

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These are the lyrics I wrote recently to be turned into music. The history is quite interesting, and maybe I’ll make a podcast about it origins, if it becomes a hit.

Stop the singing

Stop the people having fun

With music they are bringing.

Stop them basking in the sun

Stop all the singing

The Grinch has crept back into town

And with him fear he’s bringing.

Dirty business! And he’s bound

To stop the singing …

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I asked ChatGPT to produce a poem for me. My plan was to investigate the difference between a poem produced through the use of AI and produced in the traditional fashion with a human as primary producer of a creative work.

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A message for a missing member ...

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One powerful description of tyrants can be found in Aristotle’s hugely influential book on politics. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they have been appearing on the Internet as if the thoughts of an ancient philosopher might have relevance to modern times…

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A personal memo about an idea leading to the creation of a set of lyrics for later application as a song.

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On Jan 3 22026, Donald Trump announced the successful abduction of President Maduro in a military operation in Venezuela.

To consider the fast moving story, it is useful to look back at the key features of Donald Trump's first Presidency, and the turbulent year of his second term in office.

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Spoken by Tudor Rickards based on a music-making project directed by Jonathan Levitt and supported by myself and Stephen Tranter, as regular contributors as lyricists.

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How I wrote the words to a song based on the tune hummed by Columbo in his great series about the eponymous homicide detective.

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trial 24 Dec 2025

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An account of minor road accident and the process of resolving the problem...

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I take a look at the BBC's glossy sports' celebration as one of its Xmas highlights.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to follow President Trump's crusade to rid American of the curse of Wokeness...

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Being an account of a fragment of parchment excavated in an archeological dig near to the modern city of Athens

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This is a real life story with aspects of a 'who done it' which invites leaders to create their own endings.

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This book review is of Dear England by Gareth Southgate, former England Football Manager,

written and spoken by Tudor Rickards.

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In which the intrepid members of my fantasy chess club visit the mythical headquarters of our opponents, the Eccles chess club...

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Hi, folks

Just a trial to confirm all our efforts in producing a Tara backstory have started bearing fruit.

Thanks t all involved

Tudor

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An account of how ideas for new products are developed in theory and in practice.

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An examination of commemoration of Armistice Day in the UK.

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Walt Whitman's famous and epigrammatic poem spoken and briefly discussed by Tudor Rickards.

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An introduction to a creative problem process as applied to a marketing a new song.

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This is a nearly true story in which names have been disguised to protect the young chess students involved

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This is the tale of the long suffering dental professional who has to look after the well-being of my molars. As a result of many one-sided conversations, I’ve learned something about the art of strictly come dentistry. How my gum hygiene is assessed, noted carefully, and recorded with evidence to be used against me at my next visit to the hygienistry.

But recently, a serious blow to my dental support has occurred…

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The account is top secret and is only available to fully paid up club members of East Cheshire Chess Club.

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Mohammed Bin Salman. Review of ‘The man who would be King’

Tudor Rickards

The man who would be King is Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, of Saudi Arabia. In his efforts to transform his country, his approach deserves comparisons with another globally influential leader, Chairman Xi Jingping of China.

The distinguished American political reporter Karen Elliott House has summarised her extensive study of the leader who is attempting to transform Saudi Arabia from an oil-rich traditional country into one with its unique culture, but accommodating western-style aspects associated with technology, tourism and global sporting events such as golf and football.

The acronym MBS is one shared with Manchester Business School, my long-time academic location. In what follows, MBS refers to the Prince not the Business School.

Before reading the book, my understanding of Saudi Arabia drew on two popular media stories. The first often described as ‘green-washing’, refers to any attempt to disguise an ecologically dubious activity as environmentally healthy.
Saudi Arabia’s efforts to become a global superstar for sporting excellence ha s been cited as an example of greenwashing.

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Over the last few months,I have become involved in the generation of music produced with the help of artificial intelligence systems. The work has evolved from long-term contact and now Business collaborator Jonathan Levitt.
Johnathan is a Chess grand master, but my initial contact was coming across a book he wrote about the nature of humour. In case any of you would like to obtain a copy of the title is contemplating comedy by Jonathan Levitt.
More recently I came across his work applying AI systems to generate music and wondered whether it throw light on the nature of creativity particularly as it was supplied to music. In this podcast, I would like to introduce the subject to encourage others interested in the subjects to experiment for themselves.
Essentially, the process is one in which the music is generated in this case through application of AI provided by an organisation known as Suno. You will find information about Suno by googling Suno, and typing in a request for creating a new song.
I
You can more learn more about our work if you google

The story of Cinderella and her magic dog Bella, on YouTube

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The Haribo ads have two adults pretending to be little children. The BBC5 live breakfast show also features two adults playing children’s games, breaking off from time to time to carry out an interview with a politician while attempting to be adults.

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Bang to rights

It has been a tense time in Tudor Towers, the new headquarters of TudoRama tunes.

I am setting down the disturbing events as I experienced them in the hope that they will be able to be used in my defence if needed.
My story begins on Sunday last. In some ways it was a typical day of efforts to meet the deadline of the international edition of TudoRama. This involved selecting a TudoRama teaser, and updating the daily news events.
The routine was interrupted by an urgent message our IT director Jonathan. I could tell immediately that something out of the ordinary had disturbed his equilibrium.

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East Cheadle B is a fictional Chess club in a fictional league somewhere in the leafy suburbs of Cheshire. I may have drawn accidentally on experiences over the years as a member of clubs that took pleasure when they managed to pull off a rare victory against stronger opponents.

A Glorious Victory

I sing a song of a victory
Unmatched in the annals of our club’s history.
When you’ve heard the tale, you will agree
It was a glorious win by East Cheadle B

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The Return of Manchester United

A message found bobbing in a bottle in the Irwin river. Believed to be the words of a terrace song.

Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Here we come already back on track
With Amorim as manager we’re coming back

Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
Glory, glory Man United
With Amorim as manager we’re coming back

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Of course I didn’t mean to. These are National iconic figures whose work adds to Welsh culture as one grounded in the musical arts.
The day of my disgrace started innocently enough as I prepared my weekly newsletter with its eclectic mix of politics, sport (mostly chess and tennis), and assorted personal gossip...

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Calon Lan: A great Welsh song

Written as a tribute to one of the great musical songs (arguably a hymn, but strong hints of a more ancient Celtic influence). In part, I wanted to see what an AI version will turn out like…

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Seconds Out

New chess verses written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

Queensbury chess is all the rage
Put the players in a cage
Hear the cry of Seconds Out
Win by a checkmate - or by a knockout

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Written and spoken by
Tudor Rickards

To Sophie Rose, from top to toes
Upon this special day.
With all our wishes
And love and kisses, this is what we say

The road ahead cannot be read,
How every much we hope or pray
Yours is the only future now,
and yours becomes the untrod way.

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Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards from articles in The Week, The Economist, and a Case study from Henley Business School.

The rise and fall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2022, and the subsequent disastrous loss from power of the Conservative Government in 2024 have become one of the most widely-studied cases of political decline in recent years.

Refs

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Written and rather badly spoken by Tudor Rickards
possessor of two left hands and a wandering mind.
Lyrics planned for conversion into song by Grandmaster Jon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNM44t7mcBw

Bungee Jumping Boogie scrapes the rust from off your feet
Diving like a multicoloured human parakeet
Better than a roller-coaster, happy birthday treat
Your death-defying Present is the envy of the street

You crazy kid?
I’m crazy

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Defendant's statement

TV Licensing authority v Professor Bumble

It was a mistake your honour.
A genuine mistake.

All my friends warn me that my trusting nature may sometimes even tip over into gullibility.
I have already lost most of my savings to people claiming to be in possession of a large sum of money in my name, which they will be able to release for a modest proportion of the fortune.

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The BBC has pulled off a journalistic coup, with a radio interview given by President Trump to the BBC’s Senior correspondent in America, Gary O’Donoghue.

For me, it had a special resonance with the time during which I examined the relationship between the BBC and the leader of the then British government, Boris Johnson.
That was to become the material published as Boris me and the BBC, which in turn suggested the title of this audiotape, Donald me and the BBC.

I have tried to treat the interview in the way I reported the events as reported by the BBC in the earlier project. In particular I attempt to get beyond what was said, in order to draw conclusions, including those reached by the BBC.

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Could I have worked with Norman Tebbitt?

An Everyday Creativity audiotape written and spoken by TR

The question was asked by the diversity activist Simon Fanshawe shortly after the death was announced of the former conservative politician Norman Tebbitt, in July 2025

The Diversity By Design project develops a practical approach to developing cultures which are sensitive to diversity in ways which make conflicts more easily managed.

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CaveMan Rap: The True Story

Tudor Rickards

Inspired by Jonathan Levitt and his team of silicon helpers

Way back before the wheel was there
Everything in the world was square
Then Caveman invented Caveman Rap
With a Caveman Tap and a Caveman Clap

He got too old for fishing and trapping
So he invented Caveman Rapping
With a click of a stick and his knuckles cracking
That’s how he invented Cave Man rapping

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A recent article in a serious current affairs journal challenged its readers to send in any suggestion for a rhyme for Netanyahu. I took up the challenge but unfortunately failed to record the name of the journal.
Anyway, here are my efforts and a little background, a sort of bluffers guide to writing rhyming verse
(I won’t go so far as to describe it as poetry).

My first scribbled efforts demonstrated to me that rhyming with Netanyahu in English is far from easy. Here they are from my old fashioned notebook.

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This is our Globe
Tudor Rickards

A previously unpublished poem which seems suitable for turning into something special with more than a little help from my IT savvy friends ...

WRITTEN FOR TWO VOICES

THE ROUND EARTHER
THE FLATEARTHER

I IMAGINE THE EFFECT TO BE LIKE THE CROWD SINGING ‘ABIDE WITH ME’ AT THE CUP FINAL:

THIS IS OUR GlOBE

THE ROUNDEARTHER
The Earth is round, I’ll have a bet with you
What do you say? You know the moon is, too
Which you can see quite clearly from the ground
There is no questioning. The Earth is round

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Rainbow words. How they are contributing to dangers to our civilisation

A post on the X platform recently set me thinking about its contents. It read:
Here in the UK it’s dawning on many of us that rainbow words like tolerance, diversity and inclusion have been exploited to trick us into acting as stewards of our own destruction, and that if we were a bit more prejudiced and racist we’d have a safer and more civilised country.
Post on X by @patcondell, 19/6/2025

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I review the product and packaging from the True Start coffee company.

I complete this review while finishing a cup of coffee from ingredients provided by the True Start coffee company.

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I bring the news of a miracle that took place at the tennis club which has figured from time to time in these podcasts.
Doctor Glycol, who has also featured from time to time has conceded that something very strange has taken place although from his strictly scientific viewpoint miracles are no more than unscientific representations of scientific phenomena.
I will let my audience decide whether they agree with Dr. Glycol.

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The sad case of Laura Lupin

This little story feels so bizarre I’m prepared to admit that it may be fake news…

Laura recently posted her contribution to The Times newspaper on the X website .
It reads as follows.
I earned more than £120,000 as an accountant my husband earns less £95,000. We are a high income household but only on paper we’re basically your typical Henry couple it stands for high earners, not rich yet and it’s a term now used by financial institutions to describe people with usually six figure salaries but crucially not much accumulated. The banks aren’t looking to court us for our accounts, so far from flush, my husband goes into his savings each month to survive. Well, I don’t have any money left over in my account at the end of the month.

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Wit and wisdom, Early June 2025
The halfway post
BREAKING: Donald Trump is reportedly demanding the FBI compile a list of everyone who uses the #TACO hashtag referencing "Trump Always Chickens Out."

Doc
Just heard that the government is banning Roman numerals!!
Not on my watch!
Me
Nice one, Doc. IV or IIII ?

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I awake to the rumbling of a large vehicle pulling up outside my front drive. My bedside alarm says 5.30am.
Had my cover been blown?
I had been expecting something every day for months since my messages to one address remain unanswered.

My pretence of ignoring visible security measures in a neighbourhood of otherwise securely-barricaded houses had always been no more than a hopeful option.

I retreat into the bathroom and out of my bed clothes. I dress in the sports kit I had set out for my morning tennis match and pocket the emergency pack of medication, and phone...

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Bigger than Hollywood. Bigger than Bollywood. The romance between the most powerful political leader in the world and the richest man in the world crashed and burned in the space of a few days.
Closest friends have always whispered that it was always a matter of time before, in the words of the song, they would have to call the whole thing off.
Why? The gossip sheets of Washington DC are putting it down to a clash of two of the strongest egos the world has ever known.

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"We all know someone who avoids the items on the front shelf in supermarkets”. This proposition was put forward recently by a friend of mine who writes under the pseudonym of Shoab Molvi.
Shoab“ specialises in quirky puns of the kind which appeals to those with whom he shares his sense of humour.
Writing on one of his favourite outlets, namely X formally known as Twitter, he offered the insight with a photograph of one such shelf-searcher almost dislodging the items at the front of the shelf in search of the freshest possible product behind.

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Eco’s fourteen features of fascism

In a much-quoted article in the New York Review of Books, in 1995, the philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco reflects on his direct experience of fascism.

Eco typically refuses refuses patronise his readers, which can make him difficult to follow. In one of his own books he advised readers not to bother unless they were prepared to work hard at it.

In this review, he approaches the notion of Fascism with a relatively few references. But he does explain one term which he calls

Ur-fascism, he contends the understanding of which is a game which

QUOTE can be played in many forms and the name of the game does not change. The one game is called Ur-Fascism.END QUOTE

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TACO stands for "Trump Always Chickens Out," a mischievous phrase coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong in an opinion piece on May 2, 2025.

He was referring to Trump's pattern of announcing steep tariffs only to backpedal in the face of market turmoil.

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Apologies for even more flubs than usual

TR

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Gary Lineker’s departure from the BBC: The uneasy relationship between sport and politics.

The uneasy relationship between sport and politics is demonstrated by the case of Gary Lineker, a former international football star who became the BBC’s highest paid sports journalist.
Linacre’s engaging style contributed to a high profile career after his retirement from football, which included widespread media visibility including a lucrative advertising contract with a crisps company...

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What’s more boring than watching paint dry? Answer: Attending the AGM of a Chess league.

This audio record of one such experience has two purposes. It is a summary of my attendance at the annual general meeting of Stockport chess league which took place on Wednesday, the 14th of May It is also an attempt at catharsis on my part of the experience.
I may have exaggerated some points in the hope of retaining your attention.

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Doc continues his punning streak…
I taught my four year old son how to use the word abundance in a sentence. He said: Thanks Dad that really means a lot!

I’ve been meaning to mention this often-repeated tweet which seems designed to convince very dim people how they may be able to conceal their dimness.
"My friends think I'm a crypto genius, (I'm not) it's because I read WAGMI’s weekly newsletter (and they have no idea it exists)" - Every Crypto Degen

Republicans against Trump
Tucker Carlson pleads with Trump to “rescue” his friend Russell Brand, who’s been charged with rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault saying:
“Brand…now faces life in prison. He has no shot at a fair trial because Britain is no longer a free country… Say a prayer that the Trump administration comes to his rescue.”

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Is it me, or is the collection of bins beyond the capabilities of a householder like myself?
For several weeks, I had noticed that my green bin was not collected on the designated day, which happens to be Thursdays.
To be precise, I mean emptied of the garden and household waste it contained.

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The press waited in expectation for the latest announcement from Donald Trump. They had been promised sensational news which would be the biggest news even of this administration.

The fortunate reporters who had passed the loyalty test permitting them access to breaking news waited agog. Had the invasion of Canada begun? Had Israeli prime minister Netanyahu sealed the agreement that Gaza would be renamed the American eastern territories? Had Donald’s nomination for Pope gained growing acceptance by the Cardinals?

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The April 1 announcement came as no surprise to the many supporters of the philosopher and cricketer Sir Geoffrey Boycott whose work has been much admired in intellectual circles for many years.

The announcement cited his contribution to economics in general, and to his conceptualisation of the corridor of uncertainty.

The corridor of uncertainty is a term now popularised by Boycott and his supporters. It is based on his discovery that in cricket as in life, dangers can be warned off by playing a literal or metaphorical straight bat to neutralise them.

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At one level, tennis has a squeaky clean reputation with images of strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, smartly dressed officials and players following the written and unwritten rules of the game.
However, there is a dark side to tennis. Every so often a bad boy or a bad girl erupts on the court and into the media.
Perhaps the most celebrated was John you can’t be serious McEnroe.

But it’s also worth remembering Gregor Dimitrov, who was disqualified from the final of a match after smashing three rackets to pieces in frustration.

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Seth, Anil. Being you: A new science of consciousness. Penguin, 2021.

The nature of human creativity has been increasingly recognised as a route to understanding artificial intelligence, and the mimicry of human behaviours by the emerging chatbot systems.
Consequently, Being You, by the distinguished neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth, arrives at a significant time. As I read it, I became increasingly aware of the way in which it might contribute to the debate on Artificial Intelligence and its significance for our understanding of creativity and what I have termed everyday creativity.

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We continue the era of American liberation from exploitation by the rest of the world. I will try to squeeze other news and perhaps some with a little wit and wisdom …

The story so far. President Trump’s announcement of his plan to MAGA produces a substantial negative effect on stock markets and criticism from economists in an unusual show of agreement.

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The headlines are striking. ‘Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven year old opponent’

The vicious act of nipper nipping took place in a demonstration event in Moscow. It seems that the robot had been programmed in turn-taking. Its human opponent moves a piece from one chess board square to another. The robot differentiates legal and illegal chess moves.

If the move is legal, the robot activates its move-making sequences, plucking up an opponent’s piece if its move involves a capture, then moving his own piece to the desired square. It then retreats the robotic ‘arm’ to its default position.

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Defining a woman. The legal case challenging the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the equality legislation (2010)

April 17 2025

The case was brought by Women For Scotland, a gender critical organisation, against ministers of the Scottish Parliament. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, whose ruling was announced this week.

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No, it’s not because they both wrote a book. Over a billion copies of Mao’s little red book is believed to have been printed. The Art of the Deal has reached a puny million copies.
It’s because President Trump’s leadership is increasingly being compared with Mao’s disastrous attempt to transform China, known as the Cultural Revolution.

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Confession. I am referring to my own sad case, having eventually accepted that my aging tennis bag was in serious need of restoration to some minimum level of acceptability on the hygiene front.
Yes, a weekly sequence of spills from water bottles, biscuits, sunscreen lotions, muddy boots, energy drinks, unwashed sportswear and assorted sandwiches had taken its toll on it.
The last straw wasn’t literally a straw but a spilt pack of fruit pastilles which had turned into squashy goo at surprising rate between two tennis games...

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A joke attributed to the great Irish comedian and raconteur,Dave Allen.

The joke has been related many times and I was reminded of it recently on the website Quora in an entry by Roland Wyvern of Brighton in England.

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Wish I could have found more on other news items, but what became known as Signalgate had peak billing as March drew to a close, and Donald Trump’s tariff tantrums then pushed itheir way to dominate the highlights.

@Acyn
Reporter: Can you share how your information about war plans was shared with a journalist?
Hegseth: So you are talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes
@FrankC164
So @PeteHegseth leaks U.S. war plans in a group chat—using what appears to be an unauthorized, encrypted app (Signal), which federal employees aren’t even allowed to have on government-issued devices—
and his first move isn’t accountability, it’s to attack the journalist who exposed it.

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Controligarchs by Seamus Bruner. Book Review by Tudor Rickards

Reviewer’s warning: The book presents a perspective which other commentators have described as promoting conspiracy theories.

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Donald Trump Coup. Sensational News revealed in a leaked Signal message

Deadline April 1st 2025

Donald Trump was captured in a successful coup overnight. The news was revealed in a leaked Signal message.
The instigators had mistakenly added the name of a British Journalist, Sandy Darricks, who posted a redacted version on X reproduced here

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Conspiracy theories. The assassination of President Kennedy

In March 2025, a a bizarre example of a conspiracy theory occurred as the voluminous records of the assassination of President Kennedy were released for public scrutiny.
At almost the same time, a conspiracy theory developed that the assassination had been carried out by a popular English television actress of the time, Penelope Keith.

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This is a story which started with the editing of a textbook about leadership and is turning into a case study of the dilemma of leadership in the national health service...

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England’s football team has a new manager, Thomas Teuchel. According to the British football pundits, the role is one the hardest in the world in which an incumbent can succeed. This in part is an indisputable measure of a national team’s success, namely winning the highest of prizes, the World Cup.

The significance has grown since the failure to win the Cup since 1966.

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Wit and Wisdom March 2025

The news continues to be dominated by Trumpet calls from the West (Wing). Are we yet at peak Trump?

@HagwithAttitude

Forgot to tell you of my great achievement yesterday!!! I managed to open a pack of bacon using the ‘peel here’ tab, and not the kitchen knife!

Me

I’m adding that to my examples of Everyday Creativity

The Free Press

“For Americans who still cling to the now unfashionable notion that the international system should be ruled by rules and not might, Friday’s incident was a horror.”

@EricL.Daugh

Trump with an interesting statement on RUSSIA in the Oval Office today👀

"I also think that Russia wants to make a deal because in a certain different way, a different way that only I know, only I know, they have no choice either."

@EricIdle

Yes that Eric Idle

If Trump is going to adopt English as the official language of America then he should be paying royalties to England. Obviously we'll let Canada use it for free because a) they're nice and b) half of them prefer French anyway.

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BBC 2 attempts to do for chess what Like Littler is doing for darts, generate mass interest in a niche sport.
I watch with mixed emotions, having turned down an invitation to take part mainly out of cowardice. So watch out for a version of non-buyer’s regret in my commentary on the first episode of Chess Masters: The Endgame

So, here’s my take on the event. I settle in sofa commentary goggle-mode: replenish wine glass. Watch the ending of Mastermind.

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The Glorious Victory of the B team adds a Footnote to Chess History

It is well known in our league that East Cheadle Chess club B team also known as the east Chile buffaloes are prone to surprise their opponents, often scoring well in unexpected ways.

And so it was recently as reported by our inspiring captain Jim.

I have taken his graceful elegantly scripted account and added a few more earthy remarks of my own.

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Wit and Wisdom, late February 2025

Still heavily biased towards political posts. I tried and failed to find a wider set…

Me
PMQs
6 questions about a refugee permitted entry to the U.K.
2 questions about sorting out Donald Trump
0 questions about the Gaza ceasefire
0 questions about global warming
0 questions about the economy
Did I miss anything?

@NicholasTyrone
I’m always amazed at the people in Britain who look at Ukraine being invaded and think they should just roll over to the Russians, when they themselves saw having to share regulations on cheese with the EU to be an unbearable sacrifice of UK sovereignty.

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Sporting Dilemmas. The Case of the Virtual Assistant Referee.

Sporting progress has always been measured. The metrics may vary, but the prize goes to athlete or team considered to have carried out the best performance, be it speed, distance, height, accuracy of core tasks or endurance. Sport requires judgement.
As a sport develops and becomes professionalised so do the role of judge, and the sophistication of the measures. At the highest levels of competitive sport, the regulation of metrics is an important aspect of sports administration.

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The rarely-played Trumposki gambit has hit the headlines for its continued use by its devoted followers who believe it to be the greatest gambit of all time.

The gambit was played in an acrimonious match in the opulent settings of the Trumposki Towers recently.

The match, sponsored by Aeroflot airlines, was played according the Newchess rules, in which the home team has a second player able to play a special skewer move during the game, often turning a weak position into a strong one.

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In our league match this week, the most interesting point about my game was how I managed to convert a completely lost position into a draw.

I’m not sure how much is Chess skill and how much is a psychology applied to escape from defeat.

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Chinese leadership from Mao to Xi. A review of The Political Thought of Xi Jinping, by Tsang and Cheung.

To understand the role played by Xi Jinping in shaping China’s future it is necessary to understand the revolutionary origins of the State.

The birth of the nation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) occurred under the charismatic leadership of Chairman Mao.

Mao Zedong fits a profile of charismatic revolutionary leaders, whose stories have become embedded in history. His courage, creative vision, and resourcefulness were backed by his physical attractiveness. He is recognised for his unique role in creating the modern state, first as a military leader and later as Chairman Mao.

His success spread among socialist movements around the world, not least by the publishing effect in multiple languages of ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao’ colloquially referred to in the English speaking world as ‘The little red book’.

Mao’s ideas had been developing for many years during the Chinese revolution, after which he played an increasingly significant part in establishing the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

After Mao, a succession of leaders presided over liberalisation reforms which were accompanied by considerable economic gains and internal party struggles.

Thirty years after Mao’s death, Xi Jinping, an ambitious young politician, was elected President. His background differed considerably from that of Mao.

Xi was an able, soft-spoken functionary...

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The question was posed by a team of creativity researchers as the AI revolution of 2023-4 was in full swing. AI was setting new questions about the nature of work, and the capacity of computers to replace humans

Ref

Marrone, R., Cropley, D., & Medeiros, K. (2024). How Does Narrow AI Impact Human Creativity? Creativity Research Journal, 1–11.

Writing in a leading creativity research journal, they pose their research question as ‘How Does Narrow AI Impact Human Creativity?’

To carry out their study the researchers first address the issues of defining creativity and AI.

Their examination of attempts to define creativity draw on the research outlined in this chapter.

They summarise the definition issue as having been ‘dogged by definitional confusion’ particularly among ‘non experts’, including work in the emerging field of computational creativity.

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Invitation and call for ideas.
CIM Community Meeting, March 2025

As invited by the Editorial Board I have submitted an idea for consideration at the CIM Community Meeting, March 2025

The Idea: Proposal for collaboration with CIM for contributions to the new edition of Dilemmas of Leadership
Proposer: Tudor Rickards

I am inviting contributions, initially in the form of citations of publications on emerging issues in creativity and innovation, to be published in the fourth edition of my textbook Dilemmas of Leadership, Routledge. Publication date is for January 2026 and final text is planned for September 2025.

A possible way would be for suggestions to be made directly to me from interested members of the CIM participants at the community meeting in March 2025.

The strategic deliberations of CIM are taking place at a period of global disturbances which are accompanied by manifestations of creative and innovative actions. Theory and practice will continue to develop in interdependent ways. CIM will undoubtedly play its part in communicating such developments, as implied by the workshop’s goals.

As an example, Professor Colin Talbot suggested the emerging theme of collaboration in leadership, and cited The Corporate Economy by Doved Lovie

https://cooperativeeconomy.net/about-the-book/

The process could be coordinated via CIM or the citations sent directly to me. I will be working with a small team of contributing editors.

From long experience, the workshop will itself improve on this basic proposal or develop further possibilities.

Tudor Rickards
Founding Co-Editor, CIM
Emeritus Professor in Creativity and Change Management, University of Manchester

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It’s a hard time to be a Manchester United supporter. Many are seeking therapy to cope with their anguish over the last few years. They had seen the super club under super Manager Alex Ferguson drop down the GLOBAL rankings and even worse have had to suffer the indignity of accepting that United is no longer even the strongest club in Manchester, out spent and out competed by the noisy neighbours, Manchester City.
Grumbling is part of the requirement of becoming a football fan, but this is not normal. One supporter I know comes in to her local deli with an increasingly drawn face, worsening by the week.

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Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards, based on an Associated Press statement.

AP statement on Oval Office access, Wed 12 February 2025

QUOTE Today we were informed by the White House that if associated press did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America associated press would be banned from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon, our reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing. END QUOTE

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@ShoelMolvi

I am getting married on Feb 30th..

Everyone is invited

Me

I thought you said it was going to be April 1st

Two from the witty Doctor

@DocAtCDI

Son: Dad, I had a test at school today.

Dad: Oh yeah, what was it on?

Son: Paper.

and for his follow up

What does Arnold Schwarzenegger say at the beginning of a game of chess?

I’ll be black.

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Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Spoken by Tudor Rickards

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read...

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Chasing after moonbeams: The human quest for knowledge of the future

The search for emerging trends is as old as the human quest to understand and influence the future. As civilisations arose, so did men and women were whose views were treated with respect and who were regarded as having mystic powers.
Perhaps the most famous,even to the present day, was the Oracle at Delphi. The myth emerged that at the sacred temple, the high priestess would reveal the future to visitors wealthy enough to seek her advice.

One of her most famous predictions was to King Croesus, noted for his great wealth. Here we have an indication of the wiliness of the guardian of the sacred shrine. Did I mention, by the way she was believed to assume the form of a python?

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Another humorous collection of posts, but some also marking the tragic Washington DC air crash in the last days of the month.

@ShoebMolvi
After the storm, Dave’s worried about the caravan in his front garden, as he didn't have one yesterday👀

@gardnerstewart39
Morrisons have run out of haggises. It's a bit late to be rushing to Scotland to catch one in the wild. I thought the plural of Haggis was Haggi, apparently not.

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January 31, 2020 was the day the UK formally left the EU. It was celebrated by the victorious Leave voters celebrated 'freedom day' with a grand party and Big Ben ringing out the joyous news.
It was also a day when the first victims of what was going to become the COVID pandemic were hospitalised.

This is a summary of my notes at the time, concluding my five year diary since the Referendum in 2016.

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When the water drops and refreezes’: Where do new ideas come from?

‘ That happens when the water drops from the guttering, and refreezes’ I said to myself.
The ice had formed in an unexpected way and I had arrived at an explanation for my observation.
‘When the water drops and refreezes’ stayed in my consciousness as a promising first line for a poem.
I could easily have become involved in the process of creating a few more lines of poetry in some form or other. (I did mention my habit of introducing creativity into conversations).
Instead, I became aware of the possibility of a line of thought that would link with a longer term preoccupation, namely the production of material for a chapter on creativity for the new addition of dilemmas of leadership.
In one classical stage model of creativity, I had moved from preparation for the book to incubation, The period where I am not consciously thinking about the book, and then insight, the aha or Eureka moment, of conscious realisation of the implications of the new idea.
As I ‘speak, I am trying to capture the idea for its further progression in which might also be called the implementation or actualisation stage.

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Did Donald Trump contribute to the crash in share prices in his first week?

As Donald Trump’s first week of his second term as President came to an end, the Chinese A.I. company DeepSeek sent the stock markets plunging with claims of matching leading chatbots with substantially lower computer chip costs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/business/us-stock-market-deepseek-ai-sp500-nvidia.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The President’s reaction was robust: “The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company, should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/28/first-thing-donald-trump-calls-chinas-deepseek-ai-chatbot-a-wake-up-call

Influential AI reporter Karen Hao suggests a possible connection between Trump’s announcement and the Market reaction illustrating basic weaknesses in the current assumptions about AI development.

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Among the flurry of executive orders announced by President Trump arriving in office in January 20, 2025, was Executive Order 14171, directed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes in government...

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At first sight, Chess and darts seem very different games. This week, several coincidences drew my attention to an unexpected similarity.

At Chess this week, I had watched the remarkable emergence of gifted young chess players taking apart their seniors during a local Chess league match. No real surprise there, as it mainly reinforced the trend of young Chess players out-performing the older generation, led by our new teenage world champion, Gulesh.

But then, the first coincidence. I noticed a young man being interviewed after a success in a darts tournament. He was fresh faced, blinking earnestly from behind a pair of spectacles. He was a larger version of the juniors who had performed so admirably at the Chess match the night before.

A more disturbing coincidence, he bore a passing resemblance to a younger version of our distinguished captain of our B team...

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A lengthier than usual audiopost. These posts included are heavily against President Trump and his actions. Also, one commentator, @Acyn has been particularly prolific. I will try harder to search for more posts supportive of the new President in future collections.

@Scaramucci
Launch of Melania coin is causing Trump coin to crash. Elon was right, we are living in a simulation. Which one of the kids coins will perform best? The day before inauguration as leader of free world and this is what Trump is focused on. Tells you everything you need to know.

@krassenstein
BREAKING: The Trump family just launched the $MELANIA Memecoin and see $30 Billion evaporate.
As soon as it debuted, investors dumped $Trump coin—released just two days ago—resulting in a staggering $30 billion loss in paper wealth for those who believed in it.
@urbanmyths
The last time Donald Trump had a stock chart that looked this bad he was in the casino business, and the collapse took months. The nearly 50% collapse in $Trump crypto took hours.

@BettinaSRoss1
Those movements of hate that sweep across countries, today dropping anchor in the US yet again, they're damaging & painful. But one day, they will end. They exhaust themselves. They always do. There will be an other side, & we will get to it. That, too, we learn from history

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Spoken and written by Tudor Rickards

Wednesday 22 January, 2025

Nearly 20 years ago, a friend asked me why I was thinking of putting things on the web.
I didn’t know, and said it all looked very interesting.

A few years later, another friend asked me why I wanted to play around with Twitter.
I said I wanted to try it out.

Fast forward another ten years or so, and yet another colleague warned me not to waste my time trying to learn podcasting...

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Baron Munchausen and his Father Donald

A story for our times

This is the story of Baron Munchausen also known as Baron the younger, and his father, Donald the elder.
It seems that the Munchausen line had a rare genetic disorder, which leads to an incapability to distinguish been truth and falsehoods leading at times to assertions that other people considered to be impossible claims and exaggerations of their achievements.
The condition known as Munchausen syndrome is becoming better known as medical studies continue
I can reveal latest research which reveals hitherto unreported evidence about the syndrome.

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To be added

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This was intended to check how to save a file

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Wokeness. How a concept became a political battleground
Notes for a discussion

Spoken and written by Tudor Rickards
January 13, 2025

The widespread use of the term Woke has been attributed to the American folk and blues singer Huddie William Ledbetter (1888-2049), better known as Lead Belly.
In his performances to people of colour, he popularised the injunction ‘Stay woke’, (stay awake) to those injustices imposed on them.

The term returned in the vocabulary of civil rights activists in America in the 2010s. A tipping point was its use in the rise of the protest movement Black Lives Matter, in 2014 after the shooting of Michael Brown, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s killing and the subsequent events became a national controversy touching on much larger national issues of race, justice, and police violence.

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as title

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A classic who done it reviewed by Tudor Rickards

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The ‘Test next week’ logic puzzle

Spoken and written by Tudor Rickards
January 1st, 2025

A teacher tells her class
"I’m going to give you a test one day next week. I will not tell you the day, so that it will be a surprise for you".

This is a well-known puzzle in logic. Is the teacher correct in saying that the day of the test will be a surprise to her students?
If you haven’t heard this puzzle before, I’m giving you a little time to think about it. Serious thinkers may wish to halt the audio, until you think you have the answer, or have given up on it ...

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A dramatic turn of events in the battle for the Sunday morning doubles tennis trophy.

The long-awaited final tennis match of the year ended unexpectedly in late December, in a cancellation.

Injuries, and it must be admitted, advancing years, have taken their toll on the competitors.

The event at the Northern tennis, squash, and Paddle centre, has been competed for over several decades, and has been frequently mentioned in local social media in more recent times.

The regular competitors are team William (William and Gordon) representing Didsbury and Sale Dragons, and Team Lindsay, (Lindsay and myself) representing Weaverham and Woodford warriors

These weekly battles remain competitive. But recently, William has playing under enormous pressures from his medical advisors urging him to reduce the intensive training regime he follows ...

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Heroic Failure: Brexit and the politics of pain, by Fintan O’Toole

A review written and spoken by Tudor Rickards
28 December, 2024

Heroic Failure examines the nature of Brexit from the perspective of an Irish historian and political commentator. His central proposal contributes to a wider concept often described as English exceptionism parodied gently in the Flanders and Swann ballad, A song of Patriotic Prejudice, and which still rings round my memory banks

"The English, the English, the English are best, I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest"

The Heroic Failure of the title is taken from Stephanie Barczewski’s book Heroic Failure and the British which deals with the ill-fated quest by John Franklin to find the North West Passage a century earlier. His first expedition ended in failure with the ship abandoned and many crew lost. He was lauded for his heroism, and made a further ill judged attempt which resulted in a further conclusion with loss of the ship and all its crew including Franklin. There followed a classic case of history repeating itself as tragedy then as farce. Numerous attempts were made to the North West in search of the passage but the story had become merged with a sacred search of the lost hero Franklin. When the passage was eventually discovered it had lost the glamour of the earlier adventures.

As O’Toole put it, ‘complicated realities are no match for heroic failure’ (p68).

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An undated version for festive enjoyment...

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Lord Mandelson, and a diplomatic comparison with Nigel Farage

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards
20 December, 2024

Yesterday, Thursday 19 December, the news broke that Lord Mandelson was about to be confirmed as British Ambassador to the United States.
Mandelson had a controversial political career, often making headlines for colourful newsworthy stories about his private life.

His political legacy rests on the contributions he made in establishing Tony Blair’s New Labour movement which resulted in the longest period in power for the Labour Party at the expense of what traditional Labour supporters saw as a betrayal of their essential commitment to socialist beliefs. Other saw in him a ruthless political operator with dubious private activities.
His private activities forced him to resign from Government on two separate occasions, although in Houdini-like fashion returned to power on each occasion.

As the BBC put it
Lord Mandelson was dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" during his years as New Labour's spin doctor. The 71-year-old will now be the key link between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with Donald Trump's incoming administration during a crucial time for US-UK diplomacy.

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How Donald Trump’s long connection with professional wrestling helps us understand his effectiveness at manipulating reality.

Prepared and spoken by Tudor Rickards 19 December 2024, drawing on Goldman, A.J., ‘How Trump turned the elections into a wrestling match’, Published 12 September 2024, on the University of Lund website,
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/how-trump-turned-elections-wrestling-match

A fascinating article from the university of Lund suggests that Donald Trump’s long connection with the professional wrestling game helps understand his effectiveness at manipulating reality so that the difference between truth and fiction is masked.

The Article, by Religious Studies scholar Aaron James Goldman, is part of a wider research project at the University of Lund led by Associate Professor Patrik Fridlund exploring how political discourse is increasingly being characterised by ‘alternative facts’, fake news and conspiracy theories.

Reference

Conspiracy Theories, Post-Truth, and the Conditions of Public Debate,
Page Manager: aaron.goldman@ctr.lu.se | 2023-03-07
https://www.beyondtruthandlies.ht.lu.se/

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Understanding Artificial Intelligence through the lens of creativity.
Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards
14 December 2024

AI researchers have found creativity to be a valuable conceptual tool or lens for thinking about the nature of Artificial Intelligence.

One of the leading creativity researchers, Professor Mark Runco, wrote one of the most cited articles making a claim to standardise the definition of creativity. This was published in 2012 in the prestigious Creativity Research Journal which he founded and edited for many years.

The paper widely cited is

Runco, M. A., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The Standard Definition of Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2012.650092

How was the standard derived? Essentially by offering it as received knowledge, the kind I describe in DIlemmas of Leadership as a ‘shared platform of understanding’. The authors write: ‘The standard definition is bipartite: Creativity requires both originality and effectiveness.’ This captured a considerable consensus among creativity scholars and communicators.

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A disturbing discovery in creative education. The rise of theory-lite courses
Spoken and written by
Tudor Rickards
December 5 2024

In researching for a revised edition of my textbook Dilemmas of Leadership, over the period August-December, 2024, I have become increasingly disturbed about the lack of progress in the field of teaching materials on offer about the nature of creativity.

This informal note is addressed in the first instance to members of my professional network of contacts with whom I have been corresponding.

It has the merits (and weaknesses) of a preliminary announcement. Through it, I hope to encourage discussion among colleagues with prior interest in, and many with considerable practical and scholarly knowledge of creativity.

This note is at present no more than an initial impression from a literature search for new ideas on creativity and leadership. It also drew on creativity research sources cited in the most recent edition of Dilemmas of Leadership which was published in 2015 (itself based on earlier editions in 2006 and 2012).

The precise concern arose after I had closely examined the first nine chapters, each of which addressed a theme dealing with an aspect of leadership. Each chapter is examined through case examples and a literature-based study. In every chapter I was able to identify new and valuable material.

However, in Chapter ten, on creativity, I was disturbed that I have so far failed in finding any convincing new contributions which took a theory-based approach. Worse, the bulk of the new courses ignored vital contributions historically.

As one simple but important example, the work of Teresa Amabile helped moved the focus of research underpinning creative education towards incorporating a social science perspective. This seems to be ignored in the plethora of newer research-lite offerings I am finding.

A related omission is the significance of creativity as a personal felt experience
which grew out of the human potential movement pioneered by Maslow and by Carl Rogers.

This suggests that creative education is attracting a large number of new entries to the field. This is clearly a potential source of innovation. However, it seems to be coming with a disturbing number of organisations and individuals with simplistic models for supporting creative thinking.

Some are using the emerging AI paradigm to claim the novelty of the new courses. As far as I can see, there is little appreciation of the nature of the creativity paradigm.

I have avoided citing specific courses, and would encourage anyone interested to carry out their own search and share their findings.

If my preliminary finding turns out to be correct, it will become a matter of concern to the community of creativity and innovation researchers and practitioners, and a focal point for action.

Postscript

My work at present has been confined to courses offered in English. Any comments from international sources would be particularly welcome.

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President Biden’s final dilemma. What to do about Hunter?
December 2 2024.
Written and Spoken by Tudor Rickards

President Biden announces he intends to pardon his son Hunter over long-running criminal charges. The president had previously indicated he would not make a special case for his son, who has well-documented problems of alcoholism.

https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-ukraine-firm-memoir-beautiful-things-40d98f7edf2e72f84ba2f12856327c5e

Hunter was convicted of three firearm charges in June. He subsequently pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. He was due to be sentenced later this month.

The President’s action prompted the expected response from the incoming Republicans. Donald Trump criticised Joe Biden's decision to pardon his son as an "abuse and miscarriage of justice".

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Wit and wisdom, late November 2024

DocAtCDI
Before you laugh at children who believe in Santa Claus, Remember there are adults who believe in Donald Trump

Juliest@101
Now that the dust has settled ... the farmer's protest and wall to wall positive coverage by the MSM hasn't garnered public support for their cause but simply informed the public that some greedy farmers and landowners don't want to pay their fair share of taxes.

@labour_history
On death of the Labour politician John Prescott

1. Labour Manifesto Launch.
   Deputy PM John Prescott is hit by an egg after encountering pro-fox-hunting protesters in Rhyl.
   He responds with a left jab.
   Prescott later tells Blair 'well, you asked me to go out and connect with the electorate'.
   RIP JP 🌹🌹

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Creative protests by book lovers

27 November 2024
Spoken and written by Tudor Rickards, based on an article from the Central Bylines website published earlier this week.

I have long supported Everyday Creativity, the ways we all can add to our everyday routines to produce more creative results.
I came across a splendid example in a gentle response to the publication of his autobiographical book ‘Unleased’ by Boris Johnson. The former Prime Minister applied his own everyday talents to marketing his book at an appearance on a TV chat show about the American presidential election earlier this month. So much so, that he was banned from further appearances after a post-show confrontation.

He and his book were subsequently on the receiving end of a series of public protests of a most unusual by members of the public. The results were described in the article in Central Bylines.

https://centralbylines.co.uk/lifestyle/books/a-great-british-bookshelf-revolt-buries-johnsons-unleashed/

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Toxic Masculinity and the Andrew Tait case

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards
November 27, 2024

Toxic masculinity has become a topic of research and debate in the 2020s. Andrew Tate has become identified as a case example who is also recognised as a successful global leader/influencer attracting enormous publicity through the social media.

In July 2022, it was reported there were more Google searches for his name than for Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian. His impact on his followers is familiar to impact of cult leaders.

Lifton, Robert Jay. Losing reality: On cults, cultism, and the mindset of political and religious zealotry. The New Press, 2019.

According to Lifton

Quote: The cult leader becomes an object beyond any meaningful accountability, and becomes the unifying and defining element of the group and its beliefs.

A process of indoctrination, and exploitation takes place by the leader and the ruling coterie which leads to group members to act in ways seen by outsiders as being primarily in interest of the group leader.

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Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards
22 November, 2022

Elon Musk has acquired spectacular success as an innovator. He has been compared with career great engineering pioneers who shaped our world.

One list places him alongside George Stevenson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Thomas Edison, Ada Lovelace, and Henry Ford. In addition, the list contained a particularly interesting nomination of Nicola Tesla [Musk is in part famed for his strategic leadership of the Tesla organisation].

What lessons can be learned from studying the leadership story of Elon Musk’s time at the social media site known as Twitter, which he has converted into the site now known as ‘X’?

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Boris Loses It

20 November 2024

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards from articles in The Week, The Economist, and a Case study from Henley Business School.

The rise and fall of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has become one of the most widely studied cases of political leadership from the perspective of a leaders losing the trust of his ministerial colleagues.

The long and complex story is difficult to examine as an historical event. A starting point is to collect information at a critical point and assist its significance.

One such point occurred in the days approaching what amounted to a coup administered by his cabinet of ministers, themselves aware of the views of other conservatives and their constituency members.

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Wit and Wisdom November 10-18, 2024

Finding wit and wisdom in the Presidential election result

@LongTimeHistory
Sadly, there will be 4 more years of Trump for Tennessee Brando to write songs.
His new song is about MAGA selling out their daughters for cheaper eggs.
🎶 The red hats are flexing, they're all acting thrilled.
They don't know how tariffs work, but soon they sure will.
They think their leader saved them, and he's restored their faith.
But we see they cut their noses off to spite their own face🎶
🎶 They sold out their daughters, and they threw away their friends.
On a senseless notion, they could all be great again.
When they scream they didn't vote for this, remind them yes you did.
And ask them how it's going, with those cheaper eggs.🎶

Garry Kasparov, one the greatest chess players of all time, and now a political activist
reposted an earlier tweet …
The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth

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A tale of creative accounting from His Majesty's Armed Forces

16 November, 2024

This podcast is spoken by Tudor Rickards from content which has appeared on several internet sites but without attribution.

Today I found the tale replicated in the correspondence to the Guardian’ s quick crossword, supplied by the puzzler Bath Osprey. I would welcome any suggestions of its origins:

Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out details of his pension and, in particular, the tax-free ‘lump sum’ award, (based upon completed years of service), that he would receive in addition to his monthly pension.

The letter read:
“Dear Lt. Colonel Maclaren,
We write to confirm that you retired from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on 1st March 2001 at the rank of Lt Colonel, having been commissioned into the British Army at Edinburgh Castle as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st February 1366.
Accordingly your lump sum payment, based on years served, has been calculated as £68,500. You will receive a cheque for this amount in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Army Paymaster”

...

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The Gartner hype cycle: An investment system explained using a mapping metaphor

This podcast is spoken and produced by Tudor Rickards drawing on information from:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2024/07/18/the-trough-of-disillusionment-and-four-outliers-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle/;
https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle

As its commercial owner, the Gartner research organisation explains, the Gartner hype cycle is a methodology which helps companies assess the potential risks and rewards of emerging technologies. Each Hype Cycle drills down into the five key phases of a technology’s life cycle.

Innovation Trigger
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Trough of Disillusionment
Slope of Enlightenment
Plateau of Productivity

Notice the use of a map as an explanatory metaphor ....

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How is trust earned and lost?

Notes prepared for a 4th edition of Dilemmas of Leadership
November 11
I scribble down some initial thoughts.
How is trust earned and lost?
Psychological theories
Practical experiences
Are leaders actions ‘banked’?
And selectively remembered with distortions: the popular expression of a deeply held belief as
“QUOTE I’ll never forget the way he…”

A personal story
Trust building exercises on leadership courses at Brathay Hall with executives and MBA graduates.
Conventional wisdom in such exercises to support experiential learning, team building and leadership development.

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Chess training resumes. Question of the week: “why can’t a Queen castle?”

After half-term hiatus, my Sunday morning junior chess training resumes. As ever, the session is a source of enlightenment for me (as well, I hope, for the students).
I can report the break has not affected the retention of earlier lessons by the students.
For example, one has become somewhat entranced by the utterance of the magic term ‘j'adoube’, as defence against the other magic utterance ‘touch a piece, move a piece’.
If anything, he has stretched its use to meaning “I’m taking that move back”

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Ed Davey. Don’t laugh at him, he’s not a fool.

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

In the 2024 General Election in the United Kingdom, The Liberal Democratic Party leader Ed Davey began to attract media coverage for a series of events which were unkindly described as political stunts. Davey was widely mocked by the press, and by the general public who appeared mostly confused about them.

An irate journalist for the Telegraph vented feelings implied by other media commentators

“[T]here is something a little depressing about a party that once served as the voice of Britain’s radical consciousness reducing itself to Davey’s aquatic antics. He managed to capsize his paddleboard no fewer than five times. That suggests either that the Lib Dem leader is as poor at watersports as he is at meeting aggrieved postmasters, or that he is truly desperate for attention”

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On naming Liverpool’s new football manager … the case for Nominative Determinism.

The story came to life for me today, when William, an acquaintance of mine who is an avid football follower, suggested that you had to have a special sort of name at present to become a manager at Liverpool FC.

"They used to pick managers with solid English or Scottish names", he continued, " - Bill, Kenny, Joe, Bob and Roy."
I resisted saying that Roy Evans was Welsh ...

"Anyway, then they went foreign. After Jurgen Klopp, they needed someone with similar sort of name and selected Arne Slot".

I was about to pour scorn on the idea, when I remembered the theory of Nominative Determinism. A little research, and I came up with evidence which goes back to ancient Roman times...

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Wit and Wisdom: Election special, 6 November 2024

Composed by contributors to “X”
Collated and spoken by Tudor Rickards
8.00am
Times are GMT. Posts from 3 - 6 November

@elonmusk
Last election, I didn’t know a single independent/swing voter who was voting for Trump.
This time, I don’t know anyone who isn’t.
And one person after another has confided in me that they’re voting for Trump, but they’re afraid to say so publicly, because it will affect their friends/job/customers.
Crushing defeat is coming for the oppressive. big government machine represented by the Kamala puppet.

@hodgetwins
Every man in the United States has to go vote for Trump on Tuesday
It don’t matter if you got to stand in line for 12 hours, NOTHING stops you from voting for Trump
Your country needs you now more than ever
(TR: Message for men only?)

@FroemelAndy
I will swim through raw sewage for Trump!

@WallStreetApes
I don’t know a single person who’s voting Kamala Harris. Every video I come across is saying they’re voting for Donald Trump with the entire comments section saying the same thing. Every social media poll is a Trump blowout yet somehow the votes & polls are telling us it’s close

@RoryStewart
I haven’t changed my mind on Kamala Harris winning comfortably. And I’m looking forward to the elaborate explanations from the polling companies on why they failed to predict the result.

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Wit and wisdom, November 1-4 2024

@cjhancock
People say I have an elevendency to exaggerate.
@mustard99
Same here, I go to Elevenerife on holiday.

@at a prayer meeting for Trump
“But I want you to know and we want you to know we believe you are a vessel. You are a chosen vessel”
@jemmaforte
The Titanic?

@TollytB
Everyone should try blindfold archery.
Go on, give it a go, you don't know what you're missing.

@cynicalboomer
Reporting on a discussion on Fox News over wives deceiving their husbands about how they voted
jesse: if i found out my wife secretly voted for harris, "that's the same thing as having an affair... that violates the sanctity of our marriage... that would be D Day"

@lesmartin7
Why do so many people get simple sayings wrong?
Answers on a coastguard please...

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Dilemmas of Leadership Chapter 2: Dilemmas of Destiny and Development

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

Faced with an important leadership problem, a helpful approach is to arrive at a simple either–or statement which expresses a way of thinking as a dilemma.

Sometimes this is enough for an idea of resolving the problem to occur to you.

At other times, deeper thinking may be required, often of a creative kind.

A powerful thinking trigger is to convert the problem into a how-to statement which becomes the starting point for ideas for addressing the problem. These usually suggest different actions than those indicated in the original dilemma.

A simple example

Jan’s dilemma
We don’t know whether to spend our holiday celebration with my parents, or with Greta’s parents.
Greta’s parents live close by, and have plenty of room for us to stay.
Jan’s parents live a long way away, and have no spare room if we visit.
Which ever we chose, the other parents will be unhappy ...

Stop the video here if you want to explore ideas of what Jan and Greta might do.

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@jdpoc John O’Donnell
Remember, clocks go back tonight.
If you're a Tory, back to 1953.
If you're Reform, back to 1932.
If you're Jacob Rees-Mogg, back to 1741.
And if you're Nigel Farage, you just demand that 'Clocks Should Go Back Where They Came From."

@disavowtrump20
Jeff Bezos has forced The Washington Post - the newspaper he owns - to not endorse in a presidential race for the first time 36 years because he’s worried Donald Trump will take away his government contracts.
@askDinaDoll
So apparently the only billionaire with courage is @taylorswift13
@EveNewtonJobs
and Beyoncé

@Keir_Starmer
This is a landmark week for Britain.
For the first time in 15 years, our Budget will put working people first.
The truth is, the Tories left you to pay the price for their chaos.
We will clear up their mess. Step up in tough times, not stand back.
We will deliver change.

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The club of 1984. A walk down memory lane

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

10.45am, Monday 28 October, 2024
I am sitting in Bold Street Coffee (est 2010)
It’s one of a range of coffee shops and rather swanky bars which have replaced the West wing of the old Manchester Business School off Booth Street West.
I’m about to join the 40 year reunion of MBA graduates at what is now the Alliance ManchesterBusiness School.
Manchester has changed. Its Business School has changed. Goes without saying, I and the MBA grads have changed. Beyond recognition? I hope not.
I eventually find my bearings and locate the impressive facade, inside which I hope to find archeological evidence of its ancestor.
The usual mutual pleasures of recognition at a reunion. James has organised the event with military precision. He remembers something from one of my lectures. Postpone Judgement, he adds.
Glorious flattery. Thanks Charles.
We straggle in.
Another surprise. Our reception committee is fronted by an old friend, Lisa Sanberg. We have a clumsy consensual huggle. To the left of the reception area there is a spectacular mural in the Greco-Mancunian style representing Ascent of Man …Chester

Our conversations return to recollections of the titans in our shared time in the roaring eighties.
The competitions for the Goat, greatest lecturer, top in consulting earnings. The Prof who won the drinking prize for waking up one morning not remembering where he was or how he got there…

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Cricket’s dirty secret revealed.

I am utterly gobsmacked. Flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Discombobulated. Shocked to my underparts. Shaken and stirred. My entire sense of reality upset.
This morning, early enough for me to suspect I had been dreaming, I heard the hideous truth about the cornerstone of everything British, the game of cricket.
I am not alone.
Scales dropped from my eyes.
It is six thirty am, during the last week of British summer time. I am avoiding getting out of bed, listing to a sports bulletin from Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
The commentator announced England has won the toss on what he described as a very unusual pitch.
If anything his description was an understatement.
Selection might have given a clue. More spinners were included by both sides. The preparation of the pitch was not some much unusual as surreal.
Every effort had been made to produce conditions favourable to the spinners. Serious technology was deployed including gigantic air blowers, backed up by patio heaters. Scratch marks scarred the pitch. A groundsman had been observed dragging a sack of nails its entire length.
In case you are wondering, this not an exaggeration, but as reported by the commentator.

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Monday, the 21st of October

The East Cheadle second team begins it season with a lengthy trip to a newcomer to the league Glossop.
Our new captain Jim continues to show off the luxury of driving in his super new BMW. His enthusiasm stretches to picking up various members of the team transporting us to the event.

The pick ups are executed smoothly. we set off into the night. We have every reason to be confident. Glossup has had a bad start to its first season in the league. in their last match, they lost all their games to a modestly ranked team in the league. For once we were not going to be out ranked on each board.

We arrived at the desolate streets of Glossop apparently deserted by its inhabitants. Even the car park was empty and we fumbled our way eventually finding the entrance to an unusually impressive building which housed the club.

Inside, we were welcomed by a clubroom of remarkable opulence. Light. Warm. Plenty of room between the Chess boards. And a unique innovation, a trolley with coffee and refreshments.

We were strengthened by new member Dan, leading as our highest ranked player. On board two, James, another first team regular with dispensation to play for the second team.

Board three was Captain Jim, I was on Board 4, and with great courage, the team was completed by Keith, still recovering from a nasty fall and bearing the bruises for all to see.

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The Dilemmas of a new King: Charles 111 heckled on his State Visit to Australia.
Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

On October 21, 2024, the 70 year-old King Charles is making his first visit to Australia since acceding to the throne.
His time as King has been troubled with serious health problems.
His earlier role as Prince of Wales was frequently interrupted by Welsh Nationalists shouting “you’re not our Prince”.

King Charles suffers from the longevity and popularity of his Mother Queen Elizabeth 2.His image management must be difficult, even for the formidable publicity machine on behalf of the Monarchy sometimes referred to as ‘the firm’. The troubled life of the house of Windsor’ as it was described by Penny Junor, one of the most loyal of Royal Correspondents.

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-firm-the-troubled-life-of-the-house-of-windsor-penny-junor?variant=32181688303650

As he is concluding his address to the Australian Parliament in Canberra, Senator Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal independent lawmaker for Victoria, interrupts King Charles’, shouting “you’re not my King”. Outrage and embarrassment ensued ...

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Why I don’t edit my podcasts. It’s not entirely sloth, or obsessive need for closure

Written and spoken by Tudor Rickards

20 October, 2024

I have friends who are far more tech-savvy than I am. One asked me directly recently why I didn’t remove the various audio blubs or whatever they are called from my podcasts.
The others probably remain silent to stop further discussion of podcasting (a subject banned from our coffee meetings,, along with philosophy, Manchester United, and reminiscences of work practices in the 1960s when we were all gainfully employed.)
My justification, otherwise known as special pleading, goes as follows:
I am an amateur podcaster just like the vast majority of practitioners. I leave it to my highly satisfactory site buzzsprout to do a certain amount of magic as they call it in marketing terms to remove the most gross extraneous noises in my work. That leaves the occasional lengthy pause while I recall my next sentence. Incidentally, this is true even if I am working from a reasonable script in front of me.

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A brilliant fighting draw for the injury-hit first team: Urmston v East Cheadle irregulars

Thursday 17 October 2024

It’s the nightmare of travelling to the gates of hell and through the Urmston roundabout, year after year. The great Welsh philosopher Dai Nickerbockers called this the perpetual recurrence.nightmare, but that’s a different story.

So, to the tale of pulsating matches, of victories gained and victories snatched away by the fickle finger of chess fate.

But I get ahead of myself, perhaps dizzy with the afterglow of the dramatic events which unfolded.

The trip began with a remarkably simple journey once it was discovered at club night yesterday that I had been selected due to the injury problems that have beset our premier league team. Also that Jim McKie had answered the call, like a latter day Braveheart, to lead the team into battle, and would deliver half the team through the treacherous Urmston roundabout ...

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The Photograph of 63. A short story by Stephen Tranter

It gives me a lot of pleasure to introduce this podcast. It’s a prize-winning short story written by and read by Steven Tranter.
He says it’s partly biographic. I’d say it’s a fine example of a creative work from an experienced author. If you like what you are about to listen to, you will be able find examples of Steve’s novels drawing on his legal experience, via Dr Google or Amazon.
Tudor Rickards

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‘Institutions under siege: Donald Trump’s Attack on the Deep State’ , by John Campbell, A review’
Prepared by Tudor Rickards, Monday 14 October, 2024.

The most debated political question of the year is arguably ‘Will Donald Trump win the Presidency of the United States for the Second Time? (Or for the third time, as the question might be posed by Trump’s MAGA supporters).
Let’s stick to ‘for the second time’.
The question has increasingly dominated media attention this year, as the likelihood of a second term grew during polls after the Trump v Biden debate.
Then came the period of increasing pressure on Biden to resign. When reluctantly he did resign, vice President Kamala Harris showed as an initial boost in polling numbers, until around two months before polling day on November 5th.

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Wit and wisdom, October 2024

This podcast could have been dominated by the Middleton East crisis. Instead, the Nobel prize announcements caught my eye. The posts about Netanyahu capture rage, anger, frustration, and scapegoating, but unsurprisingly no wit, and not a lot of wisdom.

@TollytB
I just asked my girlfriend, "Is it just me, or is the cat getting fat?"
"No, it's just you."

@bbclaura
While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead. It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday
Me, [in reply]
The BBC faces another dilemma of leadership in dealing with the aborted interview with BJ. Some possibilities:
The Ostrich solution
The Victoria Derbyshire solution
The Shakespearian solution
The Boris and Laura Xmas Special solution

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An innovator describes his process of Invention.

This morning, I received a email from an old friend, Ram Kumar Saxena. We have kept in touch for many years since he wrote an article about his invention processes for the then new journal, Creativity and Innovation Management.
He kindly updated me on his thoughts, which he hoped would be of value in my current efforts at updating my textbook Dilemmas of Leadership.
He was right.
To explain, I have to go back to his early article with its somewhat formidable title. ‘ The Greeks had a word for it: ‘PGP-J’, a logistic model of the innovation process, and a case example of successful innovation '.

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To my chess students and parents. A ‘Sunday sermon’.

I came across a summary of my often repeated message to chess students. It’s useful, too for parents wanting to encourage them.

Here is the advice from Marks Meadows a chess coach, which I hope is already familiar, and could have come from my ‘Sunday sermons’. The advice comes in two parts.

To get better, Mark says:

'Memorize the core opening principles: Develop pieces as fast as you can, only one or two pawn moves, don’t move a piece more than once if you can avoid it, castle early, develop knights then bishops then Queen, control the center, threaten something.
Concentrate HARD on what your opponent just did. He’s the meanest person in the room and is trying to steal your lunch and spit in your soda. Pay attention to his moves. No, he is not “fooled” by your plan. He is doing everything in his power to trash you and should never be left alone. Kick him…use your knight, it kicks harder. I’m totally amazed at the number of players who think they can ignore what the opponent just did.'
So that’s it.

My Sunday students are all showing progress at the first part, the basic principles.
The second part is taking longer. The most important step is to start practicing seeing what your opponent’s move might mean, what it changes. Does it threaten to take one of your pieces? You won’t get it right every time, at first. But you will get better and better.

So that’s it, the end of my Sunday sermon. Hope you remember it next time we meet over the chess board.

Why not play it to your 'chess students' before the next chess lesson?

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How to explain Social Constructionism to a Scientist, and why it matters

Together with a team of teaching colleagues, I have been introducing participants on business courses to an approach for developing leadership skills. The results of earlier courses turned into the book Dilemmas of Leadership which reached its third edition in 2015.
I am now considering what would be needed for such a course a decade later.
There are obviously changes in the challenges faced or about to be faced by participants.
There are also ways of improving the contents with the benefits of hindsight.
One particular challenge struck me. It is what you might say when you discover something you should have seen before. The discovery of the bleeding obvious...

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Did the Vice Presidential debate swing the needle in the swing states?
Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards

October 2 2024
The debate between Vice Presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance was billed as a possible electoral game changer.

Whatever else it did, this was a real exchange of views around matters of interest to the public. And within the debate, there was a reasonable level of acceptance of the rules of engagement. Would there be enough straws to break the camel’s back and swing the result of the election?
For the democrats, Walz has been polling positively, Vance less so. Walz may have already made a contribution to the result of the election with his attack line that Trump and MAGA supporters are weird.
Vance has done little to dispel the weirdness accusation, and his personal rating in polls has been far more negative.
So, how did the debate go?

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The worst weather of this miserable late-summer turned dripping autumn. I give up on my target steps of the day, driving the short distance for groceries fording the rising water levels.

Settle for quiet evening ...

Doorbell. Some Amazon product I had forgotten?

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I have completed 0.001% of the text of the new edition to my book

Friday 27 November 2024

This is a brief account of how I wrote the first sentence to the planned fourth edition of Dilemmas of Leadership.
Tudor Rickards

“In this book, I show how effective leadership is a form of creative problem-solving applied to resolving important dilemmas”
In a typical example, I struggled late into night looking for a way of explaining what the 4th edition was all about.
At 5.30am I awoke and wrote down the result of my resolution of the dilemma..

Why typical?
Reminded me of the famous story of a creative thought emerging from a period of what creativity writers describe as incubation. This is often attributed to the stage theory of creativity by Graham Wallas in his book The Art of Thought, Harcourt Brace, NY

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Wit and Wisdom Mid September 2024

Posts dominated by political news so let’s start with more news from the era of AI

@demishasabbis
Advanced mathematical reasoning is a critical capability for modern AI. Today we announce a major milestone in a longstanding grand challenge: our hybrid AI system attained the equivalent of a silver medal at this year’s International Math Olympiad!

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Starmer’s conference speech as a dilemma between gloomy news and light at the end of the tunnel.

Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards
Tuesday 24 September 2024

Eight weeks into crushing victory in the 2024 General Election, the new Labour government led by Sir Keir Starmer faced its first major dilemma at the start of its annual conference in Liverpool.
In the early weeks, heady feelings of success were dampened as the reality of the political crisis it inherited was confirmed.
Unfavourable news headlines of internal dissent over the ‘pensioner’s loss of fuel allowance' were followed by the distractions over gifts accepted by the PM and the deputy leader Angela Rayner.

The primary message the new government was expected to convey was the unexpectedly serious financial situation they had inherited, weighing against the election success on the watchword of change and the promise of a decade of renewal.

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September 23 2024

An audio record of six ideas which were jotted down in support of the new edition of Dilemmas of Leadership this morning.
TR

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Written and narrated by Tudor Rickards, in homage to, and inspired by, an episode of the original peerless Columbo TV series.

The story opens as an aging Columbo is playing chess with his grandson Alix. He tells Alix that the opening Alex plays reminds him of a case in which he betters the world champion at the time.
It’s called the fried liver attack.
Columbo begins to describe the case. The scene fades into the story line ….

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The Trump Defense: Why Donald Trump is a Natural Born Genius.

As was seen and heard in his debate with Kamala Harris, Donald Trump is sensitive to criticism. He often overreacts to justify any perceived slight.
Recently, he has become even more emphatic that attendance at his rallies are outstanding and for sure no one leaves before the end.
A good example of his style took place in the town hall event in Flint, Michigan, 18 September 2024.

Much of his presentation, as so often, concentrated on himself, his achievements and the unfair criticism he receives from the fake news media.

I have abbreviated a long and torturous address, while I believe keeping to the main point he was trying to make...

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The Trump Harris debate. Who won, and does it matter?

What were Trump’s objectives
How did he do?
Donald Trump, according to his aides, intended to cast Kamala Harris as being too radical, and to link her to the Biden administration's unpopular policies.
He was strong on his condemnation of Kamala Harris but was repeatedly dragged off message where his efforts were often confused. He repeated a hilarious story about millions of immigrants ruining our country including a particularly dangerous group in Springfield who were catching pet cats and dogs and eating them. Challenged, he said he had read the story in newspapers.

What were Harris’s objectives
How did she do?
Her challenge tonight was to address those voters who say they don't know enough about her, or her policies.
She did this well according to reputable commentaries...

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Wit and wisdom Early September 2024

@sandford_Police
Someone has been stealing the wheels of police cars
We are working tirelessly to catch them
@theleaway
Got any (jump) leads?
@sandford_Police
Some positives, some negative

@lesmartin7
I'm old enough to remember when emojis were called "hieroglyphics."

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How to train your chat bot, and how your chat bot trains you

This is a Dilemmas of Leadership audio file to support the planned production of a future edition.

September 5 2024

The title of chapter 5 of dilemmas of leadership is shared meanings and why myths matter.
The big idea of the chapter is the reality of leadership. This is an important question to ask. Many Books and articles about leadership ask the question in one form or other.
In working on the chapter, I asked one of the new generation of artificial intelligent aids. ‘What is the meaning of leadership?’

What followed showed what a chatbot can do, how you might be able to train it, and how it also trains you.

The chatbot Poe quickly replied
QUOTE
The meaning of leadership can be summarized as follows:

Leadership is the ability to guide, inspire, and influence others towards a common goal or vision. It involves several key elements:

1. Vision and Direction: Effective leaders have a clear and compelling vision for the future, and can articulate this vision in a way that motivates and aligns their team or organization. [1]

2. Influence and Inspiration: Leaders have the ability to inspire and influence others, getting them to willingly commit to and work towards achieving the shared vision and goals. [1]

3. Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: Leaders make sound, strategic decisions and effectively solve problems, even in times of uncertainty or crisis. They provide the necessary guidance and direction. [1]

4. Empowerment and Coaching: Great leaders empower their team members, providing them with the resources, support, and autonomy to grow and succeed. They act as coaches, helping others develop their skills and reach their full potential. [3]

5. Adaptability and Resilience: Effective leaders are able to adapt their leadership style to different situations and challenges. They remain resilient in the face of obstacles, modeling a positive and determined attitude. [1]
   END QUOTE

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Charisma ain’t what it used to be

A Dilemmas of Leadership audiotape
2 September 2024

Chapter 4 of dilemmas of leadership deals with charisma under the title 'Charisma ancient and modern versions'.
On my first rereading, I found the chapter in good shape but in considerable need of updating of the examples of charismatic leaders chosen. As the chapter includes historical accounts of the concept, much of it be retained.
What will require revision? The replacement of the examples with the remarkable resurgence of charismatic leaders since the last edition.
These were to become significant in the politics of the early 2020s as well as in Business.

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Dealing with Artificial Intelligence Nightmares.

A new word is creeping into articles about artificial intelligence with increasing frequency. The word is ‘terrified’.

A recent article outlines how the fear of the implications of new AI systems has become as important an issue among scientists as has the fear of global warming.

It was in 2023 that articles started in the popular press over the dangers of machine learning. The New York Times described the case of Geoffrey Hinton, an internationally respected pioneer of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Hinton had resigned from his post at Google to draw attention to the issue ...

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Dilemmas of leadership Chapter one

The revisor’s dilemma. What to leave out

I’ve finished a careful examination of chapter 1 of Dilemmas of Leadership, edition 3.
Two important issues to be considered.
What to leave out
The basic chapter structure.

An unexpected dilemma. What to leave out? My notes already suggest clarifications and improvements. But I am contracted to produce a work of approximately the same size as the last edition, with an expected wood length of 125,000 words.

I see more clearly that the reader is expected to take in far too much unfamiliar information and concepts.
As I thought, the reader is not given enough explanations in the introduction to understand the importance of terms used throughout the book. There is a need to simplify the contents of each chapter which follow a similar pattern.

The shared framework could and should be simplified. This calls for a basic chapter redesign including the introduction.
This replicated structure could be achieved by simplifying the presentation of the concepts, and use of acronyms, particularly POUs and CMs.

This vital change is one where I would particularly make only after further study, and completion of an examination of all twelve chapters of the third edition.

My starting suggestion would be as follows.

STUDY MATERIALS
With two sub headings
Platforms of Understanding (POUs)
Contextual Materials (CMs)

Comments on both length and structure welcomed.

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@DrAnnieHickox
Kirstie Allsopp reported to social services for allowing son, 15, to travel abroad
I am no fan of the woman, but for god’s sake, reporting her to social services for allowing her 15 year old to travel abroad with a friend is beyond absurd.
@revpaulwhite
When I was about 10 I once got a train from Essex to London on my own.
I have retrospectively reported my parents to social services...
@paulTempleman6
A responsible citizen doing the right thing.

@Nexta_
A kit has been released for the Cybertruck that turns the car into an APC.
The Sting Protector modification from Archimedes Defense protects the driver from 7.62mm bullets fired from an assault rifle.
Ready for the zombie apocalypse.
@CaptainSwing666
Anyone who buys one of these for the zombie apocalypse is probably safe. Simply because zombies eat brains and those are missing in Cybertruck customers.

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Toxic Masculinity: The Andrew Tate story and the Southport riots

Saturday 24 August, 2024

My attention was captured this morning by a post on X once known as Twitter

I firmly believe that toxic masculinity played a large part in the failure of the UK's Brexit negotiations. our chief negotiators went in for a fight rather than a compromise and simply got outthought. We frittered away our goodwill and soft power because we thought we were hard.

@CaptainSwing666, 24 August on X.

It attracted my attention because I had been thinking about toxic masculinity as a topic worth noting for the next edition of DOL. But my interest had focused not so much on Brexit as on the discussion as to the causes of the outburst of violence in England this month, which seem to spring up unexpectedly, and died down as rapidly. These followed the murder of three children in Southport and which became known as the Southport riots.

Pundits have more than willing to discuss the riots in terms of toxic masculinity (conveniently overlooking some pretty egregious examples of toxic anger also expressed by women at the riots and trending on social media platforms.

The triggering events and attacks on Mosques and the moslem communities seem to have been false claims that the murderer was a young illegal immigrant.

The name Andrew Tate cropped up as an indirect instigator. Tate has risen to international notice a a figure influencing a generation adolescents boys and young men with promises of realising their masculinity by methods involving the humiliation of women.

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Dilemmas of Leadership Edition 4

Audio note book. Introductory Materials

These notes are intended to help me to write a the fourth edition of my textbook Dilemmas of Leadership. I hope that by sharing these notes I will be able to receive feedback so that the learning may be extended to the general challenge of writing a new addition of other textbooks.

I am thinking of the project very much as an example of project management.
But it is not the sort of project inventing a new product. Rather it is the project of develop a mature product into the next generation of its time.
It occurred to me that it has some of the characteristics of product development, including the necessity to take into account characteristics which will continue to define the output as a successor rather than a totally new invention.
In films it might be compared with producing the latest James Bond movie or perhaps in computer games the next generation of a popular game series.
So how to start? The product brief is simple. To produce the next version of dilemmas of leadership to an agreed time and length.
Other structural features will fit into the wider family of products produced by the publisher Taylor & Francis or its Routledge production arm.

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In the recent Olympic Games the athletes have often talked about visualisation and how it helped them achieve their goals.
I report on an experiment in which I attempt to remember a task I often forget to my subsequent inconvenience ...

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As the games reaches its spectacular concluding ceremonies in Paris, its future remains unclear.The undoubted success of these games have been marred by the controversy over the opening ceremony, and over the boxing legitimacy of the medals won by Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif. Both boxers have been subjected to abuse on social media and speculation about their sexes even though the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said they both have met all criteria.

The dilemma for the IOC is one facing global organisations: How to change while retaining core values associated with its brand.
Some understanding comes from the way the Olympic Charter clarifies its mission. Yes, it’s like the mission statement of any corporation ...

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Looking back, the highlights of week one were its dramatic and controversial opening ceremony.
Then there was the emergence of the superstar of the games for the home crowds, swimming superstar 22 year old Léon Marchand who won four gold medals.
The other highlights for me were the sensational 100 metres final, in which US the American Noah Lyles won the event by five-thousandths of a second in 9.69', from Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, in a dramatic photo finish. For the first time, the eight finalists all had run under 10 seconds in a wind-legal race, making it the fastest race in history.

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Dominated by the political scene in England and America, and the final of the Football competition in Europe ...

Sky’s Beth Rigby
I asked @Keir_Starmer about Saka’s goal in Eng v Switz on plane: “That was classic Bukayo cuts in from the right & that shot is absolutely classic – inside of the post – I’ve seen it so many times. And I’d remind you, England have not missed a penalty under a Labour govt in 2024”

@garygilligan
A connection here, wanting to describe me (and others) as "satirists", has had it autocorrected to "satanists".
Easily confused...

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The Wire Cage is a tennis court on which a body of a tennis player is discovered in mysterious and baffling circumstances. Carr is famous for his 'Impossible crime' plots, and this is one of his most baffling.
Highly recommended, and not just to tennis players.

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A knock on the door. Two boys, aged 10-11.
'Do you want to buy a book?'
'How much?' I asked ...

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What's the difference between chess positions and chess problems?

You will have come across chess puzzles and chess positions recommended as ways of improving your chess, maybe on the internet.
But what's the difference?
I explain and suggest how both are valuable as study aids.

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Olympic notebook

2 August 2024

The Olympic Games begin on Sunday 28th of July in torrential rain and with a controversial opening ceremony, even before a metre is run or swum, pedalled or galloped.

A media howl of anger persists for several days

@aboujahbah
This is utterly disgusting.
They flirt with pedophilia in the opening ceremony of olympics where zionist child killers are proudly invited to take part in.
A civilisation in full moral decay.

@AlwaysT11413
This is what a collapsing society looks like.
America is up next if we continue to pretend like this is ok

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Dilemmas of Leadership

Dealing with false news. The Southport children’s murders and subsequent rioting

There is a wide range of leadership challenges produced by new technology. Today’s leaders faces challenges includind false news which seem connected to conspiracy theories.

An example this week followed a murderous attack on children In a dance class in Southport Merseyside in England.
The suspect was arrested, but whose name was concealed because the person was below the age of 18.
Social media accelerated the false news that the attack was carried out by an illegal immigrant. The false news also gave a false name implying the killer was of Muslim extraction.
The day following the attack a vigil was being held close to the scene of the crime. Simultaneously, messages on the web invited supporters against Muslim terrorism to gather in protest at a mosque near to The dance studio.
Protest turned ugly and became a riot in which Police were injured, And a vehicle burned down.

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Why Donald Trump reminds me of Coyote in Navajo myth

Coyote, in Navajo myth, is known among other names as the First Liar.
Coyote is a key figure in Navajo mythology. Of all its figures, Coyote is a shadowy figure that can be funny or fearsome. Coyote is greedy, vain, foolish, cunning and also occasionally displays a degree of power.

The view of Coyote in folk belief is generally negative and related to witchcraft. Witches called skin-walkers-are believed to be able to adopt the form of a coyote.[A Navajo saying holds that if Coyote crosses your path, turn back and do not continue your journey. The time coyote is an omen of an unfortunate event or thing in your path or in the near future.

I remembered the myth while listening to Donald Trump in a speech in Minnesota recently, in which he made a whole series of Coyote-like references ...

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The Olympic Games begin. What they can teach us about politics, and vice-versa.

Friday 26 July, 2024

The Olympic Games begin in Paris with a spectacular show. The presidential campaign in America reaches its own climax. The more you think about it the more similarities you see between the two events.

They are both very expensive if you want to achieve the highest result.

They can only be one winner at any event. Coming second is at best bittersweet..

The general public which has ignored the events for four years suddenly becomes obsessed in supporting their favourites...

Accusations of cheating are made.

TV prepares to show every contest in minute detail

Pundits give their opinions before every event and discuss what happened afterwards.
In moments when nothing is happening, the events are replayed over again.

Favourites withdraw at the last moment giving heartbreaking interviews

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Dilemmas of leadership
President Biden resolves his most significant dilemma

Thursday 25 July, 2024

Yesterday President Biden announced to the nation his decision not to stand for a second term in office.
It provides an explanation to the story of a monumentous decision, rarely taken by a President.
Let’s take it at face value as the story Biden wants to tell, the foundation step of his desired legacy: what I’ve achieved, and why I reached the decision that I did.
In his uncomplicated fashion, he argues that “the defense of democracy is more important than any title,”

He chooses not to address the explicit threat to democracy, but all the context implies the threat will arrive from success by Trump against him in the polls, and the subsequent nature of a second Trump term in the presidency.
If we look at through the lens of dilemma analysis the tensions leading to the decision become clearer,
Biden was becoming increasingly aware of setbacks in his public appearances and performance, culminating in the disastrous broadcast against Donald Trump.
Subsequent attempts to demonstrate his vigour fell short of the mark, as he stumbled literally and figuratively ...

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The Guinness Book of Records and the compression of creativity.

There is a celebration of the large scale in the creative product across many contexts. It reminds me of the celebration of the record breaking achievements found in the Guinness book of records.

The human achievement is justified by its scale rather than its worth on any other dimension.

Heaviest train pulled with beard.
In 2001, Ismael Rivas Falcon of Spain with his beard pulled a train weighing 2,753.1 kg (6,069 lbs) over a distance of 10 m (32.8 ft).

Longest stand-up comedy show by an individual.

In 2013, The Midnight Swinger aka David Scott (USA) performed the longest stand-up comedy show. He lasted 40 hours and 8 minutes telling jokes.

Most snails on a face were achieved by Fin Keller, age 11, of Sandy, Utah, who managed to fit 43 live snails on his face. This broke the previous record for this achievement.

In contrast, to never mind the quality, feel the width, of the GBR, there is a compression found in great works of creativity.

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The Coronation of Kamala. ‘Yes she can’

Tuesday 23 January 2024

The headline in the Metro newspaper “Yes she can" plays on the "Yes we can" slogan used by former president Barack Obama in 2008

This has been a week dominated by an upheaval in American politics.
On Sunday, the simmering crisis facing President Biden erupted with the announcement that he would not be seeking a second term as President.
This filled the news channels throughout the American afternoon, spreading around the world. Kamala Harris is expected to step up as the democratic candidate.

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The failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Sunday was marked by his miraculous escape and a moment captured in an iconic photograph showing a bloodied and defiant Trump beneath a perfectly positioned American flag.

Within hours, the image had gone viral, and was appearing on consumer products. The world’s media proclaimed what had taken place as a critical incident, and a death blow to the prospects of Joe Biden, already struggling after a series of embarrassing public appearances. Even before the assassination attempt, a rising tide of democratic voices including close friends and sponsors was threatening to wreck his fragile campaign.

Professional pundits, spin merchants and political opponents spoke as one. Biden must be persuaded to stand down.

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Requiem for a dream. Spain 2 England 1

Social media capture the thoughts and emotions of a nation

@WhitlallClive
(Who describes himself as
‘once a Tory voter. Never going back there, but not yet quite convinced with labour. Seller of old things. Vegan. Wolves fan. Married to a Welsh dragon.)

A tough night for #England fans but what a day to be Spanish!

David Baddiel
Spain were much better and this is a really good, perhaps great, Spanish side. But the truth is that GS never quite knew what to do with the abundance of creative talent available to him. Palmer is too good not to be given a start. Gordon is too good to be given only two minutes in the tournament. James Maddison is too good to be mainly ignored throughout GS’ tenure. I could go on. But I won’t.

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Could brainy birds play chess? How early should you start playing chess with your children?

Sunday 14 July 2024

This morning, I listened to a BBC science programme about the research of Professor Nicky Clayton, who studies cognitive processes in crows, and in other birds showing exceptional problem solving skills.

These creatures also have better development than other birds, in the regions of the brain associated with problem solving.

One assessment is that crows, for example, have problem solving skills which seem to develop in children around the age of eight.

By coincidence, I have been helping children to learn chess from the age of eight. I look forward to seeing how I can draw on Professor Clayton’s work as I learn, alongside my young chess players. Maybe I will be able to say when and how their chess skills develop.

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@TollytB
I've just been chatting to my neighbour, and he thinks his wife is a kleptomaniac.
"She should take something for it."

@deelomas
My husband just called to say he saw a fox on his way to work.
I asked him how he knew the fox was on his way to work.
He hung up on me…

Visual wit from @RookieRedhead
First cartoon
Buddha surrounded by acolytes
Acolytes: what makes us human?
Second cartoon
Buddha to acolytes
Selecting all images with traffic lights....

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Wednesday 3 July 2024

Tomorrow it will be all over, after six weeks of campaigning leaving the general public weary of political promises and cockups.

With a burst of relief I begin to record how it all ends, drawing on the wit and wisdom provided by the twitterati, and with a little help from the so called MSN.

@WhoTargetsMe
When labour campaign director Morgan McSweeney concluded that the polling day would come on July 4, some 24 hours before Sunak’s short walk in the rain, he made sure the opposition snapped up the advertising space. He was surprised to learn the Tories hadn’t got their first. Perhaps they were busy in the bookies

@davidyelland
Rupert Murdoch’s editors are in total chaos, they cannot afford to be on the wrong side of the biggest landslide in Labour history, a total eclipse of The Sun ‘influence’ cannot be contemplated so they have endorsed half-heartedly, there is now utter confusion at The Times….

@alex_house
That is so funny. Are you going to claim "It was the Sun what won it" again after this late-breaking switch to the other side?

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Wit and Wisdom Early July
Unsurprisingly, this wit and wisdom edition has a political flavour during the run-up to the British general election on July 4. A special general election edition is planned for that date.

@henrywinter
Abbreviated from a long and heart-cry of anguish by a football journalist over England’s last qualifying match at the Euros.
The heat was on here, and not simply because the temperature nudged 30C. The scrutiny was intense. England passed and passed in the first half, interchanging but going nowhere. Some of England’s triangles had a Bermuda feel. It was so frustrating to witness. England have the players. They’re ranked fifth in the world to Slovenia’s 57th, their fires supposedly lit by all the negative headlines...

@Katy.Jayne101
The thing about Twitter recently is that you can say something very benign such as " I love Pineapple" and a band of people will be up in arms saying " So you hate bananas then."

Donald Trump made reference to Hannibal Lector recently. It provoked some humorous responses.

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A non chess-playing friend of mine often asks me is there a special move that gives white an advantage in chess. I was reminded of this question when it appeared on the Quora website.
Here's how it was answered....

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England v Slovakia. Chess, Politics and Football come together.
Sunday 30 June
5pm kickoff soon.
At last, we are spared football punditry chatter for the duration of a real football match.
Maybe the last for England in this tournament.
One last commentator comment
It’s go big or go home.
Time for the first fact
Harry Kane has scored in 13 football stadiums but not this one.
Didn’t mention if he had played in this one.

First blunder. Yellow card for an England defender, and escape the free kick.
A minute later, another near miss.
England attack, in their excitement clog another player, another yellow card for England.
Only seven minutes.
England break, chance created, ball balloons over the bar.
Not good.
Another attack. Feeble kick
Slovakia almost score again ...

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Friday 28 June, 2024

The debate was scheduled for 2am British Summer Time. Wisely or not, I started listening , then dragged myself out of bed to watch the debate.

It was slightly surreal viewing. The two protagonists stood behind space-age podiums (podia?). Behind them, a vast vacant area reminding me of a gigantic lecture theatre.

Two interrogators sometimes visible pose carefully crafted questions. I watch with increasing dismay as a car-crash scene unfold.

I leave my notes unedited to recapture the effect of what I saw.

The structure: Two minute answers, one minute for rebuttal. This solved one set of problems, but produced often assertion driven exchanges.

A hour into the debate.

Concerns about both candidates frailty justified. Trump eventually found a way of not answering the questions asked.

Biden as hesitant as supporters feared.

Trump exuding confidence and self obsession as he utters a stream of unverified claims of his greatness...

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General Election Diary, Weeks 3-4, June 2024

Week 3

Thursday 13 June
The Labour manifesto concentrates on wealth creation. A plan to replace the Lords seems to have been watered down.
Yet another seven a side debate, but without two major figures Sunak and Starmer. Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner resume hostilities. Rather unenlightening. Stephen Flynn, for the SNP, Daisy Cooper, Lib Dems, Rhun ap Iorwerth - Plaid Cymru
and Carla Denya, the Green Party show glimpses of authenticity beyond preprepared party lines. Nigel Farage offers a replacement for Conservative defectors in the recycled UKIP of the Reform party.

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Royal welcome of Japan’s Emperor and Empress by the King. Nobody does it better.

25 June 2024. Horse Guards Parade, London

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan have been greeted at Buckingham Palace by King Charles III, Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales. The three day visit with all expected pageantry and state banquet has had to be slightly tweeked because of the unpredicted election inconveniently arranged.

The BBC is across the event, and has its Royal correspondents in place well in advance of the heads of state and their consorts. The first introduces the royal event:

“The formal royal greeting is to take at Horse Guards Parade followed by an inspection of the troops before a procession to Buckingham Palace. It’s wonderful here. Sun is shining. Brilliant blue sky. I get so many messages saying 'you Brits do this best. No one does it like you…'

“The king is standing in what is very bright sunshine despite the heat, for his first state duty after returning from his illness. In what must be sweltering bearskins, the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards are lined up on the parade ground gravel. Every move has been rehearsed, every step practiced. “

But with a few minutes before the arrival of the king and Queen , the Royal correspondent number one is running out of things to say.
She has an inspiration.

"The royal regalia and tiaras will all on display at the royal banquet at Buckingham Palace this evening", she says. "Princess Anne, will miss all that. She was hit by a horse yesterday."

Then, ad libbing bravely adds

" Prince William is arriving shortly, with the Emperor and the Empress. Can you guess what event he is missing tonight to attend the state banquet?"
I look of horror on the face of the second correspondent. She is about to confess her ignorance, when the first of the 41 gun salute roars out its greeting...

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Draper beats Alcaraz playing a perfect chess move on the tennis court

Thursday, the 20th of June 2024.

The tournament at Queens club played on grass is the prelude to the Wimbledon Championships every year. Carlos Alcaraz, Wimbledon champion last year, is seeded number one this year at Queens.
He played the newly ranked British number one Jack Draper ina match he was expected to win. Draper continued his recent good form and won a sensational victory in two sets.
At one point of the match, I became aware of a similarity between tennis and chess ...

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This could have been another detective story. But the plot darkens as Murray Clark, a university professor, then switches with five stories left which would have completed his self-imposed task of reading all of the books about Maigret written by George Simenon.
For mysterious reasons he switches his attention to reading the complete works of Jane Austin.
I set off the discover the explanation to this puzzle and am confronted with a tale which like all good detective stories has an unexpected twist to it...

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Wit and Wisdom. Late June, 2023

@vardi
How to write good.
One avoid alliteration always
Two prepositions are not words to end sentences with
Three avoid cliche like the plague they are old hat.
Four comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Five be more or less specific.
Six writers should never generalise
Seven don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
Eight who needs rhetorical questions?

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Sad story. The tale of the lonely Professor.

My good friend Mike the Gardener classifies people into clever stupid and stupid clever. He classifies me as clever stupid which an extended education has done little to change. Mike believes (correctly) he has a far greater grasp of how the experienced world operates. I think he’s using the terms in a far from stupid way to avoid giving offence.

Here’s an example of clever stupid in Mike’s terms. I have changed names and disguised some features in this story which appeared in several of the media as it unfolded.

Our person of interest I refer to as John. John was a theoretical physicist, teaching in a prestigious University.

John was in his late sixties when our story starts. He was very lonely. divorced and had no children.

A few years earlier he started chatting with someone on a dating app. This person - who called herself Yvonne - said she was a Romanian bikini model.

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Marianna Spring, BBC’s secret weapon against fake news.

Early in the GE Campaign I listened with great interest to an Interview by the BBC with Marianna Spring about her project evaluating fake news about the general election. Her work Is an exemplary effort which could have come from a university study into information technology and artificial intelligence.

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Politics dominated the social media. I had to search for non-political posts and eventually created a new podcast dedicated to them. The first few here are from the broadcast encounter between party leaders early in the campaign.

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What sort of chess game suits you?
Recently I found myself watching and playing with our club members the during club nights. For quite a different purpose I am also looking back at some studies I made of members of business workgroups.
Eventually the two interests came together. I think it worth thinking about your playing style, in terms which were described as your cognitive thinking style, by the psychologist Michael Kirton.
His work became well known, as did his method of measuring style using the KAI, which stands for the Kirton Adaptation-Innovation Inventory.
The Inventory provides you with a score, either by yourself, or carried out by close observers.

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My life changed after receiving one email. I have become a sweat-free zone.

I have been receiving regular messages from the company for several years. At first I assumed they had been added to a mailing list by a friend who was trying to tell me something…
I realise now that the company is on a mission that will eliminate the major curse of social embarrassment, undesirable body odours.

The company is Ijis. I’m not sure even if I am pronouncing it wrongly.
Ijis hope not.

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Sinner v Alcaraz. A great tennis match

The French Open semi-final, 2024

7 June

A thrilling match took place between two of the brightest young male tennis stars. The Italian Jannick Sinner and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz arrived at the semifinal of the French Open as No 2 and 3 seeds respectively.
Their paths to the semi-final road had been made easier by the retirement from injury of Djokovic earlier in the tournament. It also meant that the pundits were describing this match as effectively the final of the tournament. That is to say the winner was expected to be favourite to win the final against either Alexander Zverev or Casper Rudd.

The tournament had been bedevilled by bad weather throughout. But this semi-final began in sunny weather with the promise of true and high ball bounce suiting two powerful and skilful players.

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This audio-diary has been compiled throughout the UK general election called for the 5th July 2024. It is completed unedited.

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Wit and Wisdom. Early June, 2024

@deelomas
My three favourite things are eating my family and not using commas.
Re-edited …

@Upliftingvision
Remember: Charlie Chaplin died aged 88.
He left us 4 statements:
(1) Nothing is eternal in this world, not even our problems.
(2) I like to walk in the rain, because no one can see my tears.
(3) The most wasted day in life is the day we don't laugh.
(4) The six best doctors in the world...
1. sunshine,
2. Rest,
3. Exercise,
4. diet,
5. Self-esteem
6. friends.

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Fantasy News Channel

31 May 2024

Today we are reporting on the capture of Donald Trumpolanus and the vows of the Megalomanian army to rescue him and restore him to his rightful position as Emperor of Magalomania.

A faithful retainer, Piers Poorman spoke up, his voice unable to conceal his agony. ‘This is a sad, shameful and ridiculous day for our country. To drag a former Emperor through criminal courts over something so trivial feels a massive overreach & an incredibly divisive and obviously politically partisan action’

But a spokesperson for the Democratic Unionists Party responded equally emotionally,
No, it's a wonderful and happy day for Megalomania, and the rule of law. No one is above the law and he's the first of our emperors ever to become a convicted felon.

Discussion rages, as news of the capture and trial of the former Emperor spread across Megalomania.

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The French tennis open, Wednesday 29 May, 2024

Victory goes to the most tenacious. Swiatek v Osaka

A heroic sentiment.
Found written in English, in the very Gallic location the Rolland Garros stadium, Paris, France.
But that is not the most surprising aspect of this story.

Historically,Roland Garros was a French aviation hero becoming one of the earliest fighter pilots who was shot down in the last days of WW1. The French Open tennis tournament takes the name of Roland Garros, held in the stadium named after him.

Now, in the stadium, it is true that the words attributed to the heroic aviator are shown in English emblazoned on the side of the stadium.

Victory goes to the most tenacious.

It is frequently mentioned by English language commentators. But a little further digging reveals it originally came another even more famous historical figure, Napoleon Buonaparte.
Also on the frontage at the Roland Garros is the original quote

‘La victoire appartient aux plus tenaces’ if you’ll pardon my French.

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These chess lessons in audio form are provided for parents and would-be chess beginners at the Northern Tennis club, Didsbury. You will need a chess board and a set chess if you want to study some of the answers.
It will also help if you know how to pause and restart the audio.

First some revision questions. You now know how the chess pieces move, the value of the pieces, their starting positions, how to castle, how to check the king, and what’s checkmate.

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End of season blues. Things can only get better.

Wednesday 22 May 2024

This is it. The day the chess sets and clocks are packed away. The tables unfolded with care to avoid barked knuckles. Chairs stacked neatly in the storage space by the filing cabinet.
Lights out. The few members who attended the last night of the season trail slowly out of the club room following the instructions to check lights. The outside door closes with a click.
All chess has ended for the summer recess.
Before next season starts, there will be the Euros (except for Wales who lost their qualifying match to finish their season) The General Election. Wimbledon tennis lies ahead.
All that is left are memories.
At the AGM, the Captains spelled out the bad news bravely. Captain Tom spoke movingly of how the first team had fought valiantly, against higher ranked players, losing several matches by the smallest of margins.
He also announced his own retirement from chess to cope with an addition to his family later in the year.
Cometh the day, cometh the man, and John Reed fearlessly agreed to take over, having studied the rise and fall of Manchester United as his special topic in pub quizzes.

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Getting started in chess
Revision session No 2 The basic moves.

These chess lessons in audio form are provided for parents and would-be chess beginners at the Northern Tennis club, Didsbury. You will need a chess board and a set chess for the final puzzle.
It will help if you know how to pause and restart the audio.

First some advice about thinking before you move:
A blunder is a very bad move which could lose the game.

Most blunders happen because of a simple lack of focus. You might get distracted or be too lazy to calculate properly. Your hand plays a move without your brain fully processing what you are about to do.And your Queen is gone. Oops.

On other occasions, you might be fully focused but not on the right thing. Before you move, look at the position and watch for ‘takes’ .

Now, for revision session 2.

This session concentrates on the basic moves of all the pieces.

You can think of them as two kinds, the long range pieces, and short range pieces.
The long range pieces are the Bishops, rooks, and queens. They can go backwards or forwards until blocked. Their moves are easier to remember.
The short range pieces are the pawns, knights, and kings. There are a more things to learn about them.

Last session we revised how to start a chess game, and basic moves including castling. This week we go into more details about how pieces move.

As mentioned, be ready with a board and chess set before answering these questions. You will have five seconds to answer.

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Wit and Wisdom. Late May 2024 edition.

@karinbeery’s post earlier this month asked for examples of disguised swear words. There was great response including these:

Sadly I can’t trace the first contributor.

Saw this post and loved it: what words do you use when you don't want to swear but want to express yourself? My mom always went with cripe. I'm a big fan of 'cheese and crackers' and 'son of a biscuit.'

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General Election fever. Wet.wet.wet.

Wednesday 22 May 2024
4.30pm

Election fever has been mounting all day. News media report that the PM will announce a date for it in front of No 10, at 5pm.
Polls have remained stubbornly predicting a serious loss for the Government for at least a year.
The weather remains as bleak as the political climate.
Inside, we are informed, the PM is completing the briefing to his cabinet, several of whom have cancelled planned duties.
The weather wins the first round, forcing storm protection measures to be hastily erected (should I say general protection measures?).
Twiddle thumbs.
Switch channels
Sky predicts July 4
Bloomberg expects announcement
BBC SAYS July 4
CNN reports ICC developments
Channel 5 opts for the comfort of the studio then to damp reporter outside No 10

5.08
Action.
The lectern arrives.
Wet
Wet
Wet

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Strictly come dentistry. The new sensational TV show

The format. Contestants show off their dentistry skills before a live audience, and a panel of celebrity dentists.

Votes from the panel and from viewer’s phone-in.

Each week, the candidates demonstrate their skills in selecting the correct tooth, executing their dentistry skills, with vivid in-mouth shots on giant screens, background music, and lights display.

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Dogs in Drag

Sunday 19 May.
The BBC breakfast show gave priority to a cringemaking report of an event called The Dogs’ Prom. The show revealed an infantilised treatment of dogs stripped of all dignity, and dressed up in gruesome costumes.

I watched in horror at dogs dressed as cute children’s dolls were paraded to the rapturous approval of owners, and the presenters. My nausea was not shared by other viewers of the program who sent in equally repulsive images...

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The chess championship of the future. The Armageddon wars.

If it sounds like science-fiction, it’s probably because it is very much like the plot of a science-fiction blockbuster, set in the remote future, in a galaxy far from ours.
A glimpse of how it may play out was seen in a remarkable competition involving most of the leading Chess grandmasters of the day, which ended this week on Wednesday 24 May 2024.

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David Beckham’s body art has been the subject of numerous stories in the celebrity fanzines. It has even warranted a chapter in a serious academic study published in the Cambridge University Press book. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-football/david-beckham-and-the-celebrity-phenomenon/4888485C73DC8B1F08594875880936E9
The Cambridge Companion to Football. David Beckham and the Celebrity Phenomenon.

In chapter 9, David Beckham and the Celebrity Phenomenon, the author Jed Novick writes

He is the ultimate billboard – from Manchester to Madrid to Milan to LA; he’s even turned his tattooed body into a canvas when Naomi Klein wrote in 1999 how celebrities now mirror the corporate structure of corporations like Nike and Gap And how the processes of commodification have become so ubiquitous and commonplace that the idea of unbranded space has become almost unthinkable. She could’ve been writing Beckham‘s career plan.
A more recent interview with the artist responsible for the masterpiece reveals that it that now amounts to 130 tattoos which are still on display all over the world on the Beckham epidermis, and on numerous fake Beck pecs ...

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The Odd Couple: A case study of gaslighting?

This podcast summarises a case study of the working relation of a broadcasting team and in particular of its two lead broadcasters whose names I have described as Kenneth and Barbie.
Their story reminds me of examples of teams from real life and fiction, including the one made famous in the film The Odd Couple, brilliantly played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

Another humorist and actor Steve Cooghan mocked the morning chat show displays of harmonious teamwork, in his TV series Mid-Morning Matters. He portrayed his fictional persona Alan Partridge as insensitive male, unaware of the crushing impact is he having on all around him. This piece of comedy brilliance works partly because of its dark undertones.

I became increasingly reminded the Cooghan treatment in the behaviour of a pair of real-life broadcasters sharing a morning programme of news, entertainment, guests and phone-in calls. So much so, that I began to see their developing relationship as a performance concealing those darker elements revealed in Cooghan’s fictional relationships ...

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@cleckylad
Just sat with a coffee
Contemplating how unfair life can be
A case in point
You scrimp and scrape all year to buy Christmas presents for your kids
Then some fat bastard with a massive beard takes all the credit ...
... I suppose it's my own fault for marrying her 😯😯😯😋😋😜
Love the double punchline.

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The Invention of solitude, by Paul Auster

I began an obituary of Paul Auster who died earlier this month, describing how I discovered this book among the disorder of my bookshelves. The slim volume turned up, apparently unread, fresh from purchase at a time before the instant gratification of an Amazon purchase was possible.

In the days that followed, I have read the book initially to engage with what one reviewer had described as ‘a remarkable sustained piece of writing: beneath Auster's controlled tone – literary, cerebral– the passion and anguish are finely mediated’.

Auster’s memoir remains painfully relevant today. Its journey explores the sudden death of his father’s life in part one, ‘Portrait of an Invisible man’ , and the subsequent sense made of it in part two, ‘The book of memory’. It is also a fascinating glimpse into an author’s creative battle to arrive at the final product.

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Wit Early May

@TollytB
Breaking:
NASA to launch deep space satellite to say sorry to any aliens we may have offended.
It's been named Apollo G.

@deelomas
A man and a woman were travelling on a train.
Woman: Every time you smile I feel like inviting you to my place.
Man: Awwww…are you single?
Woman: No, I’m a dentist…

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Friday 3 May 2024

Paul Auster, my newspaper tells me, died yesterday. So it must be true. But almost everything I know about the American author is shrouded in doubt.
I am almost sure I read his masterpiece the New York trilogy. I look, but can’t find it in the forest of my bookshelves. I only remember me as reader trying to make sense of three puzzling stories in which someone who appears to be a detective also tries to make sense of three puzzling stories.

What I did find was another book by Paul Auster entitled the invention of solitude. I take it from the shelves. This paperback edition tells me it was first published in 2012. It is dusty but giving off clues that it has never been opened and read.
I look inside. I do not recognise what I am reading. I have not read a single word before ...

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A sword attack, heroism, and knee-jerk exceptionalism.

Wednesday May 1 2024
Yesterday, an apparently maniacal sword attack in a peaceful London suburb resulted in the death of a teenage boy, and injuries to bystanders.
Media coverage was inevitably lurid, even by the standards of current reporting of state-sponsored bloodshed around the world.
Students of journalism would do well to study the skills of attention-grabbing headlines this morning.
Unusually, it is not easy to identify the newspaper from the headlines.

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I am possessed. How I became a slave to my new iPhone

A cry from the heart. A short while ago, I was a reasonably functioning human being, capable of independent thought and action... then I acquired my new iPhone.
It replaced my ancient model, which was showing all the functions of a deteriorating piece of hardware. After great hesitation, I plunged into buying the Apple 15 phone, allegedly the much-improved version of my existing product.
The transfer was easy-peasy, or so, my fellow members of the Apple cult assured me. Unassured, I took their advice.
I will spare you details of the purchase and transfer of vital information from my old phone. I now realise I have fallen into a diabolical plot, which renders me helpless against forces that threaten to ruin my life.

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Hysteria from commentators as the Candidate's tournament ends with a win for 17 year old Gulesh.

More details follow

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The case of the constipated bishop

There is a lot of Chess played outside the elevated levels of our distinguished first team. I was struck by the interesting games played in the recent match in the limit league between ourselves and Chorlton. The match produced a fine example of what I am calling the case of the constipated bishop.

It was clear to me that the players were intensely focusing on their own games and may not have had a chance to see much of what was going on around them. So my thoughts from the sidelines may be of interest and perhaps value.

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The solar eclipse, and the alleged financial irregularities of the Labour politician and deputy leader Angela Raynor are two topics attracting attention.

@BriefcaseMike
Our media's obsession with an eclipse in America is weird. But I suppose you could view America being plunged into darkness as a rehearsal for a possible second Trump Presidency, metaphorically speaking. #bbcpm
@Occupy
BREAKING: President Biden in a newly released video trolls Donald Trump by mocking the time that he stared directly into an eclipse. In it, the president is seen standing on the same balcony where Trump stood during the eclipse in 2017, except Biden is actually wearing proper eye protection.
"An eclipse is worth marveling at” he says “But don't be silly, folks – play it safe and wear protective eyewear,"
@DavidHeadViews
Why can't Americans watch the total eclipse of the sun quietly?

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In an exclusive interview for TudoRama, William Thompson, philosopher and submariner (rtd) examines a difficult social dilemma, drawing on his lengthy experience
of resolving such tricky matters ...

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Anger management. How using a shredder might help.

Writing negative reactions on paper and shredding it eliminates angry feelings, a Japanese study finds. Even this podcast might trigger some listeners into a rage. But listen on.

In ancient Rome, the Stoic philosopher Seneca believed “my anger is likely to do me more harm than your wrong” in his work De Ira (On Anger). More modern methods include a workout on the gym punchbag or exercise bike. But the humble paper shredder may be a more effective – and accessible – way to decompress, according to recent research.

A study in Japan has found that writing down your reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding the note, or scrunching it into a ball and throwing it in the bin, gets rid of anger ...

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The death of Peter Higgs on Tuesday 9 April, 2024, gave rise to attempts to explain his contribution to our understanding of the nature of the fundamental forces of the Universe. The eulogies affirm his status of a giant in the field. The attempts to explain that contribution to the layman have faced considerable difficulties.

I have tried to explain the limits to current understanding, and the need to rethink our deeplyheld assumptions about reality.

I write as one such layman, albeit it one with a PhD in radiation chemistry. In some mitigation, the entire theory of the fundamental building blocks of the Universe has changed dramatically by the work of theoretical and experimental physicists over the last fifty years.

I can do no more than to outline how commentators have grappled with communicating the work which earned Peter Higgs his Nobel Prize in 2013. His ideas transformed thinking about how particles acquire mass...

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The traumas of modern life. Buying a new smart phone.

Assurance companies have arrived at a list of the most dangerous traumas we encounter in our everyday lives. Top of the pops is the loss of a loved one. This is closely followed by divorce. And then, extreme experiences such are encountered on the battlefield.
I wish to add to this list, the traumatic experience of buying a new smart phone. It is a fact universally recognised, that a person suffering a terminal decline in performance of an iPhone, is in need of a new model.

This report is being made of the first 24 hours after I suffered this experience personally.

My long-time phone can just about be described as smart, although it is designated as such, having been manufactured in the early days of such machine intelligence being marketed by those geniuses responsible for producing Apple phones.
Increasingly my phone has been showing signs of terminal decay not least in my attempts to charge it up overnight only to discover in the morning that charging has not occurred.
The decision to replace it was taken with a considerable amount of hesitation. I sought council among my tech-savvy friends. I scanned the web for useful information.

What I learned did not please me. Apple has moved on to its fifteenth generation of Smart phone. The current generation has its own variants, ranging from standard but still very expensive, to the genius-smart versions costing more than a weekend family holiday abroad ...

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Do chess players still learn from studying chess books? Or has the Internet grabbed the bulk of the market? As an experiment, I chose a promising example and carried out a ‘Which’ kind of road test of its performance, first on myself before I attempted to test it on its primary audience, junior chess players.

The book, Chess Tactics for Kids, is now a classic of its type. It was written by Murray Chandler and published in 2003. Murray, a leading English Grandmaster, defeated Gary Kasparov in the one game he played against him. As the book puts it, he is one of the few players with 100% score against Kasparov, who went on to become World Champion…

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Donald Trump is increasingly unable to construct a logical argument. His automatic way of making a point in public is to attack a person. This is widely known as one of the oldest form of false logic, the ad hominem attack. The fury of Trump is frustration at his own inability to communicate sensibly. It has increased over time.

A recent example has contributed to his being censored, after his remarks endangered the daughter of a judge when a Trump supporter was arrested after claiming he was coming to get her.

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Creativity and basket weaving

Several decades ago, creativity was considered alien to courses as offered by Business Schools around the world. I discovered indirectly that my option on creativity, at what was then the Manchester Business School, was being referred to disparagingly as ‘basketweaving’ by a large majority of students. These opted instead for additional courses in 'proper' business topics, particularly strategy, marketing and finance.

In the public area, awards for creative endeavours go to authors, actors, filmmakers, and so on. In contrast, highly novel contributions from scientists are more likely to be described as innovative.
At our ancient universities, courses have remained divided into humanities and the sciences. Creativity belongs primarily in the Humanities or Arts departments or faculties.
I was reminded of this, recently in a section in Holy Disorders, a detective novel by Edmund Crispin, featuring his most notable detective Professor Gervase Fen.

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To the glorious victors in a historic chess battle

Sing it from the Church Inn Cheadle and from the Ballrooms of Bramhall. Rejoice in the playgrounds of Poynton and the wilderness of Woodford.
For a great victory was won by the East Cheadle chess chiefs (ECCC) against the formidable warriors from Urmston.

Draw close, as I relate the wondrous feats of our heroic pawn-pushers this glorious day.
When our winter of defeats turned to glorious summer. When a seemingly inevitable loss became a time of celebration.

Our opponent, by one of those turns of fate, were none other than the same Urmston club at which we regularly risk life and limb in crossing their fortifications cunning ringing their ancient township.

And this is how it happened, with comments from the exhausted heroes, still recovering from their near super-heroic feats.

Every game had unexpected and at times heart-stopping features. Picture the scene at the start. The special chess sets reserved only for the crack troops of the first team were taken out of their special Tupperware containers and were readied for action.

A first psychological blow was the familiar faces of Dave and Kieran Newton among the Urmston warriors. The Father and Son duo been strong first team regulars for us, before an unfortunate set of circumstances led to their defection and to our rivals in our most dangerous away matches, to tales of which have been chronicled in earlier podcasts ..

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April Fools day has a cultural history in various countries, often involving jokes and even dressing up.I wondered about its history,

but, could I even trust the usually reliable Wikipedia to give me an honest answer? Maybe a mischievous wiki prankster might slip in some bogus news. I decided not to risk it, beyond noting traditions were often associated with a national victory over a rival nation.

So I carried out an empirical test. I turn to The Guardian to search for this year’s April foolery. In the podcast I explain a few of the news stories in the April 1st edition, and offer a challenge to any listener who would like to take on the Guardian in its yearly efforts at fooling its audience ...

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From Shakespeare to Punk Rock and Punk Chess

In this podcast I trace the origins of punk, from Shakespeare to today’s music scene and the rise of the chess punk.

My interest in punk in general, and punk chess in particular drew my attention via Dr Google to a poem by from the great English poet and satirist John Dryden..
Mac Flecknoe; or, A satyr upon the True-Blue-Protestant Poet, T.S.[1]) is a verse mock-heroic satire written by John Dryden. It is a direct attack on Thomas Shadwell, another prominent poet of the time.

In his vicious poetic attack on his literary enemy, Shadwell, Dryden begins his poem poem begins in the tone of an epic masterpiece, presenting Shadwell's defining characteristic as dullness. He is Dryden subverts the theme of the defining characteristic of an epic hero by giving Shadwell a negative characteristic as his only virtue. There is very little ambiguity about it - Dryden uses classic tones is saying that Shadwell and his work are no better than excrement.

The reference to punk can be found in the couplet in the poem about a nursery in the land of NonSense ruled by, who else, Shadwell, crudely throughout disguised as Sh-. Readers would have no doubt about Dryden’s target ..

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The Midnight Library, by Matthew Haig. A book review.

19 years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene school in the town of Bedford.
‘Nora, dear, it’s natural to worry about your future' said the librarian, Mrs Elm, her eyes glimmering like sunshine and frost. Mrs Elm made her first move. A knight hopping over the new row of white pawns. ‘Of course you’re going to be worried about the exams, but you could be anything you want to be, Nora’.
Nora pushed a pawn forward two spaces.

Thus starts the spectacular novel by Matthew Haig, one of the most imaginative and prolific English literary figures.

[Don’t panic if you aren’t one of my chess-obsessed friends. The novel is not about chess, although its first paragraph naturally hooked me.}

The powerful central conceit is an exploration of ‘what might have been’ in the life of Nora Seed, a character who increasingly came to regard her life as a series of missed chances, some relatively trivial, some very important, such as her decision three days before her marriage to announce to her distressed about-to-be husband that the wedding would now not go on ...

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Paddy Gallagher
@pad_gal
The James Webb telescope continues to take stunning photos of the cosmos;
this image is of an asteroid named
POT 8 O found in the Kuiper belt…
@JonathanLevitt7
The Russians have announced plans to build a docking port on the asteroid for 24 military grade Spudnik spacechips. Donald Trump will be joint financing the development and opening a golf resort alongside.

DavidHarpham77
Thursday question. Did the inventor of the door knocker win a Nobel prize? 🤔 hope that works for you.
Me
Door knocker, No bell. I had to work on that one.

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The politics of chess. The case of Shohreh Bayat

It should not be a great surprise to learn that top level Chess, like other sports, has its share of politics. A case study is that of the gifted Iranian player Shohreh Bayat.

Shohreh, now domiciled in England fell foul of the chess authorities some years ago, but her case was brought into the headlines recently by an investigatory report by CNN on which I have based this podcast.

In 2020, during the women’s world chess championships Shohreh was criticised in Iran for not wearing the appropriate headscarf.

Enter the Chess Federation President, Arkady Dvorkovich.
President Dvorkovich served as Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister between 2012-2018 following a stint as the Kremlin’s top economic adviser. He has always maintained that his political stance does not influence his work for FIDE, the chess organising body. He has also pointed out that he was one of the most senior establishment figures in Russia to question the war in Ukraine...

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Porridge takes a goodly while for the body to digest, which means it releases its energy more slowly, keeping you feeling fuller for longer. This last property can also be blamed for the "porridge glow" many people experience when entering crowded public transport in the mornings.

The Porridge song

With acknowledgment to George Gershwin

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My weekly visit to Poynton. I remember last week’s excitement and ambulances at Waitrose. No such drama, but the trip was not without interest.

I came across an example of unexpected behaviour which prompted this podcast, and brought back memories of a crazy football cup semifinal the previous day.

The story unfolded shortly after I had negotiated the perilous free passage zone, which replaces pedestrian crossings and traffic lights as you approach the centre of the little town of Poynton.
I can now relax, as my journey only requires a short drive down the High Street and a left turn into the Waitrose store awaiting me.
Traffic was moderately heavy and slowing down ahead of me. I waited patiently and I caught sight of a young man striding along the pavement/sidewalk to my left. I could only describe his stance as brimming with confidence and even joy. As he approached I could see he was wearing the black tracksuit which also bore the red insignia of Manchester United football club.
For months, Manchester United supporters appear in public with all signs of their favourite team concealed from other passers by. But today, supporters of the club are still celebrating a famous victory over Liverpool the day previously.

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@JohnWest_JAWS
Economists have calculated that the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot would today, accounting for inflation, be worth £10m.

@Iratus Ursus Major
This very successful poster tweets in lengthy and sweary threads. His visual self is of a great bear.
[I have abbreviated a recent post contributing to the recent debate on returning to traditional British values].
'Can anyone please explain to me which exact British traditions or values are suppressed / destroyed/ cancelled / ruined / stolen / taken away (select whichever term you would like to use) when we as a progressive society demand that issues around racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Homophobia or any discrimination against marginalised groups are called out?'

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Chess Memories. Has Stockport become East Cheadle’s bunnies?

The pulsating twist and turn of the events means that my reporting may on this rare occasion fall below its customary high standard of accuracy.
As I recall, on my arrival at our place of many a mighty battle, the visiting players had arrived, and discarded the extra layers of clothing they wore, after learning that members of the last team to play there were still suffering from frost bite.
I consulted my briefing notes. As usual, we were outgunned according to ranking, but not outrageously so. If we all played above our rankings, an unexpected victory would be ours.
But the realist in me warned against optimism ...

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We start with Tweet of the month:
It comes from chess GM Hikaru, purporting to be from his chess team, and posted by his trainer. Hikaru is American of Japanese family and has his own unique sense of humour.
"This is Hikaru’s Second. No stream today because Hikaru is not allowed to play internet games until he finishes his daily workout - he needs to do 1,000 rook lifts, 1,000 knight forks, 1,000 bishop snipes, and 1,000 en passants. It doesn’t look like he’ll finish his daily workout before Bullet Brawl - maybe Tuesday he’ll finish his workout in time for Titled Tuesday. Signed, Team Mysterio".
[Original post read 1,000 en peasants, which is also funny but I’ve amended it, to its intended chess meaning, I hope. TR.]

@McRory_1878
500 horses run at Cheltenham, 28 go on to win, my bets will be placed on some of the other 472.

@deelomas
Philosophers have spoken about what it is to be human. Some have said it’s our ability to love, others that it is our consciousness. Turns out they are wrong.
It’s our ability to tick all the boxes with a motorcycle in them…

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Like Littler, teenage phenomenon, is already competing with the best darts players in the world. I can see his development with similarities to that of a young chess phenomenon heading for super grandmaster status.

Darts, like chess, calls for high concentration levels. A drop in micro-concentration can lose a match in these and other sports where a momentary loss of concentration can bring the contest to an abrupt end.

In training and watching young chess players, I have seen evidence of that concentration lapse, without which the player would be on a par with far more experienced players. In chess this seems often to occur well into a game, and the result of which is an obvious blunder which can lead to immediate resignation ...

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The big freeze. The double Houdini that failed.

This podcast is not so much about chess, as about the eternal human challenge of overcoming adversity. My story starts with a message to members from the East Cheadle Chess Club Mission Control. It sent a chilly warning to the fearless band of the limitless potential league warriors.

It read
"Please be aware that the heating system at the Institute is being replaced, and for this week (and possibly next week) it will be non-operational. There will be some stand-alone heaters, but the temperature will be a little lower than normal. So please come dressed appropriately!" ...

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The golden age of detective stories and the locked room puzzle.

Comments about the golden age of detective stories, tell of the domination of Agatha Christie, and before her, Arthur Conan Doyle and even earlier, Edgar Allen Poe. More specifically, the golden age is placed approximately between the two Great world wars, 1920 to 1938.

One particular sub-variant is the locked room mystery. In this, the crime, usually murder, is committed in a way that appears impossible to the reader. Arguably Agatha Christie could be put forward inevitably for her mastery of this genre as well as of her more familiar classics.

I became acquainted with the work of the locked room authors recently through The White Priory Murders by John Dickson Carr writing under the name of Carter Dickson,
and The Moving Toyshop, by Robert Montgomery, writing under the name of Edmund Crispin ...

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Every chess player knows chess is complex. Most chess players have a sense of just how complex. It has even been suggested there are more moves theoretically in chess than there are atoms in the universe.

Don’t be deterred. The reality is beautifully described by Stephen Westland on the discussion website Quora. He also happens to be an interesting academic and professor in colour science at the school of design at the university of Leeds.
I’m borrowing from Stephen’s calculations on Quora For what follows, with more about a position which came up recently at one of our league games,

First, he uses a real life example I show below. It’s so real life it is close to a position I saw in one of our the matches played recently. Maybe someone reading this remembers it ...

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John O Connell responds to journalist’s jibe at Taylor Swift
@jdpoc
"I wouldn't date Taylor Swift" says @GB NEWS' Eamonn Holmes.
On the same lines, I refuse to buy that new Maserati.
And I've turned down the James Bond role, again.
And playing upfront for England in the next World Cup? Nah. Can't be bothered.
@PaulTempleton6
BREAKING: Taylor Swift denies stalking Eamonn Holmes.

@krassenstein
Reporter to President Biden:
"Who has the better chance in November? Nikki Haley or Donald Trump?"

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An Incident at Waitrose

That’s the Waitrose in Poynton near to where I live. I was making a routine shopping visit there this morning. Not quite routine, because I am in search of a low-carb diet, as instructed by diabetes Zoe recently.
I had vague ideas of browsing for low-carb suggestions to replace my favoured meals or at least replace some of the potatoes, rice, and spaghetti components of them.
Poynton has a reputation for its death-trap roundabout, only equalled in the northern territories of England by the spectacularly dangerous ring road around nearby Urmston, which regularly risks the lives of visiting Chess teams and other would-be participants in its Urban delights.
The Poynton roundabout is the product of creative thinking run amok. It works on the principle of creating such a dangerous situation that motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike take the utmost precautions as they pass through it.
Safely through, I am aware of traffic stretching ahead of me to the entrance of the Waitrose car park. My concern of a long delay proved justified, in the crawl along the High Street and eventually into a car park missing one essential feature, vacent parking spaces ...

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Mental set. Two words that could revolutionise criminal detection

Sunday Standard. July 5, 1981

In what follows, the original newspaper article mentions that it was based on an interview about a report I had written with restrictions to its publication by the Government department which had commissioned it. I no longer have a copy of the report. It focuses on the recently-solved case of what had become known as the Yorkshire Ripper murders. It discusses the nature of mental blinkers or set and proposes ways of reducing its sometimes serious consequences.

Ironically, it also demonstrates in an unintentional way my own crushingly-obvious mental set in hindsight. Throughout ,my language implies my perceptions as treating social actors as male: doctors are male, managers are male, lost toddlers are male, parents, searching for lost toddlers, are male, and so on.
I stand rightly convicted of carrying with me a dominant mental set, the focus of the report, and which influenced my thinking and writing at the time.

The terminology of mental set was overtaken by the term mind-set in the professional and scholarly domains. By the late 1990s, it had been replaced in my work which had become increasingly influenced by my work colleague and life partner Susan Moger. Susan also did a good job reminding me if I strayed into my earlier male-dominated mental assumptions.

The audio is the extended interview published in the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Standard.

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Wit and wisdom Mid February edition

@GOLDCOUNCIL
When the unexpected happens and the world is in turmoil, with gold, you could be protected.
65 million hits.

@deelomas
I just saw this bloke going up a hill with a wheelbarrow full of horseshoes, four leaf clovers and rabbits feet.
Me
Nicely crafted. I’m beginning to see how your twisted mind works.

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How Neil Kinnock is helping Keir Starmer to win the next General Election. The results of the by-elections at Wellingborough and Kingswood recently have been hailed as stunning victories for the labour opposition. They widely believed to be an indicator of a substantial win for labour at the next general election, expected later this year.

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Ageing leaders. How the ancient Egyptians solved the problem

The is much concern that both President Biden and former President Trump are too old to stand to become President of the United States again.

This week a coruscating attack on Biden’s mental capacities appeared to reinforce polling beliefs of his mental deterioration ...

The headline news emerges from the continued legal contortions with claims against each, made a kind of legal war game between Biden and Trump forces.

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Success for the Ivory Coast. The 'zombie elephants' triumph an unlikely win in the capital Abidjan.

The African Cup of Nations has gained increasing interest as its stars gain international familiarity for their exploits in the top teams of nations around the world. This year, in a pulsating final, victory went to the hosts Côte d’Ivoire, whose team the Elephants were considered underdogs against Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

The build up to the final was a remarkable series of close wins by the home team. Their progress to the knockout stages was unpromising. They faced defeat in two matches only to rescue the situation with late equalisers.
They had also suffered a heavy defeat 4-0.
In some chaos, the coach was replaced for the knockout stages.
Former hero Fae took over. Another two nervous matches followed. The elephants by then were being described with dark humour by their own fans as the zombie elephants by their fans.
Progress was a series of matches which were rescued by last minute goals.
The final was against the mighty Super Eagles, the Nigerian team already three times champions of the competition. (Earlier known as the Golden Eagles).

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@elonmusk

The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well.Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.
[This post triggered many responses pointing out the research seeking treatment for motor neuron conditions is being carried out in many institutions around the world].

@EvThat

For 40 days each year, beginning on Ash Wednesday, my Christian friend acts extremely unpleasantly. Never known anyone with such vile Lent behaviour

@alisokatebro

At Istanbul airport I saw a lot of men with bandaged and bloodied heads. Nor just one. Not three or five. A startling large group, relative to the average airport. I wondered if there'd been football violence or a riot. I now realise that they all went there for hair transplants.

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The dreadful war raging in Ukraine has now lasted over two years. In Gaza, and increasingly around other territories in the Middle East, only a matter of months since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered subsequent bloodshed.
Some while before the Gaza conflict sprung into hideous life, I speculated on a possible outcome of the war (Russia's 'special military operation') in Ukraine.
I was thinking about the uneasy resolutions of conflict, specifically in Cyprus, Hong Kong, and closer to home the matter of Northern Ireland’s borders between the United Kingdom, which is part and the Republic of Ireland.
In each case, after prolonged negotiations and bloodshed resolution, was reached with some concessions among the protagonists. The results are generally considered tense, but at minimum, a cessation of violence.
In informal discussions, my suggestion was rapidly dismissed. Perhaps a justified reputation on my part for favouring creative solutions, did me no favours ...

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King Charles diagnosed with Cancer

The news was announced at approximately 6pm on the 5 February, 2024, in a Statement from Buckingham Palace.

‘ during the King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement a separate issue of concern was noted. Subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer. His Majesty has today commenced schedule of regular treatments during which time he has been advised by doctors to postpone public facing duties.’

It triggers an enormous media reaction. The BBC inevitably switches from extended news coverage of two other gruesome stories, to this even more headline-dominating news.

Put bluntly, the news can be and was summed up in a headline. King Charles diagnosed with cancer. What sort was not immediately revealed.

Royal Commentators, always on alert, were summoned up to talk endlessly with little news but free rein to share their copious opinions.

This can be summed up in one word, 'SHOCK', one said, then finding a large number of other words to Camera ...

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The turning in the road

This is a pre-publication audio for a project on developing calmness tapes using NLP theory. I welcome suggestions (particularly if you have children who like to have a bedtime story read to them) TR

I don’t want to disturb you. I hope not. I want you to come with me for a little walk. You don’t have to get up from your comfortable position. It’s that kind of walk.
Where are we going? It starts with you standing at the side of a road you know well. It’s a fine sunny day in early Spring. The road is unusually quiet. You begin to walk in your usual direction. Soon you reach the turning which you usually take. Today we do not take the turning, but carry on along the road. It is still familiar to you, but one less travelled.
In a while, we come to another turning which you are not familiar with. We take it. We are walking down a little country lane.
On your left, there is a hedge, and through the gaps you see a farm. There are bales of hay waiting to be collected. An ancient tractor stands guard over the bales of hay. There is a warm farmyard-y smell wafting past ...

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Do you have trouble going to sleep? Does worrying about going to sleep make the process even harder? Are your restless thoughts like gremlins, racing around in your head?

If so, here’s a way how to quieten down those gremlins. I call it the ready, steady, let go system. It is based on sound neurolinguistic ideas.

Now, before we start, let’s get comfortable. I’d like you to get into the position you prefer when preparing for sleep.

This is the ready position. Snugness is important. Basil, who is a beagle, has a basket. But his preferred comfort position is to be snuggled up next to his owner Belinda-Jayne in the bedroom. Harriet the hedgehog turns her entire world into a snuggle blanket.

Whatever your body is telling you, is just right…

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Interview with Maksym Kryshtafor on his path to chess stardom

I came across a remarkable 9 year old at the chess book stall of the Stockport rapid play tournament recently. I talked briefly to him, shortly after he astonished the other participants. He won first prize in the major category without losing a single game.

His name is Maksym. I later learned his fascinating story as a refugee from Ukraine, hoping to make a new life in England..

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Wit and wisdom. End of January posts

@MarkDaviesUK
Lance is an unusual name now but in medieval times people were called Lance a lot

Me
Nice message from Amazon
Hi Tudor,
Your package with ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ will be delivered today.
@antonyncutlet
Delivered at a petty pace? (Spot the quotation)

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How long have we shared those kitchen times together?
Snuggling close.
Where did you come from?
The Liberty’s Store, long gone now, off Oxford Road, maybe.

There were good times together
And bad
such as when a boiling dish once spat its magna over you.
The stain remains.
Even after a high temperature wash.
You didn’t mind
We didn’t care in those days about global warming.

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This is the private and unedited record of the Social Chess evening of a club famed for its good atmosphere, and social events as much as for its successes in the combative regional league.

As self-appointed publicity officer of the club, I have produced this semi-audible record of snatches of the highlights of the evening. It is not intended for further circulation beyond the ears of club members.

As my recordings took place during pauses between rounds, the background noises completed with my audio notes.

The voices of David (Taylor) and James (Scorer) hastily co-opted as tournament directors after Steve (Kelly) ‘s ankle break, can be heard giving inter-round instructions. You will also hear our new top seed Alex (Longson) receiving his winner’s prize, and a certain degree of confusion before another new member, Luke (Oldfield) received a consolation prize. His win was justified by his interview after one of his wins, and the triumph against me. Note to team captains and secretary Keith (Hodgson), we got Luke’s provisional grade quite a bit on the low side…

Hope you enjoy the audio

Tudor (Rickards)

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Why the Post Office needs creative thinking to rescue itself

For over a month, we have listened to the heartbreaking stories of the postal executives humiliated and bankrupted. Countless interviews. Countless phone in discussions. A story with if not happy ending, a step forward in justice and commitment to further action.
This morning for the first time I was triggered to realise how creative thinking, and creative action is needed ... is absolutely needed for this and countless other topics of general interest …

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The wit and wisdom podcasts continue to win support of poddlers (TudoRama listeners).

This Mid January episode captures the posts on Twitter from regular contributor Dee Lomas, as well as a strong showing from new users of what I still think of as Twitter (Sorry, Elon).

@TimeTripping
Mario Puzo, the author of the Godfather books who’d also adapted them to film, had no idea what he was doing as he’d never written a screenplay before. After winning two Oscars, he decided to buy a book on screenwriting to learn how. In the first chapter, it said “Study Godfather."

@xraypat Quoting J.K.Galbraith
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest, best-financed, most applauded, and on the whole least successful exercises in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

@deelomas
Me: “Whatever. I’m done talking about this.”
*5 minutes later.
Me: “And you know what else…?”

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Ticket requests this year for East Cheadle’s social evenings have exceeded all expectations. Club members of good standing are complaining about the inconvenience of opening the evenings to prospective new members. Captain Tom recognised a member from Preston Pawn Pushers last time, who registered himself as a Mr Alex Puschkin which we found too late be a false name, who had played with a COVID mask concealing his true identity ...

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Cameron Norrie's loss to Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open Tennis tournament today reveals the gulf between the top players and the rest. The match was closely contesting over five sets before being resolved in a ‘long’ tiebreak. During the match, Zverev had the more powerful serve, which left Norrie repeatedly dropping behind, facing break points, but then clawing his way back.
The ebb and flow was pulsating, for Norrie supporters of dreaming of a surprise win, and Zverev one’s fearing an unexpected loss.

But how close was Norrie to winning? To take a view it helps to consider how tennis ratings are calculated ...

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In preparation for my report on Emma Raducanu’s return to competitive tennis at the Australian Open, I retrieve the notes from my diary archives since she hit the sporting headlines in 2021 ...

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Or, to be precise, the beeping noise continuously occurring as I drive to my regular pre-tennis coffee appointment in the northern territories.
This is not the first time the problem has occurred. The last time, three techno-savvy friends, Peter, Gordon, and Mike clustered around the car on my arrival, with useful advice. This amounted to recognition that the near-freezing temperatures had interfered with the workings of my warning indicators. Their remedy involved me in cleaning the sensors which they pointed out, were situated one at at each corner of the car.
The subsequent of the beepers, showed me their solution had worked. Or, so I thought, until the next cold spell arrived.
Same journey, same result, if anything more repetitive and strident beeping than before. I tried the old remedy without success.
Fortunately, my tale of woe was heard by Hollie, resident fitness correspondent at TudoRama, who was recovering from an early morning icy swim …

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The curious case of the abandoned boots. Can you solve the puzzle?

Truth or fiction?

Like all good detective stories, this one starts with a surprising discovery.
It began during the recent cold snap which allowed the wimpish Brits to have a new source of discussion about our fascinating weather conditions.
I was braving the conditions on my regular morning shopping expedition to my nearby convenience store. As I was nearing my destination, I caught sight off a pair of black, heavy duty shoes of the kind I had noticed the construction workers were wearing as they queued up for their morning bacon butties in the store.

But these boots had been carefully attached by the boot laces to the bottom strut of the fencing at the side of the road. They were caked in frozen mud.
My discovery puzzled me. What had caused the owner to jettison them, leaving him or her in such conditions, bootless in Bramhall.
No, obvious explanation came to mind ...

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I feel hopelessly ill-equipped to address the ambitious goal the young author sets herself in this book. However, the writing engaged me with its combination of personal experiences of its author as an actor, gender expert for the United Nations, and highly promising wordsmith.[Other more informed comments welcome. TR]

The book explores the nature of pioneering figures of black inspirational figures from Alice Walker to Beyoncé, from Aretha Franklin to Doreen Lawrence. In addition it is a memoir of her own experiences and how her exemplars have served as inspirations for her own impressive life journey, The Thread of Gold in the title is a literary metaphor of the transference of experiences by pioneering women down the ages to their successors.

I take one example among many, the the biographic portrayal of Stagecoach Mary, a fascinating figure brought vividly to life.
The story opens up more than a tale of a colourful character. Framing it as the book does, we are able to see afresh insights into the nature of pioneering leaders, and the life-enhancing nature of creativity.

Mary Fields, aka Stagecoach Mary is an example of ‘those who travel solo, the very nature of their unique existence or presentation forcing them to go it alone’....

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@Hepworthclare
This is my New Year’s message to politicians of all stripes.
" Last year's words belong to last year's language.
And next year's words await a new voice"
(TS Eliot)

@BenZeisloft
The world would be a better place if more husbands led their wives.
The world would be a better place if more wives submitted to their husbands.
@NicholaJames007
I'm no expert, but I'm fairly sure that the world would be a better place if Ben didn't use social media.

Me
Media struggle to find news beyond the celebrations around the world…
United States and Israel struggle to agree on the resolution of their differences…
Copyright on early Mickey and Minnie cartoons end.....

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Recently I settled down to watch a full-length film, The Big Four, based on an Agatha Christie novel. An added attraction, it starred David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, a role in which he consistently excels.

To my disappointment, and then dismay, the film seemed distinctly unconvincing, as if it were some kind of inferior imitation of a work by Agatha Christie. The setting had moved from little English villages or exotic locations to a drab London facing the threat of a war which would bring devastating attacks by the so-called Axis powers before ultimate victory.

A little research, and an interesting back story emerged.

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The Great Chess Battle of Cheadle’s Drift
The gallant forces of East Cheadle’s Special Forces brigade engage the fearsome Wilmslow Warriors in their first battle of the new year.

A report from the front line of the now deserted battlefield.

Only an empty water bottle, and a crumpled score sheet abandoned at the field of battle, reveal the intense fighting that took place earlier here today.

The battle was lost, but not in vain. The names of the warriors will be remembered in future editions of Chronicles of Leadership, Woodford Press, discounts for paid-up members of CIFW, (the Chess Federation of Warriors).

The battle lines were drawn up for the encounter at Cheadle’s Drift arranged for 7.30pm, January 3rd 2024. The special forces of East Cheadle were positioned backs to the wall of their fortified headquarters, awaiting their opponents, separated by the array of chess boards, the sets loaded for action, with primed chess bombs ready to be triggered at each board.

A few supporters, including myself, watched from a safe distance. The hush was pregnant with anticipation. They the click of the gates swinging open at the only entry into the East Cheadle fortress.

A swaggering gang of Wilmslow Warriors entered. Their captain flung down the parchment bearing the challenge to the tourney, with the names of his force of crack fighters.

Big Steve, mighty captain of East Cheadle, glanced down at the list. No expression
crossed his noble features, but as he feared, the murderous record of each of the Wilmslow Warriors was well known to him and his own fighters ...

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I think so. My prediction is for a year in which at least the world begins to take the doomsday scenarios seriously enough to take belated efforts to avoid them. In short, there will be troubles ahead.

But as the paean of hope by Irvin Berlin goes

Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill
And while we still have the chance
Let's face the music and dance

Yes, the troubles remain. Here’s my personal list of the five most serious possibilities of global catastrophes ...

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Almost spoiler alert

Although I tried to avoid reviewing sin of revealing too much, I touch on aspects of the story which might spoil the enjoyment for some people:

Reading the ‘do I buy’ decision.
Cover pink as a rom com.
Turn to back cover, as, like many others do. The marketing is intended to capture a
punter’s interest in a few sentences or plugs. In this case both

‘Deliciously dark’
‘Compulsive’
‘Chilling, but also laugh-out-loud funny’
‘Hilarious’.

Meet Grace Bernard.
Daughter, sister, serial killer ..,
Grace has lost everything.
And she will stop at nothing to get revenge.

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My attempt to create briefer podcasts in keeping with the acceleration pace of modern life.

I would like to acknowledge the new year message from master minimalism William .Thompson for the concept that often ‘less is more’ in communication theory.

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End of Year Humour Pick-me-updated

Title should have been Pick-me-up, not Pick-me-updated. Prescriptive text humour strikes again.

@ChessVanDoom
2024 Chess Goals
1. Limit Rapid games to 2 per week, 15+10 only.
2. Analyze every Rapid game
3. 25,000 tactics solved
4. Complete 4 chessable courses (I start a bunch, but don't finish)
5. 50 coaching sessions
6. Play 4 OTB events
7. No negative self talk after a tilt or loss
Me:
You are a credit to the Punk Chess community

@EvLenz
Two Spanish detectives were investigating the murder of Juan Gonzalez .
'How was he killed?' asked one detective.
'With a golf gun,' the other detective replied.
'A golf gun?
What is a golf gun?'
‘I don't know. But it sure made a hole in Juan.'

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Chess player jokes tend to focus on clever but obsessed individuals, ignoring everyday matters, social conventions, etc. There is overlap with jokes about absent-minded professors. I’ve complied and invented a few, as a tribute to both these overlapping categories of person.

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My Books on this list do not exist - but might in the future. The idea of the list was inspired by a Twitter exchange with @GirlGiada. Giada seems to be a rather mysterious young lady with declared interests in music, animals, politics and strategy. I have subsequently discovered that Giada hails from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, famous for its spaghetti bolognese, and Bologna, the oldest university in the world which claims to have discovered the ancient recipe for authentic Spag BoI.

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I have talked and written in other places about my pleasure in reading Melville’s classic Moby Dick. How the work at the time was a critical failure, mocked by the critics of the age (the 1850s).
For me, it is an astonishing work. It has left as great an impression on me as any book, ancient or modern, with which I can compare it.
Although published in 1951, its imaginative prose is accessible from its famous first three words from the narrator ‘call me Ismael’
If you you read on, you will find not just about a man who chases a whale, but an epic also described as a symbolic book dealing with the existential human issues of obsession, morality and redemption.
Melville plays with the reader, sometimes with prose concealing near pure Shakespearean blank verse. Sometimes with gentle irony in the brief piece I have chosen to illustrate the point.
It is chapter 83, occupying no more than the pages 351-2 in my dog-eared edition.
It is titled ‘Jonah historically regarded’.
In it, Melville, in the voice of Ismael, describes how the famed whaling community of Nantucket, and the little village of Sag-Harbour, treated the Jonah myth. The spokesman, himself named after the village, expresses doubts as to the veracity of the story of Jonah. Ismael appears to refute Sag-Harbour’s claims, but his words instead reveal the unconvincing nature of the arguments. They also indicate why the book was regarded as being anti-Christian, and too sympathetic to views of some of the ‘savages’ he eulogies...

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In what follows, I describe myself as having a rare experience which led me to connect with the thinking processes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably the greatest musical composer of all time. (In a future note I will discuss the nature of modesty).

I was later able to connect what happened to with much that has been written about with the moment of self awareness, often associated with the Eureka moment in the myth of Archimedes, or the aha moment as it was described by Arthur Koestler.

Like others interested in creativity, I have written and even given lectures about it. But this is the first time it has happened to me in such a powerful way. Other related thoughts crowded into my head which I will come to later. But, first the details of my Mozart moment.

It started on a routine short drive on a quiet road.
I was mostly on autopilot, listening to the background music of Classic FM, and aware of the familiar road midday conditions. The music ended and the commentator confirmed that I had been listening to one of the most loved of Mozart’s compositions.
Suddenly, I could see vividly the infant Mozart playing the music.

And other non-verbal thoughts were on stage competing with the powerful mental image. These were the related thoughts jostling for my attention. The great chess champion Capablanca, as an infant who learned watching his father play. He went on to become one of the greatest chess players of all time!
Almost off-stage was someone who wanted to remind me of his story, which I could only faintly remember as a French mathematical genius Henri Poincaré who dreamed a solution to a big problem when getting on a bus, then forgetting it, only later rediscovering it, in full detail.

Still in the moment, I knew what the stories were telling me. I was sharing the way a bundle of sensations become arranged into a new understanding for Mozart. Also how his insights went from a rich bundle of possibilities to a great musical construction.
Also how the process was shared by the infant genius of Capablanca, and as described by Archimedes then refined by Poincaré among others ...

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Wit and Wisdom Christmas Edition, December 2023

@EvLenz
What do you call a sad cup of coffee? A depresso.
and …
Q. How do you kill a Swedish band?
A. Take them to the Abbatoir.
and...
What do you call the fear of being stuck in a chimney?
CLAUStrophobia.

@ShoabMolbi
In the hospital car park I saw a sign saying ‘Thieves Operate Here’.

@revpaulwhite
Can’t get used to the Queen’s Speech being done by a man.
Political incorrectness gone mad.

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Regular contributors continue to win accolades by being selected by the TudoRama panel of Pod-judges who wish to remain anonymous.
Special mention to Dee Lomas who seems to have found an eccentric vein of humour in domestic life (or maybe a vein of humour in an eccentric life. Keep tweeting, Dee, we need your contributions ...

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Artificial Intelligence and real creativity.

I took part in an international workshop this week. The MBA students were asked to investigate the capacity of emerging AI systems for generating outcomes deemed creative

This podcast from my audio diary records my initial impressions that the students had shown their own creativity as well as the potential and limitations of the AI systems for replicating human creative problem-responses to tasks involving design, artistic and poetic challenges.

I am grateful for the opportunity provided by my academic friend Professor Gershman for my involvement. Also to film maker and audio wizard Mike Ogden, for converting my mumblings on my personal audio diary into its final form.

TR

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This podcast is the start of a presentation to MBA students in which I introduce the idea of everyday creativity, and the importance of commitment to ideas through actions.
It also shows an example of a 'warm up' exercise for creative meetings.

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The Guardian Quick crossword 16,722 appeared on Saturday 9 December. It produced a furious response from thwarted puzzlers.
In this podcast, I start with a crossword clue of my own, which crossword addicts may able to solve immediately. Those who can’t will have a second chance at the end of the podcast, where its relevance will become obvious.

Dodgy speed. Almost never spoken in jest? (5,9)

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Punk chess like punk rock is a popularist movement of mostly chess amateurs defying tradition in the interest of self expression. In the space of a few years Punk Chess has roared into life through social media, first with Twitter as the site was known then. Maybe the Punk Chess pioneers were acknowledging the punk bands of the 1979s who rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream rock music. They tended to be anti-establishment, approving of a do-it-yoursel self style.
Punk chess is in the spirit of the Sex Pistols, in their absence of chess celebrity or ranking status.

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Nature notes. The armchair birdwatcher. I have accidentally become an avid birdwatcher. Accidentally because my watching is confined to a partial view of my garden while engaged in other assorted interests.

Typically, my garden attracts a few visitors on their way to or from the food bank operated but neighbour Stan, who is far more dedicated to the welfare of the Woodford Woodpecker and other exotica,

In contrast, on my side of the fence, visitors are mostly a rather unpleasant gang of Magpies, who once roused are more than a match for a squirrel, and even for the overweight black cat from across the road.
There is also a blackbird, a much more solitary individual. The ecosystem is graced occasionally by a herring gull, a Tyson Fury in bulk, but perhaps with a preference for dominance without having to fight for his food by circling in ferocious orbits sending the magpies up into trees in noisy disarray.

I report a typical feeding frenzy which took place this morning...

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Henri Grob has acquired notoriety for inventing one of the most eccentric of chess openings. But his story is of interest outside footnotes in a chess book.

First, you should know that as a player, Henri was of strong master level. He became Swiss champion and competed in the strongest tournaments in his era in the 1930s and forties. He was also an accomplished painter

Zack, a chess punk of good standing, posted the opening move of the Grob opening in a diagram on what used to be known as Twitter, commentating.

1. g4 is the riskiest first move in chess. Its inventor, Henry Grob, was married 9 times.

Further research suggests that
His lack of success in the marital stakes is mirrored in the results he obtained playing his chess opening. Beginners in chess are taught that opening moves should compete for control over the centre squares. Pushing the g pawn well outside the centre action area is to give it its technical term anti-positional, and should lead to a disadvantage.

Chess has always developed by players seeing beyond the obvious. I would place Henri Grob as one such pioneer. His basic idea is a simplified version of a much more revolutionary concept by a far greater contemporary chess player Alexander Alekhine. His idea was chess as a battle for the centre ground, by control at a distance.
This produced a revolution in chess opening systems. Grob took Alekhine’s principles to an extreme by finding a reckless opening move, in military terms an advance against enemy forces without due preparation ...

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Wit and Wisdom special to end November 2023

Tudortweet
Dear Advertiser. Don’t know how much you are paying ‘X’ was known as Twitter, for the daily ads for investing in gold, but investing in ‘X’ in that way isn’t working.
@Hepworthclare
And - given the cost of living crisis- Santa is scaling back.
The elves are demanding the minimum wage , Rudolf is claiming red nose discrimination & the Fairy on top of the Christmas tree has abandonment issues.

@Davis27271327
I was set upon by a group of immigrants in Dublin yesterday. They gave me a triple heart bypass and saved my life.

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Lost in translation. Pigs might float.

An apology in The Morning Bulletin, an Australian newssheet, recently ran as follows.

There was an error printed in a story titled “pigs float” which appeared in, The Morning Bulletin, on page 11 of yesterday’s paper. The story said that more than 30,000 pigs were floating down the Dawson river. What Barrala piggery owner, Sid Everingham actually said was 30 sows and pigs not 30,000 pigs. The morning bulletin would like to apologise for this error which was also re-printed in today’s Rural weekly, CQ, before the mistake was known.

The story captured my imagination. A little investigation work and I sent the following message to the Morning Bulletin.

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How to be kind to your washing machine. A morality tale

Do you take your washing machine for granted? Pause for answer.
If your answer is yes, this is a message which will save you a great deal of anguish being stored up for you …
If your answer is no, why not send this public service announcement to someone you think would have answered ‘yes’ or ‘I don’t see the point of that question’.

First, a true story of someone who mentioned a problem with his hi tech machine. He has noticed a leakage onto the floor after every use recently.

It doesn’t seem to need any special attention, he said. I use it every week on the same way it was set by the installers. Why change it?
Even for different kinds of load?
No, it works the same whatever I put in. Until recently. When I noticed a puddle of water on the floor after a wash. Been happening ever since.
Anyway, I found the manual, still in its wrapper, but it’s 96 pages long.. So I did the sensible thing.
You read the manual?
No. I asked some friends. Why read the manual when you got friends who do?
That’s one way, I said. Why bother to read a manual until something goes wrong?
And there my story might have ended happily…

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Wit and Wisdom November 20-26

@Tudortweet
On Nigel Farage’s appearance on IACGMOOH:
I’d like to say I’ve stopped watching IACGMOOH because of the publicity it gives to Nigel Farage.
I can’t, because I’ve never watched to programme, and I claim my long-term Wokeist award.

@BladeoftheS
HS2, a train that travels only 120 miles on Earth, was more expensive than the International Space Station which took 10 years and 15 countries to build.
In Space.

@john_whitamore
Ceasefire. Four days. Low-trust and fragile. But good news.
Others have taken lengthy threads to make the same point,

@EvLenz
What lies at the bottom of the sea and shivers?
A nervous wreck.

@RednorthUK (After news of the chain-saw enthusiast becoming the new President of Argentina)
We've got 18 warships, less than 50 tanks, 4,000 front line soldiers, 100 attack jets and 3 days of ammo. We couldn't retake the Isle of Wight from the Irish, let alone the Falklands from Argentina
@Muinchille
For the avoidance of doubt, Ireland has no territorial ambitions or military presence on the Isle of Wight...

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The heart of darkness. Voyage to the Urmston roundabout.

Our journey is one I tell of with a warning that it is not for the faint-hearted. Our courageous little chess team set out aware of the dangers we faced.
The omens were not good. Perhaps I was over influenced my bedside reading of Moby Dick, that masterpiece of a voyage of discovery. But this was reality. We were bound for the dangers of circumnavigating the death trap known as the Urmston roundabout.
Our mission was to face the mighty Urmston chess team for cup glory.

We had prepared ourselves as best we could for the match. When East Cheshire were drawn against Urmston, we feared the worst. And did the worst strike.

First, there was the postponement never fully explained to the East Cheshire Warriors. Then, there were messages from our Captain Tom, asking for volunteers. He himself was unavailable, already diminishing our chances of success. Other strong players had succumbed to recent surgery, family commitments, and in one case, a long-planned visit to see the pyramids of ancient Egypt in all their glory.
As the day of the match approached, Captain Tom’s messages became more urgent.
The evening before, Big Steve, captain of our second team, made a direct appeal to his brave troops to make the ultimate sacrifice and play their second punishing match in two days.
I will answer the call, spoke up Website Edwin. Even that did not help, as he was already down to play.
And so it was, that a depleted team set out in the team luxury coach driven by Lord Jim himself. It was a dark and windy night as I stood on the outskirts of Woodford Garden Village waiting for Jim‘s arrival with the rest of the team.
I contemplated the last time we took on the Urmston roundabout challenge, when we nearly met our deaths somewhere in its dark heart. The memories were still terrifying.
The coach eventually arrived from nearby Poynton. I expected it to be full, and to my surprise I found only Badger Bank inside with the driver.
We set off, only interrupted by the particularly irritating voice of the Sat Nav. Big Steve was making his own way by an undisclosed route which avoided the dreaded roundabout. We estimated we would be at worst only one player light.
One the outward leg of the journey we only skirted the rim of the roundabout, leaving unspoken the terrifying return journey. ‘Turn half left’ the Sat Nav voice instructed us ...

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For new listeners, the wit and wisdom comes from the posts found on the website X sometimes still known by its earlier name Twitter. This episode has its usual mix of political, cultural, and well just amusing posts.

@RishiSunak
Nitrous Oxide, also called laughing gas, is now illegal. Earlier this year I promised to crack down on anti-social behaviour, to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. I’m delivering on that promise.
@PaulTempleman6
Sunak pledges to eliminate laughter as anti-social behaviour.

@EdKrassen
After a major defeat for the GOP and Republicans in Ohio, Rick Santorum seems to blame it on "pure democracy.": “You put things like abortion and marijuana on the ballot and a lot of young people come out to vote. It was a secret sauce for disaster in Ohio. I don’t know what they were thinking but… thank goodness most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot because pure democracies are not the way to run a country.”
Republicans don't seem to know how to handle this loss.

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'How far can I improve my chess?' The question was answered recently by chess coach Jorge Murakami on the discussion site Quora. In essence, he argues that not everyone would be able to reach the ELO 2000 standard rating,

He believes that those who achieve that level, (roughly at the top end of the ratings players in chess clubs around the world) would tend to be above average in the cognitive skills used in chess (spatial visualization, combinatory imagination, memory). These competences are more complex than those measured in standard intelligence tests. High intelligence is arguably a necessary not a sufficient component ...

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Friday 16 November 2023

Politics in Britain this week moved closer to its favourite sport, commentating about the latest football story. The Prime Minister’s sacking of his Home Secretary Suella Braverman reminded me of what might happen after the sacking of a key player on the eve of an important football game.

The timing of the real political sacking may have been calculated to coincide with an imminent court judgement of the legality of her ‘stop the boats’ plans to deal with asylum seekers, arriving across the channel.

Within hours of her dismissal, Braverman made public her resignation letter to the manager. It was full of noise and fury, signifying her disappointment over the manager’s (sorry, PM’s) competence and honesty in his treatment of her:

‘you have manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver results. Either your distinctive style of government means you are incapable of doing so. Or as I surely must conclude, now, you never had any intention of keeping the promises you gave me’.

The violent tone of her letter supports a popular theory that she has been setting up her own resignation in order to launch a future bid to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, even by then if the post would be as leader of the opposition party in Parliament.

For me, reality merged into fantasy football. I could see this alternative reality being played out in the sports broadcasting studies ...

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Suella Lagerman and Operation Raging Bull

Suella Lagerman popped into the war room to encourage her crack military officers in their efforts. General Dunking-Smith threw his commanding officer a smart salute and returned his attention to the large map of the battleground laid out over the trestle table which had been donated by Lord Witherspoon of Coney Hatch. Operation Raging Bull had begun.

On the table, realistic little farm animals donated by a well-known Regent Street toy shop were assembled around the China model of Cenotaph. The map indicated the planned deployment of the Anti-Hate troopers in Operation Raging Bull.

Across the room, members of the Common Sense Conservatives group were putting the finishing touches to Suella’s Xmas card which read. ‘Spending Christmas in a stable is a life-style choice’.

Standing alongside Dunking-Smith was her Chief Comms officer, Miriam Catswhisker, handling the flow of information from active service units around the country.
‘The Karate Kids are mobilised’ she reported pointing to the little black and white cows on the map. ‘They plan to hijack football coaches at Motorway service stations before proceeding to the Cenotaph. The little brown chickens are the Saxon ultras who are trained cage fighters'.

Dunking-Smith was prodding his phone with a podgy index finger.
:A message received from code name Jam Jar. He says his crack troops are on their way and are already approaching London’,
On their way?
A puzzled look appeared on his Commander in Chief’s noble features. ‘On their way? They should still be avoiding drawing attention to themselves. What’s Jam
Jar playing at? He’s drawing attention to himself again by arriving early.’
Dunking-Smith flinched at the glare known to addle the brain of anyone coming into direct contact with it.
Suella had always had suspicions about the loyalty of Jam Jar, leader of the Anglo-Saxon Purity League. His stint in prison had failed as a recruitment plan to his outfit. But it had given him publicity that in the past had drawn attention away from herself as the President for Life in waiting of the New United Kingdom of Brexonia. Not that she was sure yet about the provisional name suggested by Dunking-Smith. She hadn’t given up completely on Suellaland, but that was a battle for the future.
He was babbling now, trying to avoid eye contact. Idiot...

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@johnestephens
Just when you thought you'd heard it all....
Boris Johnson asked scientists if you could kill Covid by blowing hairdryer up nose
@Tudortweet
If I’d been asked which politician came up with the question, I’d have said 100% Donald Trump!
@PippaLeuven
Trump: drink disinfectant.
Johnson: blow hairdryer up nose.
Honestly, even a 5 year-old would know better...

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How to Rescue a Hedgehog

My hedgehog sensitivity has deepened since I had a series of evening visits from one during the summer. It made a purposeful trek across the garden always from the same direction, returning equally purposefully a few minutes later.

I learned how much love there is for hedgehogs, from an extended message on X formerly known as Twitter by @Hedgehog Cabin, a small hospital charity for sick, injured and orphaned wild hedgehogs.

When I called HC to learn more, It became clear I was in danger of holding up other more serious calls so I decided to report in full the advice I had gleaned from Twitter, and the helpline.

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