Rishi's Monster Raving Loony Party

Hello all - 

Happy Sunday!  

According to some estimates, up to 80 countries in the world are holding political elections this year. In other words, two billion of the world’s eight billion people will be eligible to head to the ballot box in 2024.

This week, in a surprise move, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, called for an election to be held on 4th July.

Moments like this always bring to mind the OMRLP, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party, which I am pleased to report is still going strong and will hopefully be lighting up the dreary 6-week slog to which we are all about to be subject with one or two tastefully chosen parliamentary candidates.

In case you are unfamiliar with the OMRLP, they originally appeared during my first year at University in 1983. They were headed by Screaming Lord Sutch, who was memorable for his outlandish clothing and the catchy moniker.

Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons​
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Unfortunately, David Sutch passed away in 1999, but his colleague Alan Howling Laud Hope has led the party ably since.

Despite the immense efforts of candidates such as The Flying Brick, R.U. Seerius and Sir Oink A-Lot, the OMRLP has never actually won a seat in Parliament.

Perhaps if they succeed this year, we may see their proposal of a high-speed railway line to the Falkland Islands become a reality, not to mention the 99p coin.

Podcast episode... a look back

Episode 6. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People​

I couldn’t really choose any episode other than No. 6, when I spoke to the most eloquent and hilarious Edward Morello. He recounted his experience of running for the UK Parliament in the 2019 election — the title was his choice, by the way!

Well, spoiler alert: he didn’t get in, but I’m delighted to confirm that Edward is having another go this year, and he’s out on the campaign trail as we speak. Have another listen to the episode and you might feel a little more sympathetic towards the next candidate who dares to knock on your d oor!

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music or just about any other. podcast player of your choice.  Check out the show notes and  transcript to learn more.  

My favourite quotes from the episode...

"There are many, many, many ways that are quicker, cheaper, and less painful to find out that 40,000 people don't like your face, and I would recommend that you try all of them before you run for parliament. "

When I asked Edward what he most remembered about announcing that he would run for parliament:

"The one thing that does happen is suddenly everyone   goes, "Oh, do you know what? I know somebody who's run for parliament, would you like me to put you in touch?" There's actually quite a lot of people who have historically run for parliament.

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And the overriding denominator of them is that they didn't win. Very few people won. So what you do is you end up meeting  lots of people who didn't win. And actually, that's not particularly helpful. My advice is - do not talk to anyone who's run for parliament because all they can tell  you is how they lost."

By the way...

I recently read Steven Pinker’s excellent book Rationality. It takes a look at humans’ capacity for rational thinking and gives a few pointers to help us make better decisions.

Part of the book discusses Correlation v Causation. This is a regular debating point in my family, as we often see examples of people confusing the two. If you’re not sure either, here’s Pinker’s rather humorous way of explaining it:

"A jewish husband was struggling to satisfy his wife in bed. They visited the rabbi. The rabbi stroked his beard and then suggested to the husband: “Find yourself a young handsome man and ask him to wave a towel over you while you make love to your wife.

The couple tried this but to no avail. They went back to the rabbi. He stroked his beard in thought and then said to the husband, “Ask the handsome young man to make love to your wife while you wave the towel over them.

They tried this approach and this time the wife was very satisfied.

The husband looked at the young handsome man and said, “There you go, schmuck, that’s how to wave a towel.”"

Dates with History...

Today...

26 May is National Sorry Day in Australia, first commemorated in 1998, which remembers the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families between approximately 1910 - 1970, to be assimilated into white Australian culture, known as the Stolen Generations.
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Later this week...

Since we’re on the subject of politics this week……..

27 May 1923, Henry Kissinger was born. Kissinger was US Secretary of State to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and is considered one of the great diplomats of his era. Extraordinarily, he only died last year in November at the age of 100.

28 May 1759, William Pitt the Younger was born. He was the youngest ever British Prime Minister, aged 24 (!) and served from 1783-1801 and again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was considered one of the great British statesmen and was in power when Nelson defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar…. and yes, his father was William Pitt the Elder.

Question of the week...

On 29 May 1917, John F Kennedy, US President 1961-63 was born, but which of these former US Presidents was born first?

- John F. Kennedy

- Ronald Reagan

- Richard Nixon

- Gerald Ford

(answer at bottom of newsletter)

And finally...

I am reliably informed that the only anagram of Britney Spears is ‘Presbyterians’, and the only anagram of Pepsi Cola is ‘Episcopal’.

Have you got any equally useless anagrammatic favourites?"

Spread the word...

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Answer to Question of the week: Ronald Reagan.

John F. Kennedy 29 May 1917

Ronald Reagan 6 February 1911

Richard Nixon 9 January 1913

Gerald Ford 14 July 1913

​Peter Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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