Boris and the ludicrous analogy

Hopefully, Mamie, hopefully. I'm married to a Mensa member who is finally approaching something like displaying some common sense from time to time. He is quite wise though!

Well I certainly wouldn't accuse Boris of having any common sense! Of course IQ is not fixed and changes with nutrition, education, self-confidence etc. I think empathy, wisdom, emotional literacy, reflectiveness, thoughtfulness, ability to translate ideas into practice are just (if not more) important in life.
Also, of course, in a shake-up the cornflake at the top of the pack may end up randomly broken at the bottom.
And the plastic toy was always at the bottom too.

My beloved elder daughter is very bright and has a PhD but was out to lunch when they handed out common sense. My younger daughter got all the common sense.

IQ and commercial acumen are not necessarily linked. If it were the most intelligent people in the world would be running all the big companies and governments. You know, people like; Alan Sugar, Tony Blair, David Cameron, Rupert Murdoch, George W Bush, all renowned for their towering intellects!! Look where having Gordon Brown, a man who I think really is highly intelligent, as Prime Minister, got us.

Not everyone in the world, including the brightest and most able, are driven by a lust for money. Look at all the brilliant researchers in universities all over the world, look at all the other brilliantly talented people we all know individually who have chosen to devote their lives to teaching, medicine, charitable causes and every other profession known. Even among the determinedly unemployed their are highly intelligent articulate people, who just can not be a***d, to do day's work.

Is not Boris himself a classic example of where a high IQ and common sense part company?

Well, I know what he meant - just a muddled up analogy, but then I am not a PhD, a member of Mensa or a graduate either and my IQ is pretty middle of the road but I do realise that the toy drops to the bottom because it is heavier than a rice krispie . Thank heavens for common sense and high intelligence and how boring if everyone had both!

Mamie I agree with you. And I also had to educate my high IQ husband about intelligences other than logic, e.g kinetic intelligence, rhythmic intelligence, etc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

He only has half of the above, I have the other half!

p.s. I like Boris - he has hidden depths

Personally, I think he has hidden shallows.

Don't forget that when you shake a cornflake packet, the ones that drop to the bottom finish up as dust.

I am married to a "nouseless boffin." He has a brain like a planet, but needs advice for the simplest household tasks!

He reminds me of a scruffy well loved teddy bear!

My eldest daughter also has a PhD but perhaps four children keep her grounded.

Might I suggest a training course for politicians whatever their academic qualifications, look after four children (or to be kind two) on their own for a month without the help of cooks, cleaners, nannies etc., might bring some of them down to earth.

IQ as measured by Mensa tests are outdated, and I speak as an ex-Mensa examiner/tester. Modern theories now tend towards multiple intelligences

Oops grannyknot I missed your post!

Yes - we need a smattering of everything in order to get by happily.

I remember having my IQ tested at uni and I was way off the top of the scale in visuo-spacial/rhythm etc. and somewhere in the depths in mathematical concepts! I evened out as pretty normal for a uni student!

I think if his shallows were hidden they might be noticed

I liked the Paul Lewis tweet.
Memo to Boris Johnson - there are 2 sorts of successful people. Clever ones who know they're lucky. And lucky ones who think they're clever.

I think we have plumbed the depths of his shallows many, many times.

The harder you shake the pack, the more cornflakes will end up as crumbs.

I'm not sure IQ comes into it when looking at some of those that have acquired wealth or top jobs. It seems that who you know is every bit as important as what you know, and that a lack of concern for the wellbeing of other human beings and the environment come in handy too.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/11/29/the-uks-1-how-they-compare-with-other-major-states/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+org%2FlWWh+%28Tax+Research+UK+2%29

It looks like greed is alive and well in the UK anyway.

Look at all the money Mark Thatcher has made - who you know eh? He is intellectually as thick as......but mummy dear put in a good word!

Whisper it quietly , have you a little crush on Mark Thatcher , you have now mentioned him on 27/11, and 29/11 .
Go on you can tell us , you know you want to Bluebell !

I think bluebell makes a very good point about Mark Thatcher which illustrates how wealth and "success" are not necessarily linked to high IQ. Mark Thatcher left Harrow with 3 'O' levels, following which he later took, and failed, his accountancy exams. He is now estimated to be worth £60m.

Should've left him in the desert imo. Does some of his money come from mummy's interest in selling cigarettes to third world countries?

Nonu No one could have a crush on Mark Thatcher. I really would rather drink the contents of my neighbour's colostomy bag than have anything to do with such a toe rag and I'll bet Bluebell loathes him just as much.