Boris and the ludicrous analogy

absent, what an utterly disgusting image! [yuk emoticon]

I think the key to success, rising to the top, getting on - call it what you will - lies in having drive, ambition and a clear, even blinkered, image of where you want to go.

In primary 1, I was one of 6 children selected to take part in trials of intelligence tests, which lasted until we left Primary. Usually a researcher came twice a year and we had to complete word games, puzzles and logic problems. As we got older there were also tests based on interpretation of poems and written pieces and mathematical problems. I thought it was great fun. When we sat our control exam (Scottish equivalent of the 11+) I thought it was a breeze, no doubt because I had been completing the same kind of test for years.

Neither, the children nor the school were given the results of the trials, nor did we get the results of the control exam except that we had Passed and were going to High School or Failed and off to the Junior Secondary but when we arrived at secondary school we were streamed according to the results into five classes. The first name called from the list was mine. I was not fond of school but nonetheless went on to 'do well' - top of the year in some subjects, 100% for maths twice. But I found a job and left school at 15, was demoted to 'temporary staff' when I got married at 19, forced out when I was pregnant at 23 and have worked since in mainly low paid voluntary sector jobs.

So, undoubtedly intelligent, basically lazy and not ambitious or singleminded enough to make it to the top in any field, especially in the days when the only career option offered to clever girls was teaching.

Anyway, when did success guarantee lasting Happiness?

annodomini A fitting image for an utterly disgusting man, n'est ce pas?

Actually family expectation and aspiration is one of the biggest factors in determining a child's career path. Sounds like you might have experienced a culture of low expectations by society for girls at the time, Granny 23?

granny23 mamie that almost describes me to a "T". I was always in the top three pupils of my class (of course in those days you came "first in class" etc, the only girl to be put into the "A stream" with the boys to take maths and science subjects.

We were three children in a single parent household, it was always clear to us, I had internalised it come to think of it, that my lot in life was to find a job as soon as I left school and contribute to the household. In matric (SA final school year) the teachers sent the top pupils, me included, to a University Open Day and I loved it, I remember clearly being filled with wonder at this academic world. Nevertheless, I went off to work and from the time I got my first paycheck, I gave my mom half and the rest was mine to do with as I pleased. Worked very well and I remember seemingly having a lot of money to spend.

I eventually enrolled at Uni as a mature student at age 38 but didn't complete my degree because life got in the way (my 12 year old daughter broke her hip and I was working full time so something had to give).

I've embarked on a career path since 50 when we arrived in the UK and I am now in a fairly senior position. But I am not a very ambitious person. Sometimes when I have to do 'strategic vision for the next 3 years' I long for the days I was a secretary and sat quietly doing typing, I had this idea that I would take the jumble of words (in those days handwritten) off the page and they would flow through me and on to the paper in an orderly fashion. Very soothing. And I learnt a lot from being a legal secretary, medical secretary etc.

I think higher IQ and academic ability help people jump over the first hurdles, but practical and organisational skill are much more use in the workplace. Here in France academic achievement is everything and in my opinion many organisations have a desperate need of people who are able to organise themselves and others and actually get things done. (Piss-ups and vineyards spring to mind).

Here is the excellent Janet Downs on the subject:
www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2013/11/bell-curves-cornflakes-and-the-bible-boriss-latest-lecture/

Absent LO very L
Shallows are all buffoonery. He may look like a teddy bear galen - but would you want a teddy bear who is fond of saying outrageous things and can't quite get himself dressed properly to be running the country?
Depths in boris's case are pretty scary. No one knows what lurks beneath, but I have heard it said that he has no close friends - so not very loveable-bear it seems.
Also he has no grip on scientific principles (despite his belief that he has a high IQ...). If you shake the cornflake box, all the cornflakes settle down lower. They are all the same standard size as dictated by Kelloggs quality control protocol. Make of that what you will.
Bad as Dimbleby on his meandering (literally and metaphorically) programme about the Sea. Nelson's hammock-slung bed moved did it? No sir, it stayed still while the boat rocked around it. Physics for beginners.
But to get back to Boris, glorifying the greed of the very rich in a winter when many people are struggling to heat their houses and eat because of the bedroom tax and the imposition of council tax beggars belief.

Mamie - your post reminds me of a cartoon of a French academic bureaucrat saying 'Well, that's all very well in practice, but will it work in theory?'

Indeed bluebell. There is a discussion on one of the French forums about how much the phrase a priori is used and I can understand why.
Everything is theory and pragmatism never rules, in my experience.
My OH was briefly involved with a highly researched, supremely elegant product. Unfortunately it didn't work with anything else.

Mamie Thank you for that link. I found it interesting and amusing - and the comments of Roger Titcombe very moving.

Couldn't agree more Eloethan

It is good isn't it; I hadn't seen the Roger Titcombe reply when I first posted it. Nor this addendum.

ADDENDUM 1 December 2013 The Parable of the Cornflake Packet

And behold, a certain person stood up and tested the Mayor saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

And the Mayor answered and said, ” Make as much dosh as you can and give some of what you make to the poor for the 16% will always be with us. And they lack real talent and spiritual worth. They are as crushed as the cornflakes that fall to the bottom of the packet. For, verily I say unto you, the box will be truly shaken so the toughest will rise to the top and settle upon the rest. And when thou givest, make sure you make a great noise so that you will benefit thereof. For those who give so publicly will be rewarded with a gong.”

And the certain person left, satisfied, because he was not of the 16%.

The mention of common sense reminds me of my old philosophy teacher who used to argue that.
Common sense is that which is common to all,
it is pre-theoretical and dangerous.Used to a large extent in the red top newspapers where it is rallied to sell newspaper
The politicians of this Country have a multi million £ organisation and advisors to tell them what to say at any given time, they are no more intelligent than the rest of us.
THERE FORTHCOMING 11% PAYRISE SHOULD BE PUT TO THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE TO PAY IT AND A TIME AND STUDY MOTION COMPLETED AS TO WHAT THEY DO FOR THEIR FAT PAY RISE. p/s boris is a third rate comedian

Norris is, I think, quite dangerous person. He has discovered a persona that some find attractive (the bumbling idiot) and uses it to great effect.

Nevertheless, he is of that breed which we see so often in politics today (and probably in the past too) which is a breed of self promoting, self serving people with no compassion and a ruthless ambition. In other words, a nasty little man, but one, unfortunately, with clout, and able to ensure that he will always be a big cornflake.

I will speak in defence of Boris Johnson. When I was working with Age Concern (as it was then) I was trying to arrange for a client to get an insulation grant. The application went in, but months later nothing had happened. emails to the organisation involved were ignored, telephone calls went to an answerphone.

In the end I wrote to the client's MP (Boris Johnson). Within 10 days the organisation involved was ringing me with apologies and wanting to make an appointment to undertake the work involved. Within three weeks the work was done. I have never known a letter to an MP be so effective.

Behind that bumbling persona id either a very well organised man or a well organised office. However his recent statements show an intellectually arrogant man without compassion.

A friend of mine once had a problem with getting a grant to go to university in his mid 20s. His MP sorted it for him. Friend now an eminent professor. MP was Ian Paisley.

Aaggghhhh! Boris. FAt finger (or something)

I think your last paragraph was spot on, Flickety. And it is the perceived lack of compassion that makes one then question his motivation for good works, in that he may very well be using them to further himself.

those who shout the loudest will always get the most. Grants are usually ringfenced and really, those who are successfull may very well be depriving people who are more in need.I dont bother with MPs,I just get the interviewers name and inform them that my eldest Son is a top flight Solicitor,this tends to get their attention.
(My eldest Son owns a Bar in Spain) I still believe that Boris is full of verbal dihorrea. (smile)

Let me be clear, the survey had taken place and the grant had already been approved. It was a Warm Front grant for home insulation and the work was meant to be done within one month of approval being given. Three months later we were still waiting for the work to take place and unable to make any contact with the company running the scheme.

Boris managed to make contact with the company and put a boot up there a**e so that the lady concerned got the benefit of the insulation before the winter was over. He was not involved in getting the grant. That had already been done.

When I worked in a Women's Refuge I was often aware that the main problem these women had was lack of intelligence. An inability to think things out, make a decision and act upon it.
The state doesn't bother about them at all, sends them household bills they can't read, never mind understand and and even sent important information for foreigners in German legal language.
I hope it has changed now but then I felt it would be better if we acknowledged that these 16% were there, and were worth being looked after properly and not just left to fend for themselves in a world being run by cleverer people.

As several people have pointed out the way IQ is measured and defined is that there will always be 50% above average and 50% below. Furthermore there will always be 16% of the population making up the bottom 16%. Even if we all became much cleverer overnight due to alien magic dust, this would still be the case. Boris may be clever when it comes to words and PR. But he is obviously ignorant when it comes to statistics.