Deliverance!?

[Roger de Coverly]

Struggling to see the point – what is it about those two statements you find odd?

If the questioning being posed to Andrew Paulson had been present in 2006, you and your supporters would have been asked to explain in public what you meant by a mandatory membership scheme.

Did not Council's attitude in 2008 indicate clearly that a mandatory scheme did not have the backing of all chess players? So resigning in 2008 was inconsistent with what appears to be an assurance granting a player veto in 2006.

[Martin Regan]

You think Council speaks for all chess players? Good grief.

[Roger de Coverly]

You think Council speaks for all chess players? Good grief.

In theory, at least, it represents either directly or indirectly all the active UK players. If delegates local to my area opposed membership, their local AGMs didn't censure them for it. Remember that MOs continued some years after the resignations. Local AGMs discussed them and ruled them out several times. So the option to switch to per head funding was available and rejected.

[David Sedgwick]

Andrew Paulson has the advantage from his publicity machine over the last eighteen months means that anyone who follows chess knows who he is.

You need to insert a word to make that statement accurate:

"Andrew Paulson has the advantage from his publicity machine over the last eighteen months means that anyone who follows international chess knows who he is."

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a member of Council who holds fairly important positions at both ECF and Union level. He had never heard of Andrew Paulson until the ECF published the list of persons nominated for election.

[John McKenna]

PeterFarr >Christopher Lee is still alive (or at the very least undead). And still acting at past 90 - he was in "The Hobbit"<

Thanks to Peter Farr for that reminder about Christopher Lee and The Hobbit.

Are we facing a scenario similar to that of The Hobbit? Is the ECF the problem - like a dragon that just lies on its hoard of treasure most of the time? Has a wizard and his helpers arrived to scare off the dragon and deliver its wealth for good causes?

Or are we facing a scenario more akin to The Lord of the Rings? Is the ECF Shire (and the rest of Middle Earth, i.e. Western Europe) in need of deliverance from a deadly danger posed by emissaries of a distant alien power whose goal is to take control?

The golden hobbits, silver dwarves and bronze ferengi (How did they get in here?!) have little power in the vast scheme of things. But, the hobbits have two representatives - let's call them Bilbo & Frodo - and their influence just might be crucial and decisive to the outcome of the pending vote. (Though not in the direct way you might first think.)

Of course it is possible to look at the situation from a more modern but equally alien - to English sensibilities - view point, that of the Red Emperor -

Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution. A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery. It cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.


And, should the 'revolution' succeed this Maoism may be worth remembering -

Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.

(I am sure that the Blue Prime Minister is beginning to think along the same lines.)

[Roger de Coverly]

. But, the hobbits have two representatives - let's call them Bilbo & Frodo - and their influence just might be crucial and decisive to the outcome of the pending vote. (Though not in the direct way you might first think.)

The Direct Member Representatives have rather more power than I thought they had, or at least more than they ever exercise. Unless the forces of Sauron take them away, they can directly put motions to the AGM.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... onists.pdf

[John McKenna]

Very revealing is the above post.
I suspect that Bilbo & Frodo may have some difficulty using their new-found powers at this late stage but who knows.
I dimly recall that while the Great Eye of Sauron was firmly fixed on Middle Earth it was Saruman who took over the Shire.

[PeterFarr]

I dimly recall that while the Great Eye of Sauron was firmly fixed on Middle Earth it was Saruman who took over the Shire.

Yes he did; while Frodo and the other brave hobbits were busy junketing with kings and wizards in foreign countries,Saruman sneaked away and laid waste to their home country. A lesson to us all.

[Rob Thompson]

I suspect that given the vast range of opinions in the constituency shared by Bilbo and Frodo they'll be hard put to find much common ground to appease all their electors.

[John McKenna]

Thanks for that honest and true reply, Rob.
They're your calls and all you can do is call them as you see them.
I'm just pleased that the two of you were prepared to take on the role.
(Pity that Silver & Bronze still don't have any reps.)


At the start of this thread there is a question - is there any thing... new?

I believe that there are new things for humans. When science matured during the Enlightenment the possibility of really new things emerged for us. Though new things in the field of human relations, organisation and management are more difficult to discern one can live in hope that they not only exist but might even work!

A modicum of black humour has been used here but I hope that will be taken in good heart by those who bothered to read any of it. I also hope that all the contenders for positions in the ECF are, and will remain, on good terms with each other no matter what the outcome of the elections at the AGM.

May the best persons for the jobs get them. However, the jobs in this context are often what the persons make of them. (Or not, as in the cases of a previous Dir. of Marketing, who was always incommunicado, and a President whose latter days were mostly spent in self-imposed exile. Let's hope a repeat of those kinds of shenanigans does not happen.)

That reminds me, I wonder when Alex H will emerged from his NFL dugout (of course, there may not be any real significance to his choice of shelter) and be the "man for all seasons", again. (Maybe he is right to lie low until it all blows over and... )

We shall see.

[PeterFarr]

Thanks for that honest and true reply, Rob.
They're your calls and all you can do is call them as you see them.

As someone in Rob's 'constituency', I'd echo that.

A modicum of black humour has been used here but I hope that will be taken in good heart by those who bothered to read any of it.

Enjoy your little allegories, though a lot goes over my head, to be honest.

[John McKenna]

Peter, thanks for the confirmation about Saruman (played by Christopher Lee, I believe).
Don't worry about some of this going over your head. When it starts coming out of your head is the time to be concerned.