General Election 2019

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Brian Towers
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Brian Towers » Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:31 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:52 pm
Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:08 pm
I wonder if Jonathan Rowson (who takes a keen interest in political matters) might stand for election one day?
Fishing for a definition of unelectable?
A bit harsh. Here in the North of England there are still many places where, were he to staple a red rosette to his forehead, he would have a 10,000 vote majority. How many will be left on 13th December is another matter.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:07 am

Why do you presume that he would stand for Labour?

(not least because he has previously written in support of Scottish independence)
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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:14 am

I assumed it was the general point that some constituencies are very safe one way or another. In Reigate, a blue rosette usually wins over 50 % of the votes. Whichever way round it is, it's not satisfactory, as people who don't like whoever wins effectively don't have a vote.

If Jonathan Rowson wants to stand in Somerset, we'll see how he does.

Matthew Turner
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Matthew Turner » Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:24 am

I suspect that Jonathan could stand for a number of parties, but I think the truth of the situation is that he has more political influence now than he would have as an MP.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Nov 27, 2019 1:15 pm

Rowson has recently published the following book:

The Moves that Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life

Am trying to think of recent politicians that have written works like that. Maybe they don't make them like that any more?

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:44 pm

I don't follow these last posts, surely Rowson is much more a philosopher than a politician? (I am trying to imagine him canvassing on doorsteps; and in my imagination, he isn't enjoying it too much).

David Sedgwick
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by David Sedgwick » Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:31 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:44 pm
(I am trying to imagine [Rowson] canvassing on doorsteps; and in my imagination, he isn't enjoying it too much).
I always hated that, which led me to conclude that I would be better suited to the House of Lords than the House of Commons. I therefore asked one of my contemporaries at Cambridge to appoint me to the Lords when he became Prime Minister.

He never did become PM, nor even an MP, but he is now a Lord himself. Such is life.

David Robertson

Re: General Election 2019

Post by David Robertson » Thu Nov 28, 2019 1:17 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:31 pm
I therefore asked one of my contemporaries at Cambridge to appoint me to the Lords when he became Prime Minister
Dear me, so many errors of judgement. First, nearly a century has passed since Cambridge supplied a PM (Stanley Baldwin, the last). It won't supply the next one either. And second, if you're serious about becoming a Lord, go where the power lies: approach the Arbiters' Nexus

NickFaulks
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by NickFaulks » Thu Nov 28, 2019 1:35 pm

David Robertson wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 1:17 pm
First, nearly a century has passed since Cambridge supplied a PM
It was only half a century at the time.
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Michael Farthing
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Michael Farthing » Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:07 pm

David Robertson wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 1:17 pm
go where the power lies: approach the Arbiters' Nexus
Oh dear oh dear! It's not an Arbiters' nexus. A nexus has to join things. It's an arbiter-organiser nexus - specifically the hyphen in the middle.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:18 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:44 pm
I don't follow these last posts, surely Rowson is much more a philosopher than a politician? (I am trying to imagine him canvassing on doorsteps; and in my imagination, he isn't enjoying it too much).
Yeah, but maybe more politicians should be like that (philosophers, I mean).

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:23 pm

David Sedgwick wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 11:31 pm
Jonathan Rogers wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:44 pm
(I am trying to imagine [Rowson] canvassing on doorsteps; and in my imagination, he isn't enjoying it too much).
I always hated that, which led me to conclude that I would be better suited to the House of Lords than the House of Commons. I therefore asked one of my contemporaries at Cambridge to appoint me to the Lords when he became Prime Minister.

He never did become PM, nor even an MP, but he is now a Lord himself. Such is life.
I am trying to imagine you as a student canvassing on doorsteps. I am also trying to work out who the Lord is!

I should have got your birth year from the FIDE website, but was lazy and used Google, which led me to this profile: GOMSA Deputy President – David Sedgwick.

So we need a member of the House of Lords, who was at Cambridge in around 1974. Wonder if that narrows it down? There are 800 or so Lords (give or take if you include disqualified ones). So it might take a while to crunch the numbers.

I assume you are not referring to a hereditary peer?

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Michael Farthing
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Michael Farthing » Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:46 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:23 pm
I assume you are not referring to a hereditary peer?
Well I can think of one such that I suspect would have been known to David:

Christopher, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:29 pm

Er... "Dispute over his non-membership of the House of Lords" (or is that the point you were making?)

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Michael Farthing
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Re: General Election 2019

Post by Michael Farthing » Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:37 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:29 pm
Er... "Dispute over his non-membership of the House of Lords" (or is that the point you were making?)
No, I wasn't making any point other than the words written. I know nothing about this dispute and haven't seen him since 1975. Even then, though I have probably spoken to him on various occasions, I didn't know him personally. He just happened to be in the same college and he belonged to a student political grouping that David also belonged to. Just came to mind when I read your post.

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