Bridget Jones

Friday 29th November 11.53am

I am just making a quick start on next week’s article so that I don’t forget. The reason I am calling it Bridget Jones is that I wanted to remind myself that it is the start of my new diary type of writing, and, Anne Frank was a bit dark.

I have actually visited the secret annexe where Anne Frank and her family stayed for over two years, it is an emotional place to go, in my case the main emotion is anger. It has been a long time since I read her diary and there may well be some insight for my small effort that she can offer. My guess would be that her generosity of spirit might be the key factor and not easy to copy.

I do not read anything like the amount I would like. It really needs to go on the schedule, I need quality time to do it and therefore I need to do it before I exhaust my energy on other things. I am tempted to say I could get up early to do it, but I can see the odd downside in this plan. 

The short article this week is about sex and I have started it. When I started it, I was looking for comedy but soon discovered that I wanted to make serious points, and, that comedy and those do not sit easily together. If I have to lose one it will be comedy.

Friday 29th November 3.23pm

I know it is naughty to celebrate POETS day, piss off early tomorrows Saturday, but I am feeling a bit tired. The radio is reporting an incident at London Bridge. It is hard not to think what is it this time? Some kind of hatred? The normal kind? I hope not but fear the traditional signs.

Saturday 30th November 1.16pm

I plan to pretty much take the day off. The incident in London yesterday seems a bit strange, I might be guilty of indulging my conspiracy theory too much. If I understand correctly some guy who had been in prison before and was released stabbed and killed two people. 

I am not an apologist for any who would use violence to further their aims, but I am also not a member of the group that says lock them up and throw away the key. I reserve most of my cynicism for the truth of the enquiry that will no doubt soon follow. This is the same week when what seems likely to be the last legal process in the Hillsborough disaster.

Some thirty years and after a verdict of unlawful killing no one has been prosecuted. The shame of an establishment that first tried to blame the innocent and then manipulated the process to protect the guilty amongst their number.

The person with a lot of responsibility for the rising amount of islamophobia is straight on the telly to say we must sort this out, almost I can be more popular if you think I hate the same people as you. I fear that this makes the problem worse and in no way attempts to solve it.

Sunday 1st December 1.20pm

I am more convinced now than I have ever been that the main strategy for any right-wing party in an election is indifference. I do not believe that anyone watching the Andrew Marr programme this morning, and, seeing Shami Chakrabarti immediately followed by Boris Johnson can reasonably decide all politicians are the same.

I am not a fan of Mr. Marr, but I would say he did a much better job than his colleague Andrew Neil. They are both guilty, like a surprising number who work for the BBC of bias, however, Mr Marr on the evidence of this morning draws the line at rudeness and shouting. 

Surely someone on the side of the righteous will have done a psychological profile on Mr. Johnson and know how to make him lose it in public. A man has literally defended him just now for saying what he thinks and using that as an example of integrity, it is what he thinks that is the bigger problem.

Enough fun for one day, I need to turn my mind to work. It is a little optimistic to assume that I will actually do some, but I might start thinking a bit about it. In terms of talking myself into a structured effort as the new week begins and a little more esoteric, the nature of work and my relationship with it.

I have often described myself as work compulsive, this I have unfortunately, had to admit to myself recently is not true.  It is only work if you don’t enjoy it, and if I am honest, I have never spent very much time doing that, in fact if anything I have spent an extraordinary amount of effort in my lifetime avoiding that.

This is not to say that I have always taken self-worth from working hard. I am not sure that it is logical or deserving of any credit, it just so happens to be my disposition. This, what I am doing now, writing, is not work. I appreciate there are real writers who sit down for ten hours a day, but I have to ask, even then, is it really working?

A good work ethic sounds a bit masochistic, like being born with good looks, a lucky accident at best. It occurs to me that self-awareness might require another sacrifice at the alter of my ego. Self-awareness is similar to the joke made of parenthood, a gift that never stops giving. The benefits are significant, but the price is high.

I may be a puritan trapped in a cavalier body, or the other way around, I am not sure which is worse. 

As is the case at the start of any week I have some challenges to face and will do my best to summon the discipline necessary to actually spend time and try to move the situation forward. Knowing this, writing it down, is a good start, there is more to do but I am in pretty good shape for a Sunday.

The other thing I will do is spend time further exploring my relationship with work, it is not so much that I am trying to solve a problem as that I am doing what I can to make the process better. Not necessarily more efficient but that may well be the obvious conclusion.

The reality is that if you can work, drink tea and listen to the radio at the same time it might be time to check your definition of the word work.

Monday 2nd December 8.36am

Christmas is coming and I have to admit that I am not known for my festive spirit. It is cold, often wet and the sooner it is over the better. While this is my reality it is not terribly helpful, so I need to get on with it and not let it be an excuse.

As I mentioned, not only do I consider myself work compulsive but on reflection I must also admit that I have tended to generate an inflated sense of self-worth on that basis. The week ahead and despite my enthusiasm yesterday it is not off to the start I had hoped. I will try adding sugar.

Tuesday 3 December 12.29pm

I bumped into a lady at the shops earlier and we had a chat while we waited to be served. It was an entirely pleasant experience so as we said goodbye, I gave her a business card and suggested we connect on LinkedIn. No sooner had I arrived back home I had a connection request.

What struck me as interesting is that when I had a quick look at her profile it appears that she knows a fair bit about Social Marketing. She seems to me to be a friendly and nice person, perhaps one key thing that you need to be effective in Social Marketing, being social.

Reading books is a pain, it is hard to read one without learning something new and almost inevitably requiring the reading of another. I have just come across Jonas Silk, the inventor of a vaccine for Polio. Mr. Silk decided not to patent the vaccine but instead give it as a gift to the human race.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, one is a constant the other vanity. 

I have just read a Samuel Johnson quote that essentially says that the main job of a writer is to read. This strikes me as interesting, not least because if you have the desire to be better at something you should listen to advice. By all means ignore it but try to make sure you understand it before you do.

If Samuel is right, and let’s be honest there is a good chance that he is, then the quality of what a person reads at least has a chance of being reflected in their writing. To get better at something is more than saying I will try, it is making a definite decision to do the hard yards. Be clear about what is important, what you want to do, and, honestly, what it will take.

You may or may not live up to the challenges you set yourself but knowing what they are is the first step. As for trying, even if you are good at it you will have some better days than others. Failure is either an excuse to give up or driver to try again.

Wednesday 4th December 8.19am

DE radicalisation is being discussed on the radio this morning and my spider sense is itching. It seems to be flawed to me; the word radical is neutral but rarely used in that way. Usually predicated with another word such as Isis or, even worse, Muslim. Born of a desire to carry one’s own supporters and justify previous actions taken in error.

Simply put, actions of terror and violence can never be justified by the vast majority of reasonable people, but it is not possible to divorce such actions from an ethical foreign policy. It seems from our first world western point of view sometimes a terrorist is a freedom fighter.

I like the phrase my enemy’s enemy is my friend in the business sense, but I am not so keen on it when it comes to world politics. When we find ourselves in the position of having more enemies than friends, we have to look at ourselves. Why do these people hate us is a question that is not too hard to answer.

The good ladies of Woman’s Hour are having a political debate. The Tory woman is describing a draft as ventilation. The people calling in, predominantly women, sound calmer than the normal callers on other programmes, coincidence? I think not. Is Jane Garvey my last hope for BBC independence?

Moving back to my work, there are some challenging issues to address. As I am pretty sure I have said before the answer for me is to write them down. Literally, write them down, not for public consumption but just a quick exercise in checking in with myself, or, as some call it, journaling. 

I saw a young teenager on the television yesterday in a news report about literacy in the UK. He said, even if its just 20 minutes a day I do try to read every day. Let me be the first to put my hand up and admit that I do not. This is a habit I really must get into, starting today. The question is what is the best time?

What is that thing people say about, if you want something done ask a busy person? I suppose it implies that high energy people are more inclined to take action than those who weigh alternatives. What about the argument that a busy person needs to be more organised? Organised for what?

It seems to me there is an underlying question that depends on a definition that does not exist. What is the optimum level of busy and who really cares where they fall on the spectrum? A problem for most at some point in their life is that they feel they are not busy enough and probably for the minority that are too busy. In some ways complaining about themselves in the present without realising they are making that choice in real time. 

My perspective is that the only fundamentals you can rely on are truth and moderation. First it is necessary to unwrap the true motive, and then having achieved this to the best level you are capable of, remember that there will always be examples of more and less so give yourself a break, the benefit of the doubt.

Friday 6th December 13.41pm

I find myself with nothing to say. I could easily make something up but that feels like it is missing the point. I am not sure why this is the case, but I don’t have too long before I need to finish this before publication is due. I am sure I will think of something, the better the subject the easier it is to write.

I am already looking forward to Election Day on Thursday next week. I plan to stay up half the night in the hope of seeing some classic faces of Tory disappointment. I read some interesting ideas about why the various polls may not be accurate, this is in addition to their recent performance. 

If we end up with a Labour Government, I am keeping my fingers crossed, it may well be on the back of old right-wing people dying and young socialists voting for the first time. I have heard say that people become more right wing as they become older, I understand why that is but refuse to conform personally. I do accept that the youngsters might not know they are socialists yet.

If you have a good record you can campaign on it, if not you are left hoping for indifference. We have got to the stage now where the incumbent in the UK and the US actively encourage indifference as part of their strategy. For the UK we have “Get Brexit Done” and the US, “Make America Great Again”. 

As candidates go both are up there in terms of stupidity. If we take the UK example, what are they really saying and are they predominantly appealing to those amongst us who prefer stupid? Get anything done seems very close to get it out of the way, do we need to be stupid, indifferent or both, to forget the only reason it is in the way is largely down to the person now telling us to get it done?

For our American friends, if you want to make something great again, I assume you have a specific benchmark in mind. If asked tricky questions like when and what the slogan starts to sound a bit hollow. I wonder what most voters consider to be great about America, if it is things like liberty it seems a bit ironic that an extreme right-wing person like Mr. Trump should steel those clothes.

Much more likely that he is trying to invoke images of military strength, working on the basis that people like hawks more than doves. I honestly can’t think of a period in history where there is too much to shout about, perhaps independence, perhaps their civil war but I think I am right in saying what was really going on then in terms of motivation was not that great.

Saturday 7th December 9.06am

Obviously, I cannot call this series of articles Bridget Jones’s diary, not least because I am not her but also, they are not anything like a diary except for the fact that I make a note of the day and time of writing. 

Having said that I still have about a thousand words to do and I need to write about something. In the absence of a better idea, and, if I really stretch a point and try to persuade myself of this stumbled upon benefit, it is a different way. 

To be clear I have been searching for the subject and this is the opposite of that. It is the proverbial blank sheet of paper or empty canvas. 

Take winning the lottery, most people who do it and surprisingly large numbers of those who don’t, often think it would be great to win the lottery. I can sort of understand this as a fantasy, probably the most common across the population. What I don’t understand is why they don’t take it to the next level, why would it be great? 

I think fantasy can be nice and even harmless, but it would be a mistake to indulge it too much. Logic, not for the first time is my only defence. Why would it be great to win the lottery, and then why again? There have been times in the past when salespeople who worked for me called me the “why man”, I only really know now, why.

Take a simple question like, why do you want to win the lottery, give a simple answer and repeat, keep going. How many times do you need to do it before money is not necessary to do the thing you would? I suggest not many and that begs the obvious question what is stopping you doing that anyway?

If I am right, and I am sometimes just on the law of averages, the thing that stops you is indifference, and do you really think that you would be more or less indifferent if you were rich? The distractions might seem endless but aren’t they already? It is an interesting question none the less.

In order to perpetuate the fantasy much is made of the surprised and delighted winners. Most who make an early, and I am sure mistaken, decision to go public will talk about family first and then friends. I am not saying they are wrong and that it is not normal however it does not compare as an act of generosity to that of Jonas Silk.

If I won the lottery, I would be generous, if you had to be generous to win the lottery you would not. Most of us, especially those of us who do not buy a ticket, will not win, we are left then to do what we can or live an imagined life. Better to live your life as fully as you can instead of imagining what it would be like in an extremely unlikely hypothetical situation.

For those who would prefer I keep my political opinion to myself I would avoid next week if I were you. There is something of the “why” syndrome going on with Jeremy Corbyn. I hate to call people who say, I just don’t like him, stupid but when they inevitably fail the why test then perhaps it is time.

I have been giving some thought to Mrs Malaprop, a character who seems to be the origin of the Malapropism. Don’t do today what you can put off till tomorrow. When I have a week that I am not happy with this is a refrain that seems to resonate. I still have one thing; besides the 250 words I still owe this and the very first thought that occurs is I can do it tomorrow.

I find as I finish this article, not just this time but normally, I have the tendency to reflect on the week that is ending and starting to think about the one to come. I am due a good one, I will do what I always do on the back of a bad one, turn up and try to bring my A game.

That is me for today, I have the one big hard thing and I have promised myself that I will address that tomorrow. If I do, it will be a good week, if not I may need to dig deeper to get out of the slump. 

There is plenty to think about, plenty to do, and joy to be found in doing it. One day at a time, one thing, one challenge. If I won the lottery I would immediately insist on a recount, there is obviously something wrong if somebody who doesn’t buy a ticket win. I like the logic of probability and therefore reject the someone has to win argument. 

I like the idea of a letter from America and I can only see two minor issues, first I am not Alistair Cooke and second I am not in America. It will have to be by somebody else from somewhere else, but, I feel I am at liberty to steal any other ideas that might work for me.

I guess, in truth, it is hardly likely to be a letter either.

Martyn Richards

Wishful Thinking Fundamentals Ltd