Nigel Jones, RIP

I was saddened to read of the death of my old work colleague, Nigel Jones, this week. We'd been colleagues at the ill-fated IT Partners, a consultancy setup by the computer manufacturer, ICL, just before the early-nineties recession. Nigel was a really nice guy who had a senior operational role there, whilst I was still pretty wet behind the ears (as they say). One of relatively few to be on paid client work, Nigel was working in the UK and all-over, whilst somehow managing the workload of a county councillor.

I only learned of his death last night, whilst repeating the story of how "a friend of mine became an MP by mistake". This was Nigel, who stood in his local constituency of Cheltenham for the Liberal Democrats in the 1992 election. At that time, Cheltenham was a safe Tory seat, and Nigel was not expecting to change that. However, it was too soon it seems, for the citizens of Cheltenham to accept a black MP, official Tory candidate or not. The rightfully aggrieved losing candidate was John Taylor, who has an interesting later story of his own.

To his shock and horror, Nigel was returned as the MP for Cheltenham.

I can still remember talking to him about his unexpected career move in the office the following week. It was a mixed blessing, he said: an MP's salary was less than he currently had, and although I'm sure he was excited by the challenge, there was the danger of being dumped out at the following election and struggling to re-establish himself in a career where five years out of the business is a long time. He needn't have worried, as Cheltenham returned him again and again, until in 2005 he entered the Lords.

We met by chance a couple of years later on a train to Paddington. He didn't seem to be having much fun: MPs were subject to a lot of abuse, he said; and there wasn't great support for day to day duties. He'd just come from a ceremonial tree-planting ceremony at a Swindon hospital. But there was no hole for it, and the ground was frozen hard. They'd had to implore the press photographers not to show that Nigel was holding the tree just to keep it from falling over, as it couldn't be planted in the ground. Funny story, in its way, though he was to suffer a much worse insult in 2000, when he was attacked by a sword-wielding, mentally ill guy.

Farewell, Nigel.

Podcasts 2021

I now subscribe to a good few cricket podcasts, too many to digest all their output. Probably the best of them are Wisden Cricket (from the magazine of the same name) and The Analyst Inside Cricket (Simon Hughes and Simon Mann). The latter is more frequent but shorter, the former the opposite; both have their place. A shout out to Zero Ducks Given, a pro-am combination that can be fun to listen to, though the banter sometimes palls - you need to be there to appreciate it. Also, The Grade Cricketer, an Australian weekly, is engaging if you've got the time (almost always an hour plus). During the year we lost The Drinks Break, which was great when it started, though I'm not surprised it ended, as I guess not many productions even break even, let alone justify the time spent. Unusually, they made it clear on Twitter that it's ceased to be, rather than leave everyone wondering.

No real change in the science podcasts though I do find time for The Supermassive Podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society. It's a really rubbish name to be honest, but the content is interesting, and being monthly is about right.

On the news and general affairs front, I can't help but subscribe to the daily (4-minutes) Coronavirus Global Update from the BBC, surely a venture we all hope can be retired in 2022. My preferred news podcasts though come from the Financial Times, notably the weekly Payne's Politics and the week-daily FT News Briefing. A new (to me) is Chinese Whispers by Cindy Yu and The Spectator.

For investment, the MoneyWeek Podcast is often excellent, especially when Merryn is engaging with her sidekick, John Stepek. Chats with fund managers, which are a big part of its output, are often soporific fare however, something which is also now true of the Investors Chronicle. The Chronicle has lost some key people this year, two of whom (John Hughman and Phil Oakley) now produce Quality Shares Podcast, though it's irregular. All in all, this parting of the ways seems to have resulted in less than a zero-sum output.

In the miscellaneous category, honourable mentions go to The Lock In with Jeremy Paxman (long-form interviews of interesting people), The Perpetual Chess Podcast (better and better it gets, though I sometimes wish it were shorter), and Atomic Hobo (a bit niche, this one). And I can't ignore What Most People Think, the excellent no-ads production from comedian Geoff Norcott. It's in two forms: solo where he shares his views on this week's news and social media storms, and the interview format. His guests are usually other comedians, though the chat is not as comedic as you might expect. All in all, I prefer the monologue version, though that puts me in the minority, apparently.

Currently dormant but expected back in the new year is The Lazarus Heist, from the BBC, which is a documentary on cyber warfare in relation to North Korea. One we may have lost is FITV, another niche production (journalists based in the Falklands, basically) that I would have probably never subscribed to were it not for the yearning to hear something different during Lockdown.

More Podcasts

Looking back two years to the last time I chose to blog about podcasts, I see that most of what I described then I continue to subscribe to now. No point in going over these again, so here are three new podcasts.

What Most People Think

This is a weekly organ for Geoff Norcott (you know, the alternative voice on The Mash Report) to provide his unashamedly right-wing take on recent events. I don't mean crazy, head-banging right-wing, but a thoughtful and well argued alternative opinion.

Sometimes it's just him, other times he does an interview with someone largely but not always sympathetic to his opinions. The only odd thing is the obsession with counting the quantity of swearing from the previous week - just skip this rather tedious curiosity, which appears every week without fail.

Like most podcasters, Mr Norcott seeks reviews on something called iTunes (have I spelled it right?), which is not a service I use (theological reasons). So instead, here is my take, albeit I doubt I'll get much publicity for the podcast, which is a shame because it is worth the time.

Uncle Jim's World of Bonds

This is obviously a niche - "for professional investors only" - but it's nevertheless an authoritative 5 to 10 minutes every few days about the bond market and allied subjects. No advertising, and you do get some funky background music that I at first hated but now tolerate. I have no idea why it's "Uncle" Jim, but don't let that put you off if you're a "professional investor" and want some informed background chat to your morning coffee.

13 Minutes to the Moon

The story of how humankind voyaged to the moon and returned. Over two series and 20 episodes, it's presented by Dr Kevin Fong as part of a BBC documentary. It includes interviews with some of the people who were there, which given the interval of time since the moon landings is maybe one of the last times this will be possible. Highly recommended.

The Worst Move On the Board

After some lamentable play by Black (me) at this weekend's excellent Bristol Winter Congress, I thought I'd share this position. Black has just captured the pawn on g2.

After 18 moves, White to Play

Frankly, I deserve to lose this; the lack of development reflects a callow attempt at setting a trap for white early in the opening, which he calmly sidetracked. My knight has been driven back to its starting square, and there is little to hope for. White, who had played quite slowly the whole game, now moved instantly and with a flourish, having obviously foreseen this position a move ago.

Alas, his visualisation at the end of Round 5 was impaired, and he chose The Worst Move on the Board, leading to mate-in-two.

And so, I achieved third place and enough cash to buy a really good bottle of whisky.

The Energy

We know how it finished, but what might have been...

😲#bbccricket pic.twitter.com/2F77zxccJh

— Test Match Special (@bbctms) August 26, 2019

Mesmerising for 90 Seconds

The pendulum motion pic.twitter.com/NLr6uPrlFc

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) May 16, 2019

The Podcasts

I’ve been a regular podcast junkie since 2006 when I connected up my new Sony Walkman[1] to the Internet and found I could sync quickly and easily with the BBC.  I’ve now upgraded to the excellent Podcast Addict which tells me that, so far in 2018, I’ve spent 24 days – yes, 24 whole days – listening to podcasts; that’s more even that last year’s 15 days and 5 hours.

To make some kind of sense of that, I thought it was time to blog what it is that I’m spending my commuting and exercise time actually listening to.  These aren’t my “recommendations” are don’t represent a comprehensive trawl of the vast number of podcasts out there.  Comment below if you have suggestions of your own.

News and Politics

It’s hard to beat The Economist: Editor's picks for a weekly review of the news.   And for a roundup of the week’s news in politics, it’s FT Politics.

I particularly like Talking Politics for a pure-politics play whose subject is not dictated solely by recent events.  It’s sometimes a discussion group, other times an interview and occasionally even a lecture or briefing.

For more detail on specific issues I like both The Briefing Room and The Inquiry. 

For an interview with active politicians that won’t make you scream at the radio, try Political Thinking with Nick Robinson.

Science

My favourite weekly magazine programme about science is Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea, which is just that bit more snarky than BBC Inside Science.  I also take Nature Podcast, which luckily overlaps with Futureproof only rarely.

Two podcasts that aren’t news-driven are Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe (a cartoonist and a physicist explain the “big-questions” of universe) and I’ve just begun with The End of The World with Josh Clark.

Finally, I always listen to Physics Frontiers every fortnight or so.  It features two very well informed physics guys who kick around a topic at the frontiers of modern physics.  Now, if I’m honest, there’s no doubting this is highbrow stuff that mostly sails right over my 1982 physics & astronomy BSc, but I can’t stop tuning in anyway.

Cricket

The Analyst Inside Cricket is either an incisive weekly summary of recent cricket played, team news and so on; or, during major England matches, it reports daily from the front.

I usually listen to some of Test Match Special, but the feed can become overloaded with post-match player-interviews (overrated), lunchtime guests and so on; and then nothing for weeks.

Switch Hit Podcast comes every few weeks and is worth listening to.

And finally, I would love to see a relaunch of The Drinks Break, mostly because it features the estimable Elizabeth Ammon.

Chess

OK, so this is niche, and there aren’t too many to choose from.  Joel Benjamin’s weekly video is excellent, but you’ll need a subscription if you want more than the 5-minute preview.

Perpetual Chess Podcast is an interview format, often quite long, and not always do I finish.  The best are by people who’ve done more in life than just play and teach chess for a living.

The excellent Chess: The Full English Breakfast is now only rarely available, but a must-listen when it does appear.

Society and Culture

The high-brow In Our Time is always worth listening to, although I don’t always get to the end of the more obscure arty subjects.

Making a recent re-appearance is Wireless Nights, a documentary on what some people get up to at night.  I also like Trending, which highlights a topical subject from social media.

Investment and Business

The 10-minute business-news podcast, FT News Briefing, is essential early morning listening and similarly Investors Chronicle each week.  The latter is especially good when John Hughman is in the chair. 

Although only rarely appearing these days, Stuff that Interests Me is Dominic Frisby’s mouthpiece for his off-beat views on gold, Bitcoin and libertarian politics.  Always interesting.

Others

I’ve just started with CYBER, a discussion programme about information-security that looks promising.

And a mention for Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy, which is an unashamedly laddish discussion mostly about sport, cars and so on.  The first two series were excellent - surprisingly so - but it’s maybe reached the point where the opinions and anecdotes are now being recycled.

To chill for a while, I go to the Hypnagogue Podcast, of curated music.

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[1] Amazing device, the Sony Walkman. A tiny screen and only several millimetres deep, it could also sync video with the iPlayer for a few years.  I still have it now.