Talking about results.

Sounds boring?
Not at all.
Just fast forward a few years and see what it will look like if...

Just fast forward.

• What would happen if Green policies were followed to the letter?
  
• What would happen if we were simply to leave the EU?
  
• What would happen to the Jews if Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the UK?
  
• What would happen if Hamas conquered Israel?
  
• What would happen if President Trump declared nuclear war on, say, Iran/China/North Korea?
  
• What would happen if Pakistan and India went to nuclear war?
  

People who took up the challenge of the future:

Some of the best video games depend on this. What if there was a nuclear war? What would life be like afterwards? What would life be like if you became a law enforcement agent against drug traffickers in a tropical island? And, best of all, what would happen if you were put in charge of a railway (Railroad Tycoon) or a tropical island as el Presidente? (Tropico). All things that will/could happen in the future.

Back to the future – great film. George Orwell wondered what would happen if the Communists took over in UK. Animal Farm and 1984 were the result. Aldous Huxley wondered what would happen if scientists and geneticists took over the world. Brave New World was the result.

Challenge: Can you do it too? What would the world be like if...

Talking about results.

Gourmet English: Intermediate Trick Two: Describing a statementfor ...

Gourmet English: Intermediate Trick Two: Be accurate!


The way human beings (and maybe animals too – who knows?) think it that we try things and then react. So when we, as children, touch, say, a hot frying pan and get burned, we learn not to do it again.
It works with people too. I have had, as a mature teacher, a terrible experience with an Indian colleague. By a flat lie, he got me into a lot of trouble which caused me a lot of grief. I lived with that for a year. Then, in a new job, guess what? A lovely Headmistress was replaced by – an Indian! He was even worse.
My reaction? I only knew these two Indians! So I came to the conclusion (never uttered even to nearest and dearest) that all Indians are rogues.
Now I have been to our Catholic Church and worshipped with several really nice Indian families from Kerala. I know now that the two dreadful colleagues were the exception.
But it doesn't alter the facts: we humans draw conclusions based on what happens to us. That is how it works.
The remedy? Looking at the whole picture and breaking it down.
An awful lot of racism (see above) is down to this. And it can be discussed calmly by looking at the whole picture. Black knife crime in Luton? Yup. President Obama of USA also. Martin Luther King also. Satchmo Armstrong also. My friend Philip and his family also.

An Example:

In the recent EU elections, the Green Party (EFA) increased its share of the vote. Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party in UK was thrilled. It proved that people were becoming more aware of the dangers of climate change. 69 seats in the European Parliament!

When we come to describe the different countries that make up the electors of the EU, though, we get a totally different picture!
EFA (Green) gains masked losses in Sweden, Spain and Austria, and its total loss of seats in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia leaves the EFA without representatives from 12 of the 28 member states of the EU. Far from reflecting voters concerns from ‘right across Europe’, then, the EFA’s truly remarkable successes in Germany (an increase of nine seats), France (an increase of six seats) and the UK (an increase of five seats), actually reflect a marked geographic split on climate issues within the EU. 

It seems environmentalism is just a north-west European preoccupation: not a Green landslide at all.

Another example:

All the Conservatives who are trying to become PM say that they want to get us out of the EU. They have seen the Brexit Party grow. But this table shows the MPs supporting them - and only two candidates are backed by Leavers: the others are backed mainly by Remainers. I wonder which candidate Brexiteers will support? I wonder which Remainers will support?
Once again, looking at the whole picture gives a different result.

But you don't have to stick to politics:

“Brie cheese originates from the Île-de-France region near Paris, home to, the two famous AOC protected Bries: Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun. The appellation is important because it is a guarantee that a Brie called de Meaux or de Melun is only made with unpasteurised milk.”
Well, we all knew that! Brie is French and limited entirely to France.
But by looking at world production – describing the entire production of Brie cheese – we find this: Danish Brie??? Indian Brie???

Assume: It makes an ASS of yoU and ME.

Welcome to all you US people.
Welcome to the Dutch and Israelis too. 
Hope you enjoy and, don't be afraid to comment!
What do I need to improve on?

Gourmet English: Congratulations!

Congratulations!

You have now passed from Beginner to Intermediate!
So here is the next awesome course of Gourmet English.

Intermediate: Trick One: Listing and design.

We have already described the way you sell your idea. It is by listing the advantages.
So to sell, say, Brexit, you can talk about democracy, about freedom, about saving money, about parliament being freed up. One neat paragraph each.
Or to sell a new EU referendum you can talk about people power, about saving the economy, about dear old Mr Juncker, about the joys of Ibiza in the summer. One neat paragraph each.

Let's go one step further.

Some people do it like this:

• people power,
  
• about saving the economy,
  
• about dear old Mr Juncker,
  
• about the joys of Ibiza in the summer.
  

Or this:

1. democracy,
   
2. about freedom,
   
3. about saving money,
   
4. about parliament being freed up.
   

The good points about this are that busy people can skim through quickly. So it might be a good trick for, say, your MP or for your local School. The drawback, of course, is that the points do not bite home. They are just, frankly, a boring list.

I once made the mistake of reading Mein Kampf when I went for a job interview. (I didn't get the job when I was discovered reading it while waiting outside the interview room.) This is what the book actually looks like:

Finally, the more bureaucratic the corporative enterprise becomes, the more dependent does the status of its white-collar employee become. That is the economic fundament upon which National Socialism rests. The middle classes, the peasants, and the white-collar employees want the economic situation which existed in pre-War days: to be healthy beings with less embarrassment than seems possible to the
'upstarts'.
For an upstart is anyone who, through his own energy,
works his way up from his previous social position to a
higher one.

Oh dear! Muddle and more muddle. It sort of drifts around all over the place. Unorganised, rambling thought. Page after page...
No wonder so few people read it!

Here is how to do it:
(each of the listed points has been discussed, in that order, in the preceding clearly marked paragraphs). To make it clear, I have added the numbers myself:

Many Leave voters see Brexit as a great opportunity. 

1.With the right budget the UK economy could perform better. 

2. Now is the time to stop the monetary and fiscal squeeze, to back private sector growth with the right tax cuts, and to back public sector service improvements and investment growth where it is needed. 

3.The sooner we have a stimulus budget based on the Brexit bonus the better. 

4. World economies are slowing. Now is a good time to give things a boost.

It really pays to organise thoughts before starting to write. Notice how each of the tricks in this very blog is carefully organised and numbered.



Gourmet English: Congratulations!: 

Gourmet English: Debriefing Two.

Gourmet English: Debriefing Two.:

Attitude.

“Global warming – what a scam!”

“Sharia Law – the right path.”

“Cressida Dick says she wants half of the Met to be female.”


As soon as people read these three very provocative statements, they take sides. They already know the answer. All the familiar arguments flood into our brains: it is just like downloading our favourite files.

The aim of this blog is to change that.

Instead of rushing to download the familiar arguments, how about thinking like a Barrister instead?
It is simply wrong to assume that all barristers are in it for the money. The few I have met (one completely naked as a life drawing model) are in it to argue.
It is simply wrong to say of them that they approve of murder, of rape, of slander. They emphatically do not.

Instead of rushing to download the familiar arguments, how about thinking like a doctor instead? I have had the pleasure of knowing some doctors very well. It is simply wrong to assume that they are all in it for the money. The ones I know are in it because they honestly want to help people come to terms with their illness one way or another.
It is simply wrong to say that they love cancer, that they enjoy seeing young mothers suffer, that they relish pain. They emphatically do not.


But barristers and medical people don't get worked up. They set out to use their skills without emotion and to make people's lives better. (What they do at 4 a.m. Is only known to them.)

This blog is to give you the tools to do the same.

Already there have been ten good ideas, based on Aristotle's Rhetoric, which can help everybody – whatever their beliefs – come to terms with sharing their thoughts with other people without insulting them and, we hope, with convincing arguments too.


So let us leave the emotions out and approach emotive subjects calmly and with skill, just like a top silk or a brain surgeon.


Simple advice, but very hard to do.


Practise on these, after taking a deep breath:
“Can we now scrap so-called sex-education and all the rest of the condom-waving and pill-pushing designed to appease and spread the permissive society?”
“When the Mobs are bashing bricks over their heads in Triumph, we'll know that Sharia truly prevails...….”



No downloading: cool expertise.

Gourmet English: Ten Tricks gone so far: Debriefing.

Gourmet English: Ten Tricks gone so far: Debriefing.:

Salesmen and politicians know that you are not selling the product as much as you are selling yourself.
If you look wrong, then people will assume that your product is wrong too. Which is why people pay a lot of money to appear good on their websites. Which is why politicians usually (not always) like to appear smart or carefully – oh so carefully – casual.

So if your argument looks like this:

The political duopoly we have experienced here in the UK for generations has now died if those partaking in the poll act as they say they will. 
The only real option open to the Conservatives now to stand a chance to be involved with forming a Government following the next General Election is via forming a coalition pact with The Brexit Party.

People will assume you are perhaps a little too fond of long words. Talking down. Pompous even.
So they will simply turn off.

Whereas if it looks like this:

The questions to candidates are
1. How will you get us out of the EU by or before October 31?
2. How will you develop a programe to expand our economy, raise living standards, raise our reputation in the world and restore our self confidence as a nation, using all the new freedoms we will have once out of the EU?

People will sit up and listen. Especially if it was written by a serving MP - Sir John Redwood.

Mr Horrid sells cars in our road. 

He blocks pavements with the old bangers which he buys at auction every week-end. He strips down to a pair of floppy shorts and lets his beer belly hang over the elastic waist band. He never seems to sell stuff. The environment is not pleasant. It looks horrid.

My nice old lounge has my leather sofa with lots of cushions. I can lie full length on it to read and watch TV. There are nice flowers. There is even a little table for my drinks and specs. I like to go there. It reminds me of a certain cafe in Dubai (Shakespeare's) where I used to go and lounge on the sofas in front of a tall glass of brightly coloured drink.

If your argument looks like Mr Horrid, full of swearing and insults and mad remarks, do you think people will like to go there? And that goes for the people you meet there too. And the people used as examples.
I thought that some attractive Muslim girls might give a good example of niceness! Silly me. The word "Muslim" put people off. More on this later, I hope.

• Popular ideas.
  
• The assumption that your idea is the very latest, modern thing and that is is used by Young People.
  
• Carefully explaining the good points so people get excited by them.
  
• Sympathetic understanding of suffering and vulnerable people.
  
• Saying something everyone believes in.
  

All these make your argument convincing.
Or in simple language: avoid argument altogether. Just sell the nice bits!
The message so far:

Vinegar does not catch flies: you need honey.

Trick Ten: Relying on Authority

Gourmet English: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.The Daily Mail use...

Gourmet English: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.The Daily Mail use...: Trick Ten: Relying on Authority. The Daily Mail used, once, to be a paper for women. But it has still kept a centre section specially for ...

Trick Ten: Relying on Authority.

The Daily Mail used, once, to be a paper for women. But it has still kept a centre section specially for women, with suggestions what to wear.

Go mellow yellow like Taylor in Self Portrait! Get set for summer in vintage Dior like Bella! Take the plunge like Megan in a swimsuit by Misspap. Go bold in a purple bikini like Chloe in Oh Polly!
If you want to look really good, then be like these famous models. Dress in a name that everyone respects.

It works everywhere.

Barbour international Mextil Trainers. Emporio Armani Arco Black Designer trainers. Brand Alley. Russell and Bromley...

If you wish to win an argument, it works too.

CLIMATE striking school students and David Attenborough documentaries helped the 'green wave' surge according to Eamon Ryan.
He said the message to the government is to "wake up" to the climate emergency and respond with action.
Mr Ryan's party is on course to take an MEP seat in Dublin and is in the running in the two other European Parliament constituencies according to the RTÉ/TG4/RedC exit poll.

Three famous authorities support Climate Change Demonstrations! So they must have a point!
Even on Wikipedia, references to the authorities are always listed, even when they are talking about something as obvious as the United Kingdom!

The United Kingdom (UK),^[15]15 "Toponymic guidelines for the United Kingdom". GOV.UK. United Kingdom Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. May 2017. p. 13. “usually shortened to United Kingdom ... The abbreviation is UK”

William Watson Purkey, Ed.D. began his educational career as a public school teacher, rising to a fully tenured position at the University of Florida, and finally as Professor Emeritus of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. His passion for teaching and leadership has earned him various awards of excellence in his field. He is also the co-founder of The International Alliance for Invitational Education. A noted writer, researcher, speaker, and leader, Purkey has authored nearly 100 articles and more than a dozen books.

As William W. Purkey wrote:

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”

Inspiring words from a great man! Works every time!

PS: If you choose a name that is at all controversial, you will unite all the supporters of the person behind you - but you will also alienate all the enemies of the person too. 

So here is an example:

'She is without doubt not just the worst PM in my lifetime, but the most dishonest': Nigel Farage tears into Theresa May for keeping Britain tied to the EU and tells GMB Westminster 'doesn't get how angry this country is'.

It's remarks like that that make people divide into their camps and not come out and listen.