Recently in Trivia Category

As one of the members of our staff is about to become a father, I thought I would take the time to briefly explain an old medieval birthing tradition which involves both cheese and alcohol.

It would seem that the prospective father was expected to chomp his way through the middle of a large cheese until a hole big enough for the newly born sprog would be passed in a ceremonial manner, in a practice known as a "Groaning Cheese".

Meanwhile, a strong ale, known as the "Groaning Malt" which had been brewed specially for the occasion and given to "the gossips who attend at the birth of a child, and for those who come to offer to a husband congratulations at the auspicious event" was poured out.

As it happens, I am brewing a batch of Ale at this very moment. I look forward to bringing a few bottles along to the birth...

Ah, so naughty old George Galloway was allegedly in the pay of Saddam Hussein. Well this got me wondering about the practicalities of resigning as a Member of Parliament.

You may be suprised to learn that it is not technically possible for an MP to resign their position as a Member of Parliament.

Under a resolution of the House of Commons of 2 March 1623 (yes that really is 1623, not a typo), which is still in force today, 380 years later, members cannot directly resign their seat.

The reason for this being that in the past, serving in Parliament was often regarded as an obligation to be accepted only reluctantly, not an honour eagerly to be sought. (oh how times have changed!). Therefore, it was necessary to discourage resignation.

The way a Member of Parliament could legally resign was to accept a paid office of the Crown. The reasoning behind this is that a Member of Parliament receiving a salary from the Crown could not be expected to scrutinise the actions of the Crown or the Crown's government. In practical terms today, this applies to Judges for example.

Anyway, what paid offices of the crown exist today to facilitate the resignation of a Member of Parliament? Well there are two, the Crown Steward and Baliff of the three Children Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham, the other choice being the Manor of Northstead. (For sheer pomposity of the title, I would go for the Chilten Hundreds every time!)

Rather than resign, the MP applies to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent of the Treasury Secretary for you US Folks) for one of the above positions. After applying for the position, the Chancellor of the Exchequer issues a warrant of appointment notifying the (ex) MP of his new office.

After the warrant of appointment is issued, a writ for a by-election can be issued, allowing for a new MP to be voted in for the constituency vacated by the ex-MP.

The two positions tend to be granted alternately, and the ex-MP holds the position until the Chancellor of the Exchequer appoints another applicant.

and that concludes todays history lesson.

[More info than you could ever possibly want about this can be found on the UK Parliament website via this PDF factsheet. ]

Every year around the world on the fourteenth of February people exchange secret cards and chocolates and skimpy clothing with someone they love. Readers certainly will no doubt be aware that the origins of Valentine’s Day date back to the time when – after a debauched time at Christmas and New Year – both women and men would become aware that a child was about to enter their lives and behave in an entirely non-altruistic fashion and pledge their love to each other…

There is a little known antithesis to Valentine’s day, which is called Anti-Valentine’s day. It is always celebrated on the thirteenth day of February, usually a gift is not involved but a card with an insulting poem always is. It is the authors hope that this brilliant but otherwise ignored event becomes as big a marketing deal as Valentine’s day has become, with printed cards in the shops and messages in newspapers all sent between unhappy couples, spurned lovers, and the disaffected everywhere. As there is so much despondency in the world why not celebrate it?

Time for a bit of psychology; as the co-operative creatures we are, humans are very sensitive to status and always form a hierarchy when in a group. Of course being able to cheat the system by pretending to be a higher status individual than you are is a great advantage, we can see it in operation all the time.

Take for example a psychiatric institution, a nut farm, a big house, call it what you will, a place where people suffering from emotional or mental problems are treated. You would think that as patients status would not matter at all, but as it turns out behaviour that has been observed in these establishments shows that even deeply disturbed people can be aware enough to try to cheat the system. Long term residents often manufacture imitation keys from wood to keep on a key chain. This is not an attempt to break out, but an attempt to attain and display the status of some of their superiors.

So next time you are in a shop and feel that desire for retail therapy, or if someone says “you really should get a…” and you feel bad because you do not own one of whatever it is, just think for a moment. Do you really want it? Or is it just you are playing catch up to other people’s perception?

Why is the Ivy League, the collection of top academic institutions in the United States of America, called the Ivy League? I suspect that like most people I was happy in the false knowledge that this was due to the buildings being old enough to have actually become overgrown with ivy.

Not so according to a well informed source! The real reason is simply that those particular colleges all belong to a particular football league. The forth league in fact. An when traditionally written in Roman Numerals it is seen as IV. Ta da!