Repeat Until Funny & The Domination of a Stubborn Minority

The wonderful Foiled radio cast.

ON THE ROAD

What a come down! Four juicy episodes of Foiled are in the can and being packaged for market by the production team at The Rubber Chicken.

A wonderful weekend was had by all, particularly yours truly who just had to sit back and marvel at our stellar cast bringing the world of Bleach for the Stars to life.

Thanks again to our three main players Beth Granville (Sabrina), Stephanie Siadatan (Tanisha) and David Oakes (Richie), and also to guest stars Garnon Davies (depressed Tariq, Frankie and The Electrician), Tom Price (Justin), Olivia Nixon (Daisy) and of course Felicity Montagu (Mrs/Madame Frazer).

We couldn't have dreamed of a better cast to be honest and I'm so excited to hear how it comes across on radio. Mainly so I can share all the in-jokes with everyone. Look it up! One word! My trousers!

I hate to blow my own, but seriously guys. We're excited. The sheer virtuosity of catchphrasing reminds me of 90s Radio 1 duo Mark & Lard's theory of comedy: repeat until funny.

So I hope that, when this comes out in July, you all download a million times. Because if you don't laugh the first time, rest assured that you just need to listen again. And again. And again.

Thank you.

"Today a group of people on bicycles encircled and tailed an immigration arrest van through the streets of central London as it was on its way to carry out a raid.

This was done to alert people to the existence of these vans and their daily incursions into our neighbourhoods. It was also done to disrupt the smooth running of immigration enforcement; a machine that rounds people up, detains them indefinitely, and expels them from the country to face unknown dangers.

These raids are the point at which the whole immigration regime is at its weakest. Remember that in order to carry out raids they must come into our neighbourhoods, drive down our streets, and try to force their way into businesses and homes. It is also critical to intervene in these moments before someone is handcuffed and in the back of a van. Its also easier to stop a raid which would result in another immigration prisoner than it is to support the same person in detention or fight for their release through the courts."

[READ MORE]

IN THE MIND

I've been reading an excerpt from philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb's forthcoming book Skin in the Game about why the stubborn minority always wins in situations where the majority isn't so bothered. The majority gradually falls into line because the market will always profit more from accommodating this minority.

He illustrates the "renormalising" effect of the stubborn minority in a number of ways, but the most entertaining is why (Taleb predicts) we'll all be eating organic food in the next 10 years:

"Say you have a corporate event, a wedding, or a lavish party to celebrate the fall of the Saudi Arabian regime, the bankruptcy of the rent-seeking investment bank Goldman Sachs, or the public reviling of Ray Kotcher, chairman of Ketchum the public relation firm that smears scientists and scientific whistleblowers on behalf of big corporations.

Do you need to send a questionnaire asking people if they eat or don’t eat transgenic GMOs and reserve special meals accordingly? No. You just select everything non-GMO, provided the price difference is not consequential.

And the price difference appears to be small enough to be negligible as (perishable) food costs in America are largely, about up to eighty or ninety percent, determined by distribution and storage, not the cost at the agricultural level. And as organic food (and designations such as “natural”) is in higher demand, from the minority rule, distribution costs decrease and the minority rule ends up accelerating in its effect."

Of course, this renormalising effect is also seen in the rise of extreme Wahhabism in Islam, matched by the extreme politics of Donald Trump and others. But I prefer to focus on how our stubborn minority can change the world for the better.

As Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

You can read the whole PDF chapter on Taleb's site.

Thanks for reading! Now what?

A wedding speech! I love showing off in front of other people and I'm particularly pleased that my suit is both borrowed and blue.

May your weekend be both old and new.
- DC

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