TudoRama

Send us Fan Mail Hysteria from commentators as the Candidate's tournament ends with a win for 17 year old Indian prodigy Gukesh. Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter!  Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up! Follow Tudor on Twitter @ Tudortweet Follow Tudor's blogs: everydaycreativity.uk leaderswe...

Send us Fan Mail The case of the constipated bishop There is a lot of Chess played outside the elevated levels of our distinguished first team. I was struck by the interesting games played in the recent match in the limit league between ourselves and Chorlton. The match produced a fine example of what I am calling the case of the constipated bishop. It was clear to me that the players were intense...

Send us Fan Mail The solar eclipse, and the alleged financial irregularities of the Labour politician and deputy leader Angela Raynor are two topics attracting attention. @BriefcaseMike Our media's obsession with an eclipse in America is weird. But I suppose you could view America being plunged into darkness as a rehearsal for a possible second Trump Presidency, metaphorically speaking. #bbcp...

Send us Fan Mail In an exclusive interview for TudoRama, William Thompson, philosopher and submariner (rtd) examines a difficult social dilemma, drawing on his lengthy experience  of resolving such tricky matters ... Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter!  Email everydaycreativityuk@gmail.com to sign up! Follow Tudor...

Send us Fan Mail Anger management. How using a shredder might help. Writing negative reactions on paper and shredding it eliminates angry feelings, a Japanese study finds. Even this podcast might trigger some listeners into a rage. But listen on. In ancient Rome, the Stoic philosopher Seneca believed “my anger is likely to do me more harm than your wrong” in his work De Ira (On Anger). More modern...

Send us Fan Mail The death of Peter Higgs on Tuesday 9 April, 2024, gave rise to attempts to explain his contribution to our understanding of the nature of the fundamental forces of the Universe. The eulogies affirm his status of a giant in the field. The attempts to explain that contribution to the layman have faced considerable difficulties. I have tried to explain the limits to current understa...

Send us Fan Mail The traumas of modern life. Buying a new smart phone. Assurance companies have arrived at a list of the most dangerous traumas we encounter in our everyday lives. Top of the pops is the loss of a loved one. This is closely followed by divorce. And then, extreme experiences such are encountered on the battlefield. I wish to add to this list, the traumatic experience of buying a new...

Send us Fan Mail Do chess players still learn from studying chess books? Or has the Internet grabbed the bulk of the market? As an experiment, I chose a promising example and carried out a ‘Which’ kind of road test of its performance, first on myself before I attempted to test it on its primary audience, junior chess players. The book, Chess Tactics for Kids, is now a classic of its type. It was w...

Send us Fan Mail Donald Trump is increasingly unable to construct a logical argument. His automatic way of making a point in public is to attack a person. This is widely known as one of the oldest form of false logic, the ad hominem attack. The fury of Trump is frustration at his own inability to communicate sensibly. It has increased over time. A recent example has contributed to his being censor...

Send us Fan Mail Creativity and basket weaving  Several decades ago, creativity was considered alien to courses as offered by Business Schools around the world. I discovered indirectly that my option on creativity, at what was then the Manchester Business School, was being referred to disparagingly as ‘basketweaving’ by a large majority of students. These  opted instead for additional courses in &...

Send us Fan Mail To the glorious victors in a historic chess battle  Sing it from the Church Inn Cheadle and from the Ballrooms of Bramhall. Rejoice in the playgrounds of Poynton and the wilderness of Woodford. For a great victory was won by the East Cheadle chess chiefs (ECCC) against the formidable warriors from Urmston.  Draw close, as I relate the wondrous feats of our heroic pawn-pushers this...

Send us Fan Mail April Fools day has a cultural history in various countries, often involving jokes and even dressing up. I wondered about its history,  but, could  I even trust the usually reliable Wikipedia to give me an honest answer? Maybe a mischievous wiki prankster might slip in some bogus news. I decided not to risk it, beyond noting traditions were often associated with a national victory...

Send us Fan Mail From  Shakespeare to Punk Rock and Punk Chess In this podcast I trace the origins of punk, from Shakespeare to today’s music scene and the rise of the chess punk. My interest in punk in general, and punk chess in particular drew my attention via Dr Google to a poem by from the great English poet and satirist John Dryden.. Mac Flecknoe; or, A satyr upon the True-Blue-Protestant Poe...

Send us Fan Mail The Midnight Library, by Matthew Haig. A book review. 19 years before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat in the warmth of the small library at Hazeldene school in the town of Bedford. ‘Nora, dear, it’s natural to worry about your future' said the librarian, Mrs Elm, her eyes glimmering like sunshine and frost. Mrs Elm made her first move. A knight hopping over the new row of w...

Send us Fan Mail Paddy Gallagher @pad_gal The James Webb telescope continues to take stunning photos of the cosmos;  this image is of an asteroid named  POT 8 O found in the Kuiper belt… @JonathanLevitt7 The Russians have announced plans to build a docking port on the asteroid for 24 military grade Spudnik spacechips. Donald Trump will be joint financing the development and opening a golf resort a...

Send us Fan Mail The politics of chess. The case of Shohreh Bayat It should not be a great surprise to learn that top level Chess, like other sports,  has its share of politics.  A case study is that of the gifted Iranian player Shohreh Bayat. Shohreh, now domiciled in England fell foul of the chess authorities some years ago, but her case was brought into the headlines recently by an investigator...

Send us Fan Mail Porridge takes a goodly while for the body to digest, which means it releases its energy more slowly, keeping you feeling fuller for longer. This last property can also be blamed for the "porridge glow" many people experience when entering crowded public transport in the mornings. The Porridge song With acknowledgment to George Gershwin  Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor...

Send us Fan Mail My weekly visit to Poynton. I remember last week’s excitement and ambulances at Waitrose. No such drama, but the trip was not without interest. I came across an example of unexpected behaviour which prompted this podcast, and brought back memories of a crazy football cup semifinal the previous day.  The story unfolded shortly after I had negotiated the perilous free passage zone,...

Send us Fan Mail @JohnWest_JAWS Economists have calculated that the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot would today, accounting for inflation, be worth £10m. @Iratus Ursus Major This very successful poster tweets in lengthy and sweary threads. His visual self is of a great bear.  [I have abbreviated a recent post contributing to the recent debate on returning to traditional British values]...

Send us Fan Mail Chess Memories. Has Stockport become East Cheadle’s bunnies? The pulsating twist and turn of the events means  that my reporting may on this rare occasion fall below its customary high standard of accuracy.  As I recall, on my arrival at our place of many a mighty battle, the visiting players had arrived, and discarded the extra layers of clothing they wore, after learning that me...

Send us Fan Mail We start with Tweet of the month:   It comes from chess GM Hikaru, purporting to be from his chess team, and posted by his trainer. Hikaru is American of Japanese family and has his own unique sense of humour. "This is Hikaru’s Second. No stream today because Hikaru is not allowed to play internet games until he finishes his daily workout - he needs to do 1,000 rook lifts, 1,...

Send us Fan Mail Like Littler, teenage phenomenon, is already competing with the best darts players in the world. I can see his development with similarities to that of a young chess phenomenon heading for super grandmaster status. Darts, like chess, calls for high concentration levels. A drop in micro-concentration can lose a match in these and other sports where a momentary loss of concentration...

Send us Fan Mail The big freeze. The double Houdini that failed.  This podcast is not so much about chess, as about the eternal human challenge of overcoming adversity. My story starts with a message to members from the East Cheadle Chess Club Mission Control. It  sent a chilly warning to the fearless band of the limitless potential league warriors.  It read  "Please be aware that the heating...

Send us Fan Mail The golden age of detective stories and the locked room puzzle. Comments about the golden age of detective stories, tell of the domination of Agatha Christie, and before her, Arthur Conan Doyle and even earlier, Edgar Allen Poe. More specifically, the golden age is placed approximately between the two Great world wars, 1920 to 1938. One particular sub-variant is the locked room my...

Send us Fan Mail Every chess player knows chess is complex. Most chess players have a sense of just how complex. It has even been suggested there are more moves theoretically in chess than there are atoms in the universe. Don’t be deterred. The reality is beautifully described by Stephen Westland on the discussion website Quora. He also happens to be an interesting academic and professor in colour...