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Is speaking without notes a thing still?

I rocked up to the last seat selection hustings I went to completely without notes. Knew my opening and closing comments verbatim and my key points. Completely flummoxed one of the other candidates who had reams of notes and even then kept forgetting her point.

It's much better if you can. I gave my maiden speech in Parliament entirely from notes, as I was nervous. It was a bit rubbish, whereas later speeches without notes were better (though I'll never sway the millions).

I’ve taught myself to play an extrovert and to be able to speak in public over the years, with bullet points and cue cards for a familiar subject - but a maiden speech in Parliament is one of those you’re going to want in front of you written out in full!

As somebody who regularly gives speeches to large meetings I've learned it is best to write bullet points down (and key gags) down rather than the whole speech.

I once used a teleprompter and it was a bigger disaster than the Liz Truss premiership, I kept on looking at that and completely losing my focus.

Had I become an MP my first speech to Parliament would have begun like this

'Hello, my name is Mr Eagles, and I'm an alcoholic, oh wait, wrong speech.'

Yes, with a couple of key points which act as waypoints within the speech.

Same when I am presenting sales stuff to clients. Slides are few in number and literally there as visual aides. And often not used at all much to the annoyance of colleagues who think 704 slides are best.

The most tedious presentations are those where the presenter reads the slides verbatim.

Generally the fewer the words on the slide the better. I had a lecturer in my UG days who had a roll of handwritten OHP acetate which he read off word for word and scrolled ever upwards. (Pre powerpoint, obs). It was terrible.

We had a biology teacher who was even worse.
He read word for word and had us write it all down verbatim.
Only O Level I failed.

We had a physics teacher like that. It was extremely boring but weirdly, it worked for me - through writing it down, the words passed from his mouth to my memory without at any point lodging in my conscious brain.

Yes, same. Chemistry in my case. An ultra trad teacher who dictated copious notes and told us to learn them. I did, and cruised to a top grade. We didn't get percentages, just the letter, but it would have been my highest, I think.

One under recognised point of school is to allow people to thrive on boredom. A lot of work is boring grind, and building ability to cope with that is a key life skill. If students are required to be constantly stimulated by noise, sound and movement, then it's no wonder that they struggle to knuckle down at work. We have trained them into ADHD, even before we gave them smartphones and Social Media.

Pretty much everything with doing requires effort, concentration and persistence. Students should be taught this, by means of dull teaching.

I almost flagged this. I mean, it's probably true but my whole heart wants it not to be.

Anyone who has singled turnip seedlings on a farm all day knows it's true. I've done it for a living - very fortunately only as a student in vacation. The worst job I ever did, and I did some pretty heavy and mucky stuff.

One summer vac, I cleaned out between the rails at Temple Meads railway station. That was mucky stuff.

Yes, but at least you had things to look at. Trains. Even girls/boys (delete as/if appropriate). The odd incident. Not the same earth and hedge all day. I learnt to tell the time from the position of the sun alone, and took an interest in the weather that might be coming in an hour's time.

Oh god. Not blood trans again.

Is speaking without notes a thing still?

I rocked up to the last seat selection hustings I went to completely without notes. Knew my opening and closing comments verbatim and my key points. Completely flummoxed one of the other candidates who had reams of notes and even then kept forgetting her point.

It's much better if you can. I gave my maiden speech in Parliament entirely from notes, as I was nervous. It was a bit rubbish, whereas later speeches without notes were better (though I'll never sway the millions).

I’ve taught myself to play an extrovert and to be able to speak in public over the years, with bullet points and cue cards for a familiar subject - but a maiden speech in Parliament is one of those you’re going to want in front of you written out in full!

As somebody who regularly gives speeches to large meetings I've learned it is best to write bullet points down (and key gags) down rather than the whole speech.

I once used a teleprompter and it was a bigger disaster than the Liz Truss premiership, I kept on looking at that and completely losing my focus.

Had I become an MP my first speech to Parliament would have begun like this

'Hello, my name is Mr Eagles, and I'm an alcoholic, oh wait, wrong speech.'

Yes, with a couple of key points which act as waypoints within the speech.

Same when I am presenting sales stuff to clients. Slides are few in number and literally there as visual aides. And often not used at all much to the annoyance of colleagues who think 704 slides are best.

The most tedious presentations are those where the presenter reads the slides verbatim.

Generally the fewer the words on the slide the better. I had a lecturer in my UG days who had a roll of handwritten OHP acetate which he read off word for word and scrolled ever upwards. (Pre powerpoint, obs). It was terrible.

We had a biology teacher who was even worse.
He read word for word and had us write it all down verbatim.
Only O Level I failed.

We had a physics teacher like that. It was extremely boring but weirdly, it worked for me - through writing it down, the words passed from his mouth to my memory without at any point lodging in my conscious brain.

Yes, same. Chemistry in my case. An ultra trad teacher who dictated copious notes and told us to learn them. I did, and cruised to a top grade. We didn't get percentages, just the letter, but it would have been my highest, I think.

One under recognised point of school is to allow people to thrive on boredom. A lot of work is boring grind, and building ability to cope with that is a key life skill. If students are required to be constantly stimulated by noise, sound and movement, then it's no wonder that they struggle to knuckle down at work. We have trained them into ADHD, even before we gave them smartphones and Social Media.

Pretty much everything with doing requires effort, concentration and persistence. Students should be taught this, by means of dull teaching.

I almost flagged this. I mean, it's probably true but my whole heart wants it not to be.

Anyone who has singled turnip seedlings on a farm all day knows it's true. I've done it for a living - very fortunately only as a student in vacation. The worst job I ever did, and I did some pretty heavy and mucky stuff.

One summer vac, I cleaned out between the rails at Temple Meads railway station. That was mucky stuff.

Yes, but at least you had things to look at. Trains. Even girls/boys (delete as/if appropriate). The odd incident. Not the same earth and hedge all day. I learnt to tell the time from the position of the sun alone, and took an interest in the weather that might be coming in an hour's time.

Has communism worked anywhere?

I can think of two places where Fascism arguably worked

Spain, perhaps

Chile, definitely

Was Chile under Pinochet fascist? Wasn't it a fairly standard military dictatorship, similar to the rule of the Junta in Argentina, only less incompetent.

And more Neoliberal than corporatist Fascist

A potential Reform/Con coalition government only 5 seats short of a majority in Wales according to this.

"Cavendish Cymru
@CavendishCymru

📊 Here's our Senedd seat projection for the ITV Wales/YouGov poll.

Reform UK: 36 Seats
Plaid Cymru: 36 Seats
Labour: 13 seats
Conservatives: 8 seats
Liberal Democrats: 2 seats
Green Party: 1 seat"

https://x.com/CavendishCymru/status/1967990812157022516

PC/Labour would have the maj

So the best way to remove Labour from power in Wales is to vote Reform or Tory, Plaid will govern with Labour anyway