Father's Day

‘You can never say Winston Churchill is yay or nay,’ said the journalist Helen Lewis in the BBC’s Strong Message Here podcast with comedy writer Armando Iannucci to decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

My Father’s Day card was ‘for an intellectual Dad’ and I was listening to a debate on whether we're seeing the death of nuance in political debate with everything boiled down to yes or no questions. Was Winston Churchill the hero Prime Minister of World War Two or guilty of the 1943 Bengal famine? He can be both, a flawed statesman like every other political figure in history.

The world is volatile, uncertain, complex and I spent the day running through the countryside, drinking lemonade and cutting the grass. While relaxing is important I am part of society and the discourse on divisions. This podcast resonated with me as there is polarisation everywhere. ‘You mention one injustice you have you to mention them all, treating life as a giant scorecard,’ said Helen Lewis. I agree and Armando Iannucci also said some good stuff. Facts, opinions, gossip, you have offended me, I am not offending you, I am telling you the truth. But what is the truth? The world must keep talking, listening and agree to disagree to maintain peace.

I improved my vocabulary by listening to the podcast, learning the word Shibboleth which is any custom or tradition that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of loyalty and affinity, ways of maintaining traditional segregation, or protection from threats. The nod, the wink, the handshake. Are groups at their strongest when pushing people out instead of letting people in?

I discovered semantic bleaching too, which is a linguistic process where words or phrases lose their original, specific meaning over time, becoming more general or abstract. That is good as I have changed the meaning of words in the past, basing my definition on how they sounded and my interpretation of the words. Veto sounds like a positive word, almost vote, which must mean yes, do it. Just imagine if my finger was on the nuclear trigger and I had not educated myself on what veto meant.

My kids bought me a bottle of muscle soaking bubble bath and a Ted Baker travel pack of toiletries. It felt good after running 12 miles, the day after parkrun where I was asked if I was injured. My rapid decline as a runner must be a hot topic of discussion in my local town. Everyone wondering how I could have gone 21 minutes to 28 minutes to run three miles. My running decline story could be like those crap low budget documentaries you find on Amazon if you scroll for too long.

I do not know what happened to my pace, power and desire to push myself. I don’t care and nor does anyone else. I still have four more marathons to run to achieve my milestone of ten marathons. After my relaxing bath I sat on our decking reading the Financial Times where I learned the UK’s Office for National Statistics finds that the job reallocation rate in Britain has slowed by one-third in the past two decades. Even though the article was about creative destruction in industry, the quote: “As a population has more to lose, it becomes more risk averse” applies to many societal stories.

While I was writing this blog I discovered the term 'bare beating' which refers to the increasingly common sight of passengers letting any noise from their phone reverberate around the carriage, rather than using headphones. I hate this especially when middle-aged and older people do it. I wonder if I did it, would tough youths have the confidence to tell me to wear my headphones.

After running 12 miles I was too tired to go for a walk with my family. Oh no, I washed the electric hob with water and now the hobs don’t work to boil the broccoli and potatoes. Welcome home! Daddy the intellectual who failed GCSE science and is a walking disaster zone.

It’s Father’s Day, I want to watch North Sea Hijack. This article made me laugh https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/11/harry-potter-tv-show-hbo-stars-social-media