Silly Season

The heat of the summer has caused a bizarre version of that old fannish game Clench Racing to appear amongst mandarins working in the corridors of power.

For those of you who are not familiar with Clench Racing, a number of players each take a thick book by Stephen Donaldson, and, at an agreed signal, rifle through the book looking for the word 'clench'. First one to find it is the winner. Short game.

Meanwhile, the version played in the office goes as follows. A number of the country's finest public servants arm themselves with recent daily issues of the House of Commons Hansard. At an agreed signal, they all begin to rifle through the august volumes (actually July volumes, as Parliament doesn't sit in August.)

The winner is the first person to find an example of a rabid Tory backbencher using the phrase "New Labour, New Danger." Bonus points for twice in a paragraph (not uncommon). Even shorter game.

-- Alison Scott