IanPayn

You have said this before, about the EBU, and I told you that if you produced a proposal as to how it would work, and how much it would cost, then I would ensure that the proposal was put before the Board (note in the unlikely event that anyone is interested: I am Vice-Chairman of the EBU. Imagine the power]. This was about three years ago: I'm still waiting. I believe a couple of people at the time agreed with you. Surely between the three of you, you could have come up with something? Or did you expect me to do it for you? That would be a bit presumptuous, wouldn't it? At county level it is one man one vote - turn up or register a proxy, each easy to do. Have you done this in, say, the last five years? Don't claim a system doesn't work if the problem is that you don't use it.

This is simply not true. The London Metropolitan Bridge Association (LMBA) is properly constituted, and has an AGM each year at which committee members are elected. Appointments (Chairman, Secretary, Shareholders etc) are made from within the committee. What more control could you reasonably expect? I suppose you'd have a bit more if you actually turned up to the AGM, which you haven't in my memory (note to those who haven't nodded off yet: I'm Chairman of the LMBA). Come to think of it, you were actually on the committee, weren't you? But you didn't come to any committee meetings, either, because they were held on a day which clashed with something obviously more important to you. I seem to recall that we changed one meeting to a day you could make at some inconvenience to others, but you didn't come to that, either. You arranged a Gold Cup match instead, despite knowing the date of the meeting some months in advance. So please stop complaining outrageously that London members have no control over everything. If you don't engage, you get no control. If you do, you do.

++++Were I North I might have considered a dignified silence whilst entering the score a Logical Alternative.

++++Not, frankly, in my top 100 "Reasons to Bid Something".

++++In the first instance you feel fate has smiled upon you. In the second instance you feel hard-done by. It all comes back to feelings.

++++I agree that it might need a bit of work, but despite my absolute lack of interest in any form of ranking on a personal level, I can see that this is an improvement on "Master Points". It's the difference between a Form Guide and the Dictionary of National Biography. If anyone cares, I'm chairman of the EBU's Tournament Committee, and so I sort-of have a vested interest in this working. But that's wearing my business hat: wearing my other hat, as a part-time member of the human race, I think this is A Good Thing and already stimulating interest. Why, only today someone talking to me declared himself a Queen. It took a moment...

++++And if memory serves, the pair in question, scoring Ave- for all but three rounds, didn't even come last. If only I could remember who did...

++++Indeed it does. Even to the outlying badlands of Fulham...

I blame East/West. Who knew they were saving with such defensive values? Having said that, I suppose South might shoulder some of the responsibility, having overbid like a madman.