Category: Politics

The Birthday Paradox

“In a room of just 23 people there’s a 50-50 chance of at least two people having the same birthday. In a room of 75 there’s a 99.9% chance of at least two people matching.“ This is the Birthday Paradox.

Preliminary Report

Volodymyr Zelensky, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV show, secured 30.4 percent of the vote on Sunday, early results showed. Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire magnate and Ukraine’s current leader, received 17.8 percent. In a country on the frontline of the West’s standoff with Russia, the electorate has rallied behind an anti-establishment figure… Continue reading Preliminary Report

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Categorised as Politics

Blog Lite

There is not going to be much here for the next week or so as today I go to Kyev or as you might prefer Kiev. Presidential election on Sunday.

Robinson Crusoë – The Opera

Even Wexford has shied away from Offenbach’s operetta, Robinson Crusoë. It has rarely been performed since it premiered in Paris in 1867. In fact it ran for only thirteen performances and then slumbered like Rip Van Winkle until it was awakened (woke?) at the Camden Festival in 1973. 

Benn v Bellew

I am enjoying Kenneth Rose’s Journals. On every page there is some donnish joke worth repeating but, hitherto, I have resisted.

The Syrian Solution

I wonder how history will treat the actors strutting the Brexit stage? I hope Theresa May comes out with credit. By the time the history books are written she may, in any case, be Duchess of Berkshire, KG, etc.

Out for the Count

An unusual feature of voting in Moldova is the mobile voting box. Voters may request that the ballot box comes to them if they are bed-ridden or in prison, for example.

A Day in the Field

F and I got to our first polling station at 6.25 am – thirty-five minutes before opening time. All the election staff were there making preparations.

Election Day

After a day travelling and three days of briefings and preparation it is time for the STOs to do their job. It’s as well to have an alarm clock because an STO and his partner arrive at the first polling station between an hour and thirty minutes before it opens – typically at 7.00 am.