I am Tory scum and a rabid socialist

Last week, I was accused of being "Tory scum", as well as being a "rabid socialist", on social media. It shows the rather scary tribalism we have in our political system, so I thought it time to set the record straight.

The "rabid socialist" comments came on the back of tweeting that I thought the Philpott case taught us nothing about the benefits system, just about a very nasty man, and that little inference can be drawn from it. There are nasty people on benefits, in work, and who are billionaires – to create policy due to these anomalies is a mistake.

The "Tory scum" comment came because I was defending on Facebook the fact I’d done my TV show about savers, arguing they were real people too. There’d been accusations that telling people about cash Isas meant "you’re helping the rich get richer and should be helping the poor".

I’m not a card-carrying member of any political party. I do hold views (as anyone who’s ever watched me will realise), but in my job role I aim (not always successfully), to steer clear of polemic party loyalty. I agree with various things each party say, and only wish we could have a pick and mix approach.

Over the last year both Wendy, MSE’s campaigns officer, and I have met  and worked with Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MPs (I’ve never been approached by Plaid or SNP) when requested to try to help on consumer issues and policies. Where appropriate, we’ve helped them to get in touch with consumers.

Even better, occasionally you get to work cross-party, such as the brilliant All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education, with people such as Justin Tomlinson (Tory) and Nic Dakin (Labour). It shows they can actually work together and do some good without letting party walls get in the way.

New Rock, Paper, Scissors game – the tennis version

I’ve come up with a twist to the Rock, Paper, Scissors game, which I wanted to share (and before anyone says anything, yes, I am a nerd). In a nutshell, you play the game with tennis scoring and serving rules.

Regular readers of my blog will know my hero, Dr Sheldon Cooper, is a huge fan of the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock game. My variant is far less complex, but still adds an extra layer into the complexity of this (and takes a lot longer than the normal one-off game too – good for entertaining kids on long car journeys).

I must’ve first come up with this a good 15 years ago or more, but it was only on Sunday while sitting on a train and teaching it to Mrs MSE I thought to blog it (she enjoyed it, but one match was enough for her).

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tennis – the rules

The raw game works as normal, so on a count of three, each of the two players does a sign for either rock, paper or scissors. Scissors beat (cuts) paper, paper beats (wraps round) rock and rock beats (crushes) scissors.

• It’s scored just like tennis. Each game you alternate who the ‘server’ is. As in tennis, this gives an innate advantage – here it’s the fact that if both players come up with the same thing (eg, two scissors), the server wins. Thus the object is for the non-serving player to attempt to ‘break serve’ (win against the serve).

  If the scoring gets to deuce (at 40-40), then just like tennis you play advantage until one of the players is two clear.

• Sets are played to three – with tie-breaks at 3-3. While in tennis a set is played to six, I suggest in this you play to three, but you must win by two clear games.

  If you reach 3-3 in games, you play a tie-break, which is the first to seven, but you must be two clear at that point or you play on. 

  Again, just as with tennis, the serving alternates; the first player only serves once, then the opponent twice, from then on it alternates with two each.

In most games (as in close-fought tennis matches) you will end up with the tie-break, and that can be tense.

For those of you still reading, I hope you’ll give it a try and find it a nerdvana of tension. Let me know.