The shortlist has been announced by the IEA and I am delighted to note that the Boss, who has done more work on the subject than anyone else is on it. Go Team EUReferendum though I am not, personally, a great fan of crowd-sourcing: it leads to a great deal of self-satisfaction and mutual back-slapping.
The other name I am very pleased to see on the list is that of James Bennett, who has been described by no less a person than Andrew Roberts as the "godfather of Anglospherism". Jim (another friend), I know, submitted a paper that saw the UK's future in the Anglosphere, an idea I strongly support, as readers of this blog (both of them) might recall.
My submission? Well, it went in at the last minute, having been written in the last couple of hours. So, no, it did not deserve to be shortlisted, whatever the other submissions on that list might be like. There is, however, an advantage to that: I am not constrained by the rules any more and shall be able to post my submission on this blog later on. That is, assuming I can find it in my folders.
In the meantime, one or two curious aspects can be noted and I have already discussed them with the Boss, when I called to congratulate him. There were only 149 submissions and only 100 of them, conveniently, from the UK. Does this mean that there really is so very little interest in the subject in this country? Or that too many people have accepted the ridiculous notion that all we need is a referendum and all our problems will be solved? If so, the work of the various referendum campaigns has been done. Or does the problem lie in the lack of publicity? We, in the echo chamber of euroscepticism knew all about the Brexit Prize but did anybody else pay attention, despite several media outlets mentioning it at the time?
So far as I can make it out the publication of the shortlist has been noted in CityAM and nowhere else, not even in the outlets that had publicized the launch in July.
Another curious fact is that instead of the promised twenty only seventeen were shortlisted. Is it really possible that the panel could not find another three entries of a similar calibre?
I haven't seen your entry, but commiserations on not getting onto the list. Still, never mind, you have contributed greatly over the years to this achievement. I agree with most of your article, particularly the part about the Anglosphere. This is going to form a very important part of the argument in the final entry. I'm less sceptical than you about crowd sourcing and would cite Steven McIntyre's blog as one example of its usefulness. If we can pull this one off I don't think many of us will be like Mike Mann claiming to be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, but may take a little satisfaction at helped having brought it about, and why not? However, it is the objective that counts, and this where we can all help Richard do his part in achieving it. There is much to be done over the course of this winter, so as the old saying goes 'Many hands make light work'. On y va. Art 50
ReplyDeleteBut too many cooks spoil the broth.
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