Curse that jet lag
I blame jet lag. Somehow it's easier to say that than to put it down to stupidity.
No sooner had I stepped off a plane from my holidays than I found myself answering questions on Test the Nation - ´óÏó´«Ã½ One's national IQ Test. I was on a panel last night with a footballer, a soap star, a stand up comic, a sports presenter and a TV historian. The producer's conceit was obvious - the three graduates (Clare Balding, Dan Snow and yours truly) were being pitched against the non-grads (John Barnes, Louisa Lytton and Joe Pasquale).
At the end of the test they invited a clairvoyant to predict who'd come out top. I could see it coming - "he's bald, he's four eyed, he's interested in politics .....it must be Nick Robinson". Dear reader, the clairvoyant was exposed (one good side effect) and I was humiliated.
The viewing public were given the top three scores. Since there was a tie for third place that left just 2 of us exposed as dunces - Snow and Robinson. I've promised Dan that the news of which of us actually came last is something I will never reveal - it's a promise that I will never break if only to protect his pride.
My conclusion after this is to stick to the day job. So, after Laura's very able filling in for me, I'm back and normal political blogging will resume shortly.
I'm 
Comments
Welcome Back Nick!!
Despite Laura's informative and in depth political anlyses, you and your (sometimes more than necessary) enthusiasm have been missed very much on these pages!!
Never mind about Test The Nation humiliation. We all will accept it was definitely jet lag.
Looking forward to your pearls of political wisdom!
Nick you really should be a politician, that was a smart comment about not revealing who was last, you or Dan!
If it is any consolation, Nick, everyone's scores were lower than in 2006. According to the online version, my IQ had fallen by 17% in the course of a year (which is what the experts had planned)
Can you give Laura her own blog as she was really interesting to read and a different style from your writings.
Welcome back, Nick.
Saw the show last night and I failed miserably answering the questions. I do not buy the concept of being able answer the questions necessarily equals intelligence (no disrespect to Lousie) because what is also needed is the ability to see things, like politics, within context.
Any predictions for the autumn. An election perhaps? Not my book, not least because of the mess the Labour Party are in Scotland and Wales.
Don't worry about it ... Any test that gives a bunch of medical graduates an average IQ of 101 is very very wrong!
Yet another piece of evidence that IQ tests are archaic and without meric, when will the ´óÏó´«Ã½ stop resuscitating them?
I didn't watch that last night, but you have my sympathy. I was lucky enough to be on the Musicians team for Test the Nation a few years ago. Everyone thought that us musos would do well, but alas, we we beaten by the team of Blondes.
I reckon they gave us some duff answer boxes. No doubt the same happened to you.
By the way, isn't Philip Schofield dinky?
Nick
Welcome back however I feel very let down that your fist post was on your celebrity status rather than the more interesting debate about the EU referendum that is threatening to split the Labour party.
I note that Miliband is sent out to defend the government's position on Radio 4 when McCavity Brown is nowhere to be seen (yet again).
Normal Blogging?
Does it HAVE to be normal blogging?
Here is a challenge for you. Rather than blog about what is in the news already, how about starting to talk about the stuff NOT always in the news.
• Some of the committee issues.
• Foreign affairs that go on day to day without the headlines.
• Hard working politicians that we rarely hear about
• Local government initiatives that work
Basically, all the stuff that makes this country tick.
The trouble with the big news, the Cameron -v- Brown type of news is that it might be vote catching (or often the reverse), but it doesn't in reality run the country.
It is the "Yes Minister" scenario: The minister decides what sounds good and Sir Humphries does what actually works.
From time to time we will hear from someone of the like of Gwyneth Dunwoody. She, like many other MPs we never hear of, seems to look at issues rather than political parties and though I may not always agree with her, I feel I get a fair assessment from her.
If the media can promote more people like her into the spotlight and less of the Diane Abbots and George Galloways (whose personal agendas far outstrip their political duties) then there would be chance, a small chance, that us public might start to take politics seriously again.
Unfortunately, though, it is up to the media.
Although I do not believe that the media either do or should represent our opinions, they are the window onto the political landscape. If the media do not start to move away from the gossip and political intrigue, then we have no other way of finding out what is REALLY important.
As I said - a challenge for you Mr. Robinson!
But just think, you might have done even worse if you hadn't been a graduate!
who gives a damn?
You obviously want to let everyone know that you didnt come last and you made no attempt to keep your promise to Dan.
And the worst thing is, you try to blame it on the jetlag....
Don't worry Nick, I would normally revel in your humiliation, but it's never as easy as it looks, is it. ???
"I've promised Dan that the news of which of us actually came last is something I will never reveal - it's a promise that I will never break if only to protect his pride."
A fairly sly way of indicating that you didn't actually come last.
yet another misjudged activity which shows Robinson's journalism for what it is: merely an extension of the entertainment business. As for finishing last, who needed a clairvoyant to tell them?
But, Nick Robinson, your opening remark to the programme's host, queen of the catty remark Anne Robinson, made the whole show for me - "may I just begin by saying hello mum"!! Brilliant!!
Welcome back Nick,
I have been everywhere looking for a blog as interesting as yours, to no avail.
Yet "Nobody blogs it better".
your good health.
Yvonne.
Joss Sanglier:
I don't want to read about anyone anywhere called Gwyneth ever.
I understand this is my own opinion but I feel I must represent the silent majority who were against both severn bridges.
Robert Kennedy remarked "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Just wait until the opportunity for a rematch presents itself then crush them.
Well I must say I was disappointed with Nick's performance last night... bring back Andrew Marr! ;-)
But seriously, some of those questions were crazy, and as for the clairvoyant's predictions?? I mean come on - err the surgeons to come out on top? who'd have guessed ehh! ?
@Joss: Have you read George Monbiot's blog? He really seems to get what's happening in this country...
Nick - great to have you back, and I also agree with others here that it would be nice to have less "big politics"...
Justin Wrote: I don't want to read about anyone anywhere called Gwyneth ever.
Justin, if I ever write about her in my Blog I shall try and give her an alias. Would that help?
Nick
What's worse than your performance is that in the photo you look like a contestant on an episode of Blind Date !
Contestant number 2 your time is up !
Sir,
Your score was what it was, on the day and we all have bad days. I simply don't see the point in mentioning it because it makes it appear as an excuse. We all know you clever, so please as you do what your good at.
I suppose if Prime Ministers can appear on 'Richard and Judy', then a political correspondent can be excused for appearing on some low-brow TV.
Except, the stereo-typical image of the job (PM or political hack) demands some gravitas.
If these people act in this 'low-brow' way, then they may damage the brand.
Sub-conciously, when viewers see Nick on the box, they might initially think 'there is that chap who made a fool of himself on ...' and then subconciously discount his political discourse.
Ditto PM's.
Maybe there was a good reason why the ´óÏó´«Ã½ used to strictly control the activities of its 'employees' in the past.
That is assuming these people are actually ´óÏó´«Ã½ employees.
These days, many of the people that you see on the ´óÏó´«Ã½, are not actually employees as such, but rather freelancers, whose activities the ´óÏó´«Ã½ might find much harder to control than so-called 'permanent' employees.
An outstanding item you could enlighten us about is TBs lack of an honours list. Outgoing PMs have always been able to bung a few gongs to stakeholders. Where is his list ?
Anyway, welcome back. Always amused by your presentation of news. GB can go to the country now all the ´óÏó´«Ã½ staff reporters are back in place and can rubbish the Lib Dims, Cons or anyone else who threatens their meal tickets, under the guise of impartial ´óÏó´«Ã½ journalism.
Performance in the quiz hardly surprising when you live so close to Highbury; John Barnes' success prob stems partly from his time as Man U player.
Pls wish Laura well vs the midges.
I got a higher score than you did last night Nick-can I apply for your job now?!
Hi there Nick, and welcome back. Laura dod a good job in your absence albeit to say she has been given a hard time by some of the contributors.
Never mind though, I know that political correspondents tend to have a duck's back to which nothing sticks.
Having taken part on the Test the Nation, Nick, I suppose you felt somewhat like a politician when trying to answer impromptu questions by the media.
Considering you're a political journalist you did quite well. Ha Ha! Only joking Nick, well done!
Welcome back Nick hopes the hol was good. It definately must have been jet lag last night!!!
Any chance of a quick blog to let us all know what's going on in the world of westminster over the coming period and what we ought to be looking forward to- well after conference season!!
I wouldn't feel at all bad about the supposed 'IQ test' anyway. It was spectacularly unlike any IQ test I have ever taken. EG on the Cattell culture fair test I get 151 and in the Stanford (and more typical tests) I get 134. This is within the top 2% and I've tested under supervised conditions (Mensa)as well as previous test the nation tests and internet tests. I have gotten similar scores on all the tests.
The thing last night was just staggering. For example the visual illusion test. The first question was asking what illusion you were seeing. This hasn't anything to do with IQ and all to do with how cells in your retina are wired up. Next with the rotating disks the answer accepted is what you reason AFTER you work out what is the illusion. Asking you to do a completely different thing in a category when things are meant to be the same.
I liked how the person who put together the 'test' admitted that one question had a 'most probable' answer. No, the point is that answers should be absolute based upon the conditions set in the question.
Don't even get me started on how culture unfair it is.
100 is by definition the average. You don't expect those with very low IQ's to be doing such a test and so for such a test the average score should be just over real average. To have the average in the low 90's heavily suggests that it is flawed, or at least wasn't calibrated correctly.
I know perfectly well that IQ has it's own flaws, but the flaws and results should at least be consistent.
As people can probably guess I didn't do all that well this time around.
Nick, I believe that you are back at work, so please can you tell me why there was no coverage of David Cameron's Crime Mini Manifesto launch on either of the main evening bulletins? Why are you denying the Tories the oxygen of publicity. Even Channel 4 News covered the launch.
Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, humanised politics by cleverly using humour as a tool to expose events and ideas (which personally is the only comedy I own on DVD, apart from The Matrix which was given as a present). If a political news correspondent with a blog, goes on about a show about IQ, it makes viewers of that show (which was probably quite a few) remember him, a lot, then remember politics. We often don't think of politicians as people who would go strolling in their own gardens or make their own cups of coffee (mind you, in one drastic event, I once saw Tony Blair walk into a speech with a mug of tea) but is it good practice for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ do the same with a news correspondent like Nick?
But most importantly, how does this affect the price of butter?
Claire
Welcome back Nick,
Whilst you have been away on your summer hols, we have had to put up with some interesting spin about autumn GE's. In particular October 2007 GE's, which have been instigated and augmented by the Labour party.
What baffles me is the complete lack of recruitment by the Labour party for a Autumn GE. It is one thing to have unpaid advisors and co-ordinators appointed every other week throughout July and August. It is another to actually gear up for an election! I have recently taken the liberty to look at the Labour Party job page.
There have been 3 positions advertised for the last couple of months (All past their expiry date and the only ones on thier site). None of which have anything to do with GE preperations. Why do the ´óÏó´«Ã½ continue to broadcast propoganda about the Labour party preparing for elections when they are so blatently not?
Here is a link to the Labour party jobs board:
I will look to see if you will publish this. If the link is a problem take it out.
For a government that is supposed to have ditched the past because of Spin. This looks surprisingly a continuition of old habits?
Very interesting that you confess to being a dunce.
I wonder, does this render your position at our state broadcaster untenable?
Welcome back, Nick. Awaiting the first political blog with interest. Trust that there will be the usual balance and that we might hear something about the travails of the government as much as those of the opposition. Given the electoral mountain Cameron has to climb (100+ gains!) would it not make sense to focus as much on the policies and personalities, successes and failures of the governing party as on the Tories? Electoral reality as much as any recent poll point to a Labour victory. If we have a repeat of the "Prime Minister, do you have anything you would like to say to us?" approach demonstrated in the floods interview then the potential continuing government will not have been exposed to sufficient scrutiny. Go on, give GB a hard time and then we can truly see what he is made of.
Those TV IQ tests are nearly always bad anyway. Too few questions to get anywhere near accurate, Ann Robinsons shouts the questions while you try to think, too many knowledge-based questions.
I used to tape them and fast forward through all the gumph (total of 45 minutes), now I don't even bother.
Wow...one post in the last three days, looks like Nick's gone on holiday again...
sorry to say Nick that I think that this blogs taken a bit of a nosedive since it first came on. when you think that the Dan Finklestein's comment page is updated (albeit by a team of about three) with about a three posts on a week day, is international, identifies interesting readings elsewhere from different sources, etc, etc, then don't you feel your blog is becoming a little last year?
Can I suggest that you become editor of a ´óÏó´«Ã½ 'political blog', widen your team - maybe bring in Laura for regular contributions, widen the scope of the blog to deepen it's educative aspect and make it more international?
Hi Nick
Don't feel bad about 'Test the Nation'- I had my lowest score ever- I am usually in the top ranks.
We have a tatty old TV - no flash large screen here & I could hardly see some of the questions, especially the pictures. Eysight must also be deteriorating too.
Was that what was being tested- as well as the age of your tele?
Pauline
Have no fear Nick I took the test and could not believe how bad I was
at it.I do not think there was anything to say about my average! it was that bad.Hey everybody has a bad day every now and again...well that is my excuse.
Yippee!! Nick's back on the blog!
Your fill-in was good but it's great to have you blogging again. For instance, Alan Smith is a great England forward, but most fans would prefer Rooney in his place. Same with you and your Newslog.
" Why do the ´óÏó´«Ã½ continue to broadcast propoganda about the Labour party preparing for elections when they are so blatently not?"
Business, dear boy, business!
Opinion posing as News is grist to the the mill of all those in the Allied Political Trades. If it can be associated with the ennervation of a prospective election then it will generate yet more drama, more work, more business . . .
Speculation, Kudos, Mazuma . . .
Never mind Nick! We all have our bad days. Besides, you redeem yourself with your contributions to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News most evenings - highlight of the broadcast!