William Garrood

High & Dry Anglican. Tory in exile. Amateur historian. Strategy @WaterAid. Chair of Governors @StAndrewsSW9. Views personal.

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

This is a complete disgrace. While I am delighted that Henry VIII is getting a kicking here, the ordering of the others is appalling - especially Henry VII, who is definitely top 5.

I am particularly enjoying that Edward II and Edward III have identical favourability rates

[YouGov @YouGov]

Who are the most popular kings and queens since 1066?

Top 10
1. Elizabeth II: +74 net score
2. Victoria: +50
3. George VI: +40
4. Elizabeth I: +36
5. George V: +30
6. Richard the Lionheart: +29
7. Charles III: +27
8. Edward VII: +14
9. William the Conqueror: +12
10. Henry V: +10

Full list in chart 👇

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

The 2024 Microsoft Excel Championship just wrapped in Las Vegas.

It was a huge upset: financial due diligence expert Michael Jarman (Canada) topped 3x defending champion and actuary Andrew “The Annihilator” Ngai (Australia).

Jarman beat 12 opponents in various 30-minute Excel case study challenges over 7+ hours:

Best parts of the tournament for these spreadsheet athletes:

▫️This clip below of live-stream announcers losing their minds over pivot tables and data labeling (as clock winds down).

▫️The tournament has its own theme song with lit lyrics including “it’s the battle of the titans, the best keyboard tappers in the land / they’ve all been training for this moment, who’s getting stuck in the function sand?” (at the 1:12 mark)

What did Jarman get for winning? A $5k cash prize and a glorious Wrestling Championship Belt.

***

Full live-tream of peak human performance: https://t.co/mBps00C254

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

This is not the direction of travel I expected.

Yet more evidence of my complete lack of alignment with the country: I love inheritance tax, though I think the farmer case is better than the general one.

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

Interesting from our polling: is opposition to the farmer's IHT change been driven a lot by opposition to inheritance tax in general? People are actually more likely to oppose the public as a whole, than farmers specifically, paying inheritance tax on assets passed to kids

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Ten tons of animal bones. 99.9 per cent of which were equine https://t.co/yTEQ2pRsO8

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Once upon a time we were all hunters and gatherers https://t.co/pPX4vbM2uU

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

The youngest sibling of a whole family of writing tools that arrived in a flurry in the few decades either side of the beginning of the thirteenth century https://t.co/hPCVpoFfyF

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Had her loyalty rested on no securer foundation than diffidence - on sheer, silly incompetence? https://t.co/IE09WkmItH

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Bibliography, August 2024 https://t.co/WE4dr482Px

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

@WalkerMarcus TBF, Education is also positional, the ranking matters as well as the outcome. It's not like dishwasher ownership.

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

He had created a world that was complete, self-sufficient and almost faultless https://t.co/75QEVwvtIX

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

The moral test with which Wodehouse was confronted in June 1941 was one that was beyond him https://t.co/KVoKyl3y3S

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

The French data here has shattered my entire understanding of the world

[Brilliant Maps @BrilliantMaps]

Map Of European Cultural Superiority

https://t.co/euRzzstiYU

[Brilliant Maps @BrilliantMaps]

Map Of European Cultural Superiority

https://t.co/euRzzstiYU

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Millions are to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots https://t.co/awhol9j7WB

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Bibliography, July 2024 https://t.co/W4xqx1MrtY

[Pavilion Opinions @pavilionopinion]

The desperation of the 90s, the constant scrapping for mere parity, the worst ebbs, but there was always him, the most stylish of fighters, the most gilded of heroes. Graham Thorpe, you were absolutely something else. Rest in the knowledge you were adored.

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Change in to white flannels, play from midday to sundown, breaking only for a cold lunch and a pint or two in the pavilion https://t.co/pkUhrxVUKE

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

The old postcards to not detect Maurilia as it was but a different city which, by chance, was called Maurilia https://t.co/fXxqwlNP3p

[William Garrood @wgarrood]

Fifty-six units a week as the safe upper limit for male alcohol consumption https://t.co/5Jhp6gPnXW