Two prime ministers are having an important private meeting. Suddenly, the door is flung open and an official, in great distress, bursts into the room. The resident prime minister cuts him short: “John, remember rule number 6.” The man regains his composure, apologises and bows his way out of the room. A few minutes later, another civil servant bursts into …
Caution! Caring people ahead
A posse of foreign journalists was travelling with the Dalai Lama as he visited poverty-stricken village after village. In every village the locals would come out and present the Dalai Lama with gifts: a handful of rice, an old book – whatever they had. One of the journalists became angrier and angrier as he saw people who had practically nothing …
Why dodgy perfume salesmen are masters of context
One of my holiday jobs as a student in London was to count people entering Harrods. We operated in shifts in crack teams of two with a clicker and a clipboard. It was mind-numbing, but watching nearby street vendors fascinated us. Every day, two men would set up on a pavement nearby and display a range of perfumes. They would …