David Cameron has worked out how to deal with Jeremy Corbyn's emailed questions

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Election campaigns throw up characters who are famous for a day and then forgotten.

Remember Gillian Duffy or Jennifer and her ear? Only just.

The US Presidential campaign of 2008 produced such a figure in the shape of Joe the Plumber.

He was Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who questioned Obama's economic policies at a neighbourhood meeting in Ohio.

The Republicans and the media painted him as the epitome of blue-collar America and he was often mentioned during the campaign.

In November 2008 I blogged about the way that Barack Obama dealt with this:

This is how you win elections. 

In today's Spectator Fraser Nelson describes how Obama dealt with Joe: 

"Joe’s cool," Mr Obama said. "I got no problem with Joe. All I want to do is cut Joe’s taxes. But Senator McCain isn’t working for Joe the Plumber. He’s working for Joe the Hedge Fund Manager."

Today David Cameron used the same tactic at prime minister's questions when Jeremy Corbyn used one of his emailed questions. It came from Rosie who was forced to live with her parents because she could not find or afford her own place to live.

As Lloyd Evans tells it for the Spectator:

He co-opted Rosie’s identity and began putting words into her mouth. Rosie wants this, Rosie wants that. He said ‘Rosie’ half a dozen times. Rosie wants a strong economy. Rosie wants lower tax thresholds. Rose wants a prosperous Britain where the young can purchase their homes thanks to the help-to-buy ISA. 

Rosie – the way Cameron told it – is such a passionate supporter of Tory policy that she might as well declare herself a leadership candidate.

I think we may see fewer emailed questions at PMQs in future.

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Karl Popper interviewed on Channel 4 in 1988 - part 6

And so we reach the last video from Uncertain Truth.

This was a series of three programmes featuring interviews with Sir Karl Popper in 1988.

The first programme, where the other participant was Ernst Gombrich, looks at the understanding of history. It takes up two videos:

Watch part 1
Watch part 2

The second programme, where the other participant is Sir John Eccles, looks at language.

Watch part 3
Watch part 4

And this third programme where the other participant is Anthony Quinton, looks at human knowledge.

Watch part 5

As I said when introducing the first of these videos, Popper was one of the most important liberal thinkers of the 20th century.

This was as much for his development of an evolutionary understanding of human knowledge as for his more overtly political books.

He died in 1994 at the age of 92. I heard him speak in York round about 1981 when he gave an inaugural lecture for some good cause connected with the Rowntree family.

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The Olney Pancake Race

From the Olney Pancake Race website:

On Shrove Tuesday every year the ladies of Olney, Buckinghamshire compete in the world famous Pancake Race, a tradition which dates back to 1445. The 2016 race will be held on Tuesday 9th February. The race starts at 11:55am. 

Children from Olney schools also take part in their own races. Olney competes every year against the women of Liberal, Kansas, USA. This is a friendly competition in its 67th year in 2016.

My photograph shows the sign on the churchyard wall in Olney that marks the finishing point of the race,

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A tribute from Hookland

Read more about Hookland.

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