tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post6519898138161807962..comments2023-12-28T02:11:22.501+00:00Comments on The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog: Spite and MaliceTom Chivershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09850710685193416732noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-36117304995136034942012-10-24T19:47:24.768+01:002012-10-24T19:47:24.768+01:00PS:
"Everything will blow tonight
Either frie...PS:<br />"Everything will blow tonight<br />Either friend or foe tonight"<br /><br />That's Placebo is it?<br /><br />I assumed it must be the lyrics that followed<br /><br />"Everybody have fun tonight, everybody wang chung tonight."Jonathan Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00293162543015231439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-36226783184648583702012-10-24T16:19:48.229+01:002012-10-24T16:19:48.229+01:00We are in agreement then, Justin.
BTWe are in agreement then, Justin.<br /><br />BTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-42391788614624073642012-10-24T16:03:42.375+01:002012-10-24T16:03:42.375+01:00Sure. You have to judge leaks on their individual ...Sure. You have to judge leaks on their individual merits, and they're not to be thought of as a good thing <i>per se</i>. It's just that often they are, individually, a good thing, because they lead to the public knowing things which the public should have been told, and in <i>some</i> specific instances I think this.<br /><br />But, writing about chess as I do, I've no business being against leaks <i>per se</i>. Because I can't pretend I won't use them.<br /><br />Of course some disgraceful things have been said about Adam. Some of them, by disgraceful people.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-29729064068165226922012-10-24T14:43:51.669+01:002012-10-24T14:43:51.669+01:00Maybe so Justin - I don't know.
However, I b...Maybe so Justin - I don't know. <br /><br />However, I believe what Adam Raoof was referring to were not simply leaks targeted at particular items of business, but wholesale leaking of Board information and discussions, some of which has been used in a smear campaign against him.<br /><br />How else do you think non-Board members were able to post details of board decisions a very short time after they had been discussed, and before they were publicly announced? You just have to check the timing of posts with inside information to the ECF forum and the SG blog to realise what was happening.<br /><br />BTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-41160058985060869272012-10-24T13:30:48.926+01:002012-10-24T13:30:48.926+01:00Over the last year at least two Directors thought ...<i>Over the last year at least two Directors thought it appropriate to leak confidential board discussions, emails and papers, which made proper business impossible to conduct</i><br /><br />Of course another view is that some of the business that had been conducted was not, in truth, entirely proper, and that because material was leaked, this came to the attention of ECF members who should have known about it in the first place.<br /><br />Or put it another way: if the CEO really had been "ideal", there wouldn't actually have been anything to leak. But there was, because he wasn't.ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-39603017800907813072012-10-24T02:05:58.178+01:002012-10-24T02:05:58.178+01:00ECF Directors are able to raise motions for discus...ECF Directors are able to raise motions for discussion at the ECF meetings of voting members. Individuals cannot. Therefore, if ECF Directors disagree with aspects of ECF policy, they are in a position to bring proposals to the table to change them. Replacement of annual grading lists with half-yearly ones was a case in point. The exclusion of non-members from the FIDE list wasn't a policy that had been applied in practice and wasn't necessary as FIDE would accept a weak definition of "membership".<br /><br />As suggested above, most amateur chess will continue to run, in the UK at least, without involvement from the national or international bodies. Lack of a CEO is far from critical, lack of low level management of the grading system would be.<br /><br />RdCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-66485823109521309612012-10-23T22:58:04.732+01:002012-10-23T22:58:04.732+01:00"Over the last year at least two Directors th..."Over the last year at least two Directors thought it appropriate to leak confidential board discussions, emails and papers, which made proper business impossible to conduct. I can't guess their motives for doing this. It's not only illegal, but it also unfair." <br />As an ECF member, I find it deeply disturbing that this illegal behaviour is occurring. What is the current Board doing to bring these people to account?<br />BTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-61519696354372014852012-10-23T22:28:35.154+01:002012-10-23T22:28:35.154+01:00Belgium went for 541 days without a government unt...Belgium went for 541 days without a government until last December. I'm sure we'll all manage to play chess without a CEO at the ECF.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-31460225022289379962012-10-23T19:37:54.051+01:002012-10-23T19:37:54.051+01:00With respect, Roger, I had literally nothing to do...With respect, Roger, I had literally nothing to do with the creation of the policy - I inherited the policy. You would be surprised at how many of your posts I find myself agreeing with.<br /><br />I hope even you can see that a comparison with the previous Marketing Director is a little unjust - to both of us. (He would not have been a 'predecessor', and I have always been able make decisions which I believe are for the good of chess, even when they affected me negatively)<br /><br />After the government pulled ECF funding not only did I push for and support the implementation of a membership scheme I then proposed the creation of a membership officer to make sure that members would get some value for their money. I also think we need a Junior Membership Officer. I hope all members get someone who puts their interests first. I am probably not the best candidate for any role with the ECF, but you do need someone to step up and do these jobs. What is the alternative? <br /><br />I have always treated people with respect and been honest with them. What I have experienced in two years as an ECF Director has made that a little harder at times. Over the last year at least two Directors thought it appropriate to leak confidential board discussions, emails and papers, which made proper business impossible to conduct. I can't guess their motives for doing this. It's not only illegal, but it also unfair.<br /><br />I decided not to submit a CV for several reasons but principally because a) I thought we had lost an ideal CEO who I thought I could support for many years, and b) I didn't know whether, if those individuals who treated their office so casually were re-elected, I really wanted to be on that Board any more. <br /><br />So I span a coin, and left it to the wise heads at Council to make a decision, and they have done so. I think they did me a favour.Adam Raoofhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463126739488034901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-25742573969720239212012-10-23T10:32:40.993+01:002012-10-23T10:32:40.993+01:00If you want to talk about what people have done, b...If you want to talk about what people have done, be aware that AR was instrumental in the policy described. If you lived abroad, had an ENG rating, never played chess in the UK, but wanted to play where you lived, you had to pay the ECF a membership fee of currently £ 27 a year. If you didn't, FIDE would be asked to suspend your rating, making you look like a cheat.<br />RdCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-66470741528226257532012-10-23T10:09:49.625+01:002012-10-23T10:09:49.625+01:00A manifesto means nothing (even if you are David C...A manifesto means nothing (even if you are David Cameron). The ECF should go by what people have done not what they promise to do. Adam's record of supporting chess goes back a long way. There are others whose CVs have been ignored. A topdown reorganisation wouldn't be a bad thing - starting with David Cameron !<br />Joe S Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-41579729288290445782012-10-23T09:20:40.985+01:002012-10-23T09:20:40.985+01:00Joe S may be referring to the ECF's intention ...Joe S may be referring to the ECF's intention to seek charitable status. One of the issues is that charities and professional "sport" are not allowed to co-exist. It will therefore be proposed that a new body is set up to run the British Championships and the International teams. The problem, as I see it, is that it is proposed the amateur body will retain the FIDE affiliation and much of the interaction between FIDE and the ECF is likely to concern "professional" issues. Applications for titles is but one example.<br /><br />RdCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-7154074194212610062012-10-23T08:01:00.089+01:002012-10-23T08:01:00.089+01:00That sounds interesting, can you enlarge on that?That sounds interesting, can you enlarge on that?ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-68686415911712985622012-10-22T18:39:06.992+01:002012-10-22T18:39:06.992+01:00Manifesto for the ECF? How about "No topdown ...Manifesto for the ECF? How about "No topdown reorganisation".<br />Joe SAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-34520383475155210772012-10-22T13:37:39.462+01:002012-10-22T13:37:39.462+01:00I would certainly have voted for Adam if I had pos...I would certainly have voted for Adam if I had possessed a vote, and I think it's both a real shame and a real mistake that he was not elected. I would also be most annoyed if the CJ business had much to do with it, not least because other people, just as supportive of CJ as Adam, haven't seemed to suffer similarly for it.<br /><br />I do agree, though, that electorates of all kinds are liable not to vote for people who are not present at the vote and do not produce a manifesto. I don't hold it against Adam that he did neither of these things - sometimes people have other things to do and as I say, I would have voted for him in an instant. But you can't entirely blame people who, in those circumstances, didn't vote for him. <br /><br />Elections often don't go the way they should. I should know this, I think I've lost every one I ever stood in save for one. (Then again I used when young to be a dangerous radical myself, as opposed to the harmless middle-aged radical I later became.) That's the way it goes. Electorates can be wrong, and wrong-headed, and they can also at the same time, <i>pace</i> Jean Renoir, have their own good reasons.<br /><br />(Just a note. If people are able to give names, or initials, it would be welcomed. You <i>can</i> post anonymously here, but if you feel able, we'd generally prefer it otherwise. Cheers.)ejhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01582272075999298935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-77781210292504473912012-10-22T11:13:36.261+01:002012-10-22T11:13:36.261+01:00Well anyone who has played chess at all regularly ...Well anyone who has played chess at all regularly knows Adam, and there is no doubt that he has made a contribution to chess. Yet to be a director of the ECF takes considerable effort and to not even have bothered to write a manifesto seems to show that effort may be missing. This post is just to say the blame is perhaps on both sides and it is important to be objective when considering the situation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-66642476237980226872012-10-22T09:46:46.768+01:002012-10-22T09:46:46.768+01:00I wonder how many new members have joined as a res...I wonder how many new members have joined as a result of Adam's tournaments and how much he has raised for the ECF through game fees?<br />JSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37675897.post-9679661791299710162012-10-22T08:59:42.261+01:002012-10-22T08:59:42.261+01:00Adam is a dangerous radical who would insist on co...Adam is a dangerous radical who would insist on compulsory membership at around £ 25 even for one league game a season. Or is he? In the absence of a statement of his intentions, no-one knows.<br /><br />Alternatively like his chess boxing predecessor, he is more interested in promoting his own events than the ECF. Being a director of the ECF implies a commitment to attend its annual meeting or at the very least make sure you are represented. Individuals with voting rights in the ECF have a sense, probably exaggerated, of their own importance and as shown with Malcolm Pein a couple of years ago don't like to be taken for granted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com