Political column – November 4

It is a game you can play at home online, and the surge in interest, also spurred on by that Netflix drama The Queen's Gambit, has seen a noticeable rise in the number of people at local chess clubs.

I used to play at school, then stopped, before taking it up again much later in adulthood. While being no better than mediocre, there was that finest hour, years ago, when I beat a Grandmaster.

Admittedly there were certain circumstances which helped. His name was (and is) Danny King and he came to play in what is known as a simultaneous tournament, when a top player takes on lots of challengers at once.

Typically the boards are set up in a rectangle and the Grandmaster is inside the rectangle and walks round making a move at each board in turn. As time goes on, he or she (generally) beats the opposition one by one, until there are only one or two left playing.

The trouble with this is that if you are one of the few left standing, or rather sitting, you no longer have any time to think about your move before the GM suddenly pops up in front of you once more, when you are supposed to make your move at once.

And that is what happened to me. Not only was I still unbeaten, but by some miracle objectively I had a better position against Danny, who of course until then had only had a few seconds to think about his moves, while I had had many minutes to ponder.

It was around this time that Danny made his decisive mistake. As in my indecision I dilly-dallied, which I really wasn't supposed to do, he mentioned that he had a train to catch.

Now it would be unfair to suggest that I took the ball to the corner flag to do some timewasting, but you have to understand that it was a very tricky position and one rushed move could blow it all.

The sun started to shine when I noticed that Danny had put on his coat. A few minutes' inconsequential shuffling of pieces later his train timetable crisis must have become critical. Suddenly, with a big smile, he shook my hand (it meant he was resigning) and said "Well done."

He signed my prize, which was a chess book – which I still have as a cherished memento – and handed it to me. He said his thanks to the organisers and those taking part, and then dashed off.

I do hope he didn't miss his train.

................

If you've been listening to the evidence at the Covid inquiry this week you may have concluded that the pandemic preparations were one big (expletive deleted) up, the elected politicians were all (expletive deleted), and we'd be better next time if scientists, bureaucrats and spin doctors who view politicians with contempt took control.

Trouble is, it sounds like a plot for a Bond movie.

.........

Sorry, but I just can't help myself.

House prices rose "unexpectedly" in October, with some economists calling it a "massive surprise."

As I have pointed out ad nauseam, it must be a tough life being an economist, because their lives are so full of surprises. It matters not how august the body – Office For National Statistics, Office for Budget Responsibility, International Monetary Fund, Bank of England, HM Treasury, or whatever – their endless capacity for getting things wrong needs to be continually highlighted as a public health warning in any reporting of their forecasts.

For instance, the OBR public sector borrowing forecasts have been wrong five months in a row this financial year. They have not been small margins of error. Cumulatively the OBR has got it wrong to the tune of £11.4 billion – yes, billion, not million. On a similar theme, inflation in September remained steady, when City analysts expected it to fall.

These forecasting foul-ups are happening all the time.

Remember, these are the people who are supposed to be looking after our money – and thought they knew better than Liz Truss.