Dr Rachel Mann

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1:00DSW, let us surprise you. Time for thought for the day, the speaker this morning, Dr Rachel Mann, who is a poet and theologian. Good morning, Justin. Well, it's the first of October and the season of Big Dogs and Dark Horses is back. In case you find that sentence bewildering, I should explain that tonight sees the return of the celebrity version of the traitors. It was last year's breakout hit, the closest thing we have to appointment TV, in my opinion, since the start of the streaming era. 12 million people tuned into the final to see comedian Alan Carle win for team traitor. It will be risky at this stage to make predictions about this year's winner. However, among the dazzling cast list of national treasures, actors and rock stars, why should we keep my eyes on the comedians like Romash Ranganathan, Joe Lyset, and Miranda Hart, as Alan Carle demonstrated last year, a capacity to act the fool and make people laugh, especially at moments of tension, can not only lead your competitors to underestimate you, but also foster misplaced trust.

2:01I don't think this should come as a huge surprise. The skill and indeed cleverness of the fool or clown, especially in literature, is well established. In Shakespeare's 12th night, the person who's revealed to be ridiculous is not the fool, Feste, but the self-important functionary Melvoglio. As Feste famously says of himself, better a witty fool than a foolish wit. Indeed, Feste is able to tell the truth through his claning and seeming lack of seriousness or respectability. This truth-telling power is part of the old religious tradition of the Holy Foul too. St Paul suggested that evangelists like him are fools for Christ, going to absurd lengths to share the good news of Jesus. Later, Holy Fools, like the 6th century St. Simeon, got up to all sorts of extraordinary antics. For example, he was said to stick out his foot to trip people up or pretend to be a dog. He wanted to make fun of the sheer absurdity and pomposity of the world, as well as conceal his miracle working and his acts of love and generosity.

3:06By inviting mockery, Simeon sought to draw closer to Jesus, who himself had been mocked before his crucifixion. I suspect Simeon, however, only made himself more popular. Of course, I'm not suggesting that the behaviour of an Alan Carr or this year's crop of comics on Celebratory Traders is part of the Holy Foul tradition. However, I do think that part of what makes comedy so beguiling is its capacity to disarm and help us spot our own foolishness and absurdity. I anticipate oodles of silliness and laughter during this year's Celebrity Traders. However, I shall also be keeping my senses alert for both the lies and the truths that the fools will be hiding in plain sight. And that was thought for the day with Dr. Rachel Mann. I started ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non-technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end, and sell things online easily.

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