Afforce

Afforce (pronounced af-fors)

(1) To strengthen or reinforce by the addition of other or of specially skilled members, deliberative bodies such as juries or tribunals.

(2) To force; compel; violate (obsolete).

(3) Reflexively, to exert one's self; endeavour; attempt (obsolete).

1400s: From the Middle English (in the sense “to force”), from the Old French aforcer, from the Latin exfortiāre, from fortis (strong), from the Proto-Italic forktis, from the primitive Indo-European baergh (to rise, high, hill).  The a- prefix as used here is rare and is in English no longer productive.  It was related to the Latin ad- (to; at) and was used to show or emphasize a state, condition, or manner and was common in Old & Middle English, some of the constructs still used poetically (apace, afire, aboil, a-bling) and some where the specific, technical meaning has endured (asunder, astern).  The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) noted the descent of many of these form to the archaic, suggesting it was part of the organic evolution of the language, these “…prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic or even archaic and wholly otiose.”  The double-ff is a written tribute to the spoken, afforce formed with an oral prefix; the noun counterpart of this was æf-.  Afforce, afforcing & afforced are verbs, afforcement is a noun; the noun plural is afforcements.

Afforce thus emerged just as a way of emphasizing the notion of force or indicating the act transpiring.  Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1343-1400) in The Man of Law's Tale (1387), the fifth of the Canterbury Tales uses afforce in that sense:  “Than whan thys wycked Thelous by harde manasses and hys grete strengh the had wyll to afforce her, than she restreynyd hys gret foly by thys reason, ffor cause that her Chylde Moryce the whyche was of the age of.”

That strict arbiter of English use, Sir Ernest Gowers (1880-1966), noted approvingly in his second edition (1965) of Henry Fowler's (1858–1933) Modern English Usage (1926) that the OED as early as 1888 ruled afforce was for all purposes obsolete save "to reinforce or strengthen a deliberative body by the addition of new members, as a jury by skilled assessors or persons acquainted with the facts".  Sir Ernest seemed also pleased the OED had sought to drive a stake through afforce's linguistic heart by not including an entry in the concise (COD) edition of the OED, adding that he regarded any revival as but a flashy "pride of knowledge", a most "un-amiable characteristic", the display of which "sedulously should be avoided".  Sir Ernest had spoken, Henry Fowler would have concurred and in any sense afforce remains vanishingly rare.

Manchester Assize Courts 1934.  Damaged by Luftwaffe raids in 1940-1941, it was demolished in 1957.  Perhaps surprisingly, given some of the ghastly stuff built in post-war years, the replacement Crown Court building has some nice touches and not unpleasing lines.

It was the operation of jury trials in English law which saw the meaning beginning to shift although the legal use did encapsulate both senses.  At common law, the practice to “afforce the assize” was a method for a court to secure a verdict where the jury disagreed.  This was achieved by adding other jurors to the panel until twelve could be found who were unanimous in their opinion, thus the senses (1) afforcement being forcing a jury to verdict and (2) afforcement being the addition of members to the jury.  The word has endured (if rarely used) in this technical sense and not become merely a synonym of augment, somewhat unusual in English where words tend to be co-opted for just about use which seems to fit and it may be that when courts ceased to afforce, juries, the word became stranded in its special, historic sense, a process probably assisted by the practice of adding the a- prefix faded.

Vested with both civil and criminal jurisdiction, the Courts of Assize sat between 1293-1972 in the counties of England and Wales.  The afforcement of the assize was an ancient practice in trials by jury and involved adding other jurors to the panel in cases where the jurors differed among themselves and couldn’t agree in one (sententiam) finding.  In those instances, at the discretion of the judges, either the jury could be afforced or the existing body could be compelled to unanimity by directing the sheriff to lock them up without food or drink until they did agree.  The latter does sound an extreme measure; even when medieval conclaves of cardinals proved unable to organise the numbers to elect a new pope, when their eminences were locked-up, they were at least given bread and water.

However it was done, afforcement or starvation, the objective was to get to the point where there were twelve who could agree on a verdict.  However, as legal theorists at the time observed, this really created a second trial and eventually afforcement was abandoned, both justice and its administration thought better served by an insistence on unanimity (probably an inheritance from canon law and a common thing on the continent where the unanimity of a consultative or deliberative body was deemed indispensable).  Also refined was the practice of confining jurors without meat and drink; now they’re fed and watered and, if after long enough some prove still recalcitrant, the jury is discharged and a new trial may be ordered.  Some jurisdictions have found this too inefficient and have introduced majority verdicts so only ten or eleven of the twelve need to be convinced a defendant is guilty as sin which, as any prosecutor will tell you, they all are. 

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948; Chief Justice of the US 1930-1941) taking FDR's oath of office at the start of his second term, 20 January 1937.

There have too been attempts to afforce the bench.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945; US President 1933-1945), not best pleased at repeatedly having parts of his New Deal legislation declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, in 1937 created the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill which sought to add sympathetic judges to the bench, his argument being the constitution not mandating than there must be nine judges on the bench, it was a matter for congress to determine the number.  He was apparently serious but may also have had in mind the threat in 1911 by the UK’s Liberal Party government to appoint to the House of Lords as many peers as would be necessary to ensure the upper house could no longer block their legislation.  That worked, the peers backing down and allowing the government’s reforms to pass into law, the feeling always that they were less appalled by creeping socialism than the thought of the House of Lords being flooded with “jumped-up grocers”.  It may also have worked in the US, the "court-packing plan" ultimately not required.  Some months after FDR’s landslide victory in the 1936 presidential election, Justice Owen Roberts (1875–1955; US Supreme Court judge 1930-1945) switched his vote, creating a pro-New Deal majority, an act remembered in judicial history as the "the switch in time that saved nine".

The US Supreme Court in session, 1932.  The photo is by Erich Salomon (1886-1944) and is one of two known images of the court in session.  Dr Salomon died in Auschwitz.

The idea of “packing the court” has been revived before but in 2021, congressional Democrats introduced a bill for an act which would expand the Supreme Court bench from nine to thirteen, essentially for the same reasons which attracted FDR in 1937.  Unlike then however, the Democrat control of both houses was marginal and there was no chance of success and even had there been an unexpectedly good result in the 2022 mid-term elections, nothing would have overcome the resistance of conservative Democrats in the senate.  With the Republican-appointed judges (reactionary medievalists or black-letter law judges depending on one’s view) likely to be in place for decades, the 2021 bill is more a shot across the judicial bow and the interplay between electoral outcomes and public opinion, of which the judges are well aware, will bubble and perhaps boil in the years ahead.

Lindsay Lohan on the panel of The Masked Singer (2019).

The Masked Singer Australia is a TV singing competition, the local franchise of a format which began in South Korea as the King of Mask Singer.  The premise is that elaborately costumed masked celebrities sing a song and a panel has to guess their identity.  In 2019, the producers afforced the judging panel with the appointment of Lindsay Lohan and the experiment seems to have been a success despite Ms Lohan having little or no idea who the local celebrities were, masked or otherwise.  That may have been part of the charm of her performance and it seemed to gel with viewers, the second series in 2020, in which Ms Lohan wasn’t able to participate because of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, seeing a sharp decline in viewer numbers, the opening episode down 37% from 1.2 million to 733k.  Overall, the season average in the five mainland capital cities dropped to 816k from 928k, a year-on-year drop of 12%.  In October 2021, Warner Brothers TV announced a third series had been commissioned for broadcast in 2022 but Lindsay Lohan didn't again afforce the panel, depriving audiences of the chance to watch her try to guess the names of people she's never heard of.  #BringBackLindsay is expected to trend.

Peradventure

Peradventure (pronounced pur-uhd-ven-cher (U) or per-add-ven-chur (non-U)

(1) Chance, doubt or uncertainty (rare & archaic).

(2) Surmise (obsolete).

(3) It may be; perchance or maybe; possibly; perhaps (a definitely obsolete adverb).

1250–1300: From the Middle English peraventure, & per aventure, from Old French par aventure, the spelling in English modified in the seventeenth century to emulate Latin, providing a gloss of classical respectability.  The earliest form (circa 1300) was per aventure, paradventure adopted in the fourteenth and peradventure (sometimes in the old form as peraduenture) the final change.  Adventure evolved from the Middle English aventure, aunter & anter, from the Old French aventure, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Latin advenire & adventum (to arrive), which in the Romance languages took the sense of "to happen, befall".  Aventure was from the Vulgar Latin adventura, from the Late Latin adventurus, from the Classical Latin adventus, the construct being adveniō (arrive) +‎ -tus (the action noun–forming suffix).  Peraventure is a noun & adverb, the noun plural is peradventures.

Peradventure in the sense of “chance, doubt or uncertainty” is both rare and archaic, a combination characterizing those words Henry Fowler (1858–1933) in his A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) listed as archaisms, words he suggested were “…dangerous except in the hands of an experienced writer who can trust his sense of congruity”, adding that the use of archaisms was “…more likely to irritate the reader than to please…” and the word does seem to appear when people seek either (1) variety, (2) a flourish or (3) a display of their “pride of knowledge”, one of the many linguistic habits of Henry Fowler damned.  Peradventure means “chance, doubt or uncertainty” (the other meanings wholly obsolete) and is used in the forms “beyond peradventure” & “beyond a peradventure”, the more usual ways of expressing the sentiment including “beyond question” & “without doubt”. 

The reason it should be avoided in normal discourse is that unlike some deliberate archaisms, (such as “afforce” which is sufficiently close in construction and meaning to “reinforce”), there is nothing in the word which would allow a interlocutor to pick up the meaning.  That’s because the element “adventure” id derived from a linguistic fork which evolved into extinction, the aventure in the Old French per aventure coming from the adventura, a future form of the verb advenire (to happen (ie something which may occur).  However by the time it entered the Old French, variously it could mean destiny or fate, a chance event, an accident, fortune or luck and it was the sense of “a chance or uncertain event” that attached to the word when it was adopted in the Middle English.  That eventually produced peradventure but “adventure” also came to be used in English as an event with some risk of danger or loss, that sense persisting in law (In admiralty law, marine insurers use adventure in the technical sense of ”the period during which insured goods are at risk” and there’s the technical term “medical misadventure”, used when doctors murder their patients).  The sense thus shifted from “a chance event” to “a hazardous undertaking or audacious exploit to the modern form” (which still exists in law) before assuming the modern meaning: “a novel or exciting experience”.  Thus, it’s unlikely to occur to most that “peradventure” means what it does.

It can of course be used among word nerds and others where a pride of knowledge is something admired.  John Parker (1885–1958), the US alternate judge sitting on the International Military Tribunal trying the Nazi leadership (the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946)), used the phrase “…conspiracy has been proved beyond peradventure” when resisting the objection from the French judges that the charge of “criminal conspiracy” (Count One: Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War) was not sustainable because it was unknown in international or continental law, too vague and a conspiracy is anyway absorbed by the crime one committed.  It was an interesting discussion which didn’t convince the French although, in the circumstances, they were inclined to compromise… a little.  The primary US judge, Francis Biddle (1886–1968), noted on hearing “peradventure” that Judge Parker “liked such old-fashioned phrases, which, when he used them, sounded like the crack of a long whip, tearing other arguments to shreds”.  He might have added Parker came from the North Carolina bar, where old-fashioned phrases are perhaps more often heard.

It does also enjoy that ultimate imprimatur of authenticity, as an adverb appearing seventeen times in the plays of William Shakespeare (1564–1616), two examples being:

Henry V, Act IV, Scene I.

Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of peradventure premeditated and contriued Murther; some, of beguiling Virgins with the broken Seales of Periurie; some, making the Warres their Bulwarke, that haue before gored the gentle Bosome of Peace with Pillage and Robberie.

Coriolanus Act II, Scene I.

…peraduenture some of the best of 'em were hereditarie hangmen.  Godden to your Worships, more of your conuersation would infect my Braine, being the Heardsmen of the Beastly Plebeans.  I will be bold to take my leaue of you.

Trend of use of peradventure, tracked by the Collins English Dictionary.

The trend however, the odd eighteenth century spike notwithstanding, is down, one of the few supporting gestures in recent years (2015) by UK Labor MP Harriet Harman (b 1950) and such was the reaction from friend and foe that, beyond peradventure, she’s unlikely to use it again.

Doughnut

Doughnut (pronounced doh-nuht)

(1) A small cake (of usually sweetened but sometimes unsweetened dough) deep-fried in fat, typically shaped like a ring or a ball and often filled with jam or cream and sometimes glazed.

(2) In engineering, a variety of objects using this shape ranging from transmission connectors to the reaction vessel of a thermonuclear reactor.

(3) As a descriptor, anything in the shape of a thick ring; an annular object; a toroid.

(4) In (informal) parliamentary jargon, to surround a speaker with other members during the filming of a speech to create the illusion the chamber is crowded and people are interested in what he is saying.

(5) In slang, the vulva and (by extension) a woman's virginity, a derived form being the “doughnut bumper” (a lesbian).

(6) In UK colloquial use, a foolish or stupid person (based on the idea of “nut” being used as slang for the head, filled with dough (a soft, inert substance); such a person said also to be “doughy”.

1809: The construct was dough + nut.  Dough was from the Middle English dow, dogh & dagh, from the Old English dāg, from the Proto-Germanic daigaz (dough), from the primitive Indo-European dheygh (to knead, form, mold).  It was cognate with the Scots daich, dauch & doach (dough), the West Frisian daai (dough), the Dutch deeg (dough), the Low German Deeg (dough), the German Teig (dough), the Norwegian Bokmål deig (dough), the Danish dej (dough), the Swedish deg (dough) and the Icelandic deig (dough).  Nut was from the Middle English nute & note, from the Old English hnutu, from the Proto-West Germanic hnut, from the Proto-Germanic hnuts (nut) (the form may be compared with the West Frisian nút, the Dutch noot, the German Nuss, the Danish nød, the Swedish nöt and the Norwegian nøtt), from the root knu-, seen also in the Proto-Celtic knūs (source of Irish cnó) and the Latin nux (nut).  There are etymologists who, noting the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, argue it may be of non-Indo-European origin.  The adoption to mean “fastening device for a bolt” is conventionally traced to the Old English hnutu (hard-shelled fruit with a seed inside (acorn, chestnut etc), based upon (1) the appearance and (2) an analogy between the hard outer shell of a nut and the protective function of the metal nut in securing a bolt (ie a nut, like its botanical counterpart, encases and protects something (in this case, the threaded end of a bolt).  The use has been documented since the early-fifteenth century and has been used in mechanical and engineering contexts since.  The doughnut was so named because it resembles the shape of a nut.  The alternative spelling is donut, the standard form in North America and the form dough-nut is listed by most sources as archaic or extinct.  Doughnut is a noun & verb and doughnutting & doughnutted are verbs; the noun plural is doughnuts.

Box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

The doughnut in the sense of a “small, spongy cake made of dough and fried in lard” seems first to have been identified in 1809 although at that stage it was best described as “a lump” and it’s not clear when the holes became common, the first mention of them apparently in 1861 at which time one writer recorded that in New York City (the old New Amsterdam) they were known also as olycokes (from the Dutch oliekoek (oily cake) and some food guides of the era listed doughnuts and crullers as “types of olycoke”.  The spelling donut was typical of the sensible and pragmatic simplification of spelling in US English and emerged in the mid nineteenth century; the form donnut did not last, the duplicated “n” obviously redundant.  In engineering, the word is widely applied including (1) the reaction vessel of a thermonuclear reactor, (2) a circular life raft, (3) A toroidal vacuum chamber (used in experimental physics), (4) a circular life raft, (5) certain types of aircraft tyres, (6) a spare car tyre smaller than a full-sized tyre and intended only for temporary use.  In idiomatic use, the phrase “bet you a dollar to a donut” fell victim to inflation.  Dating from a time when a donut cost cents, it thus implied odds of something like 20-1.  As used to describe the behaviour in which a car is driven at low speed in circles with the drive wheels spinning, thus leaving a circular track of rubber on the road, the “donut” was first used circa 1981 in the US and it was picked up around the world by males aged 17-25, the donut specialists.

The great Krispy Kreme doughnut heist.

In November 2023, in Sydney, Australia, a Krispy Kreme delivery van loaded with 10,000 freshly fried donuts was stolen from a 7/11 gas station; police established a crime scene and launched an investigation into the incident.  Some two weeks later a 28 year old woman was charged with stealing after the Krispy Kreme van was found abandoned at a nearby car-park in Parramatta.  The donuts were “destroyed”, according to a police spokesman and the authorities later confirmed the suspect would be charged with taking a driving conveyance without the consent of the owner, driving a motor vehicle during a disqualification period and travelling or attempting to travel without a valid ticket.  The woman was refused bail.

A World War II Donut Dolly with rack of domuts.

The dough-boy was something which existed as early as the 1680s but it was something more like a pancake than a donut and doughboys were widely known; because the distinctive buttons on the uniforms worn by soldiers of the American expeditionary forces sent to Europe in 1971 to afforce the Allies in World War I (1914—1918) were the same shape, the soldiers were nicknamed “doughboys”.  Doughnuts were supplied to troops during World War I by a Christian organization, the Salvation Army, which recruited some 250 woman volunteers who settled on the fried items because they could be prepared quickly and cheaply with minimal equipment and required only ingredients which were readily available through most military supply depots.  The doughnuts were originally quite small but, responding to suggestions, the women had a blacksmith fashion a mold for the now now-iconic circular shape with a hole in the centre.  Production at scale soon followed and they were distributed also to civilians; it was at this point, for better and worse, that French society hungrily adopted the doughnut.  During World War II (1939—1945), the system was formalized with the Red Cross taking over the operation and although it was never an official term, the women were popularly known as “donut dollies”, recruited on the basis of (1) being aged 25-35, (2) having a high school diploma, (3) appropriate work experience, (4) good reference letters and (5) “healthy, physically hardy, sociable and attractive”.  By the time of the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, the Red Cross had some hundred British Army buses operating with fully-equipped kitchens and donut-machines provided by the American Donut Company.  The Donuts were served with coffee and the donut dollies were able to supply also those staples of army life: chewing gum and cigarettes.

Rotoflex doughnuts

Totoflex "Doughnut" coupling.

Rotoflex couplings were often used in the 1960s to connect differential output shafts to the rear hubs.  Usually called “rubber doughnut”, they were popular in road cars such as the Triumph GT6 and racing machinery as varied as the Ford GT40 and Lotus 21 because, prior to the availability of suitable constant velocity (CV) joints, there was really no better alternative.  Although subject to wear, usually they worked well but Lotus also used them on the Elan, the rear suspension of which was exceptionally supple rear, providing for significant vertical wheel travel which resulted on the deformation of Rotoflex doughnuts, the phenomenon known as a “wind up”.  While readily detectable by experienced drivers who learned to adjust their clutching technique, it could be disconcerting to those unused to the Elan’s quirks.  In recent years many replacement Rotoflex doughnuts have been manufactured in the Far East and have been of sometimes dubious quality so except for those dedicated to maintaining originality, Many Elans have been converted to use half-shafts built with CV joints.  When in 1971 the Elan was updated with a more powerful engine, the company did experiment with other methods but it was clear the elasticity of the doughnuts was integral to the design and without them the famously precise handling characteristics suffered.  Now however, although they’re expensive, more rigid Rotoflex doughnuts are now available which preserve the precision although at the cost of adding an occasional harshness to the Elan’s exceptionally smooth ride.

Crab Doughnuts: Chiltern Firehouse, London

Chiltern Firehouse Crab Doughnuts Recipe

Ingredients (doughnuts)

540g strong white flour (plus extra to dust)
70g caster sugar
2 tsp Maldon sea salt (plus 1 tbsp to dust)
1 tsp instant yeast
140ml water (room temperature)
4 large free range eggs
Grated zest of 3 un-waxed lemons
130g unsalted butter (thinly sliced and chilled)
500ml sunflower oil (for deep frying, plus extra for greasing)
3 tbsp icing sugar (to dust)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (to dust)

Ingredients (tomato juice)

10 beef tomatoes (or whatever is the largest variety available)
2 cloves garlic (green germ removed and cloves chopped)
1 shallot (chopped)
¼ red chilli (de-seeded and chopped)
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
Maldon sea salt (to taste)

Ingredients (crab filling)

200g picked white crab meat (from the claws)
2 tbsp tomato juice
2 tbsp crème fraiche
1 tbsp basil leaves (thinly sliced)
2½ tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Maldon sea salt (to taste)

Instructions (doughnuts)

(1) Place flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment and mix at slow speed. In separate bowl, combine water, eggs and lemon zest.

(2) Slowly add liquid mixture to flour mixture (with mixer at slow speed) until it forms a dough. Increase the speed and knead for 10-12 minutes, until the dough comes away from sides of bowl and is smooth and elastic.

(3) Reduce speed to slow and add butter, a slice at a time. Once all butter has been incorporated, increase speed, kneading for a further 5-6 minutes (until sough is smooth).

(4) Cover bowl with clingfilm and place it in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight, allowing dough to rest and prove slowly. Next day, oil a baking sheet. Roll dough to a 2cm (¾ inch) thickness on a lightly floured work surface and cut out 80 x 30 mm (3 x 1 ¼ inch) circles. Roll each circle into a ball, placing them on oiled baking sheet. Cover and leave to prove for about 2-3 hours.

(5) Fill a deep saucepan or deep-fat fryer with the sunflower oil (it should be about half-full) and place over a medium heat until it reaches 175˚C. (350˚C).  Deep-fry doughnuts, four at a time, for 2-3 minutes, basting them constantly with the oil until golden brown.  To drain, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper.

Instructions (tomato juice)

Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out seeds. Grate the flesh of the tomatoes on the side of a box grater over a bowl. Place grated tomato flesh in the bowl of a food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a muslin cloth and hang cloth over a bowl for 2 hours.

Instructions (crab filling)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover and chill until ready to assemble.

Instructions (final assembly)

Cut each doughnut in half and fill it with the chilled crab mixture. Mix the icing sugar in a bowl with the cinnamon and salt, dusting doughnuts with the mix. Serve immediately.  Left-over dough can be cut into 50-60 mm (2-2½ inch) circles and deep-fried until golden brown, then coated in sugar.  They make a quick and indulgent treat.

Parliamentary doughnutting

An improbable Cassandra:  Eric Abetz (b 1958, senator (Liberal Party) for Tasmania) 1994-2022) in the Australian Senate, Monday 26 November 2017, delivering an important speech opposing same-sex marriage, surrounded by his supporters.  This is an example of how "parliamentary doughnutting" would have created a good photo-opportunity.  The tactic is to assemble enough members to create the impression that what is being said (1) matters, (2) is interesting and (3) has some support.

Quango

Quango (pronounced kwang-go)

A semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government.

1967, an acronym, cited usually as as...

Qu(asi)-a(utonomous)-n(on-)g(overnmental)-o(rganization)

...and in the occasional historic reference...

Qu(asi)-a(utonomous)-n(ational-)g(overnmental)-o(rganization)

Whether the correct form is QUANGO or Quango hands on which spelling one prefers.  It's certainly an acronym but sometimes such constructs become words such as radar (RA(dio)-D(etection)-A(nd)-R(anging).  As early as World War II (1939-1945), "radar" was in use as a common noun (thus losing all capitalization) at that at a time when many details of the technology remained state secrets although, because big masts and antennae dotted along the coast were impossible to conceal, the existence of the system was well-known.  Pleasingly, quango spawned some non-standard derivatives such as quangocracy and quangocrat.

The concept of the quango is most often used in the UK but exists also in most developed economies such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and other English-speaking countries. Many countries with other language traditions have Quangos but tend not to use the term although in the English-speaking world, foreign Quangos may be referred to thus.  A quango is a hybrid form of organization, with elements of both non-government organizations (NGOs) and public sector bodies and typically an organization to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and in most cases at least substantially financed by some organ of the state.  Despite the public positions of some, quangos are popular with politicians (of the left & right) because, properly structured, they can be used to execute a political agenda while permitting politicians to attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility for anything unpopular.

The term qango was created in 1967 by Alan Pifer (1921-2005) of the (nominally not politically aligned) Carnegie Foundation, in an essay on the independence and accountability of public-funded bodies incorporated in the private sector.  It describes an ostensibly non-governmental organization performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other state support.  The growth in the number of Quangos over recent decades has been well documented but rarely exactly quantified; in many states where research has been undertaken, a not uncommon finding was that when attempting to define a definitive list, it was difficult to be certain just how many were functionally extant.  The core of the problem appeared to be that some quangos technically still exist in that while they have never formerly been dis-established, it may have been years since they were active.  In 2005, Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, claimed that the UK had 529 quangos, many of which were useless and duplicated the work of others.  A Cabinet Office report in 2009 found 766 although that may have represented a decline given there many have been 790 in 2008 although that was a decline from the 827 counted in 2007 but unfortunately, the notion there was ever a Bread Board or Cheese Board seems apocryphal.  Periodically, governments do cull or merge quangos but its inherently a Sisyphean task because (1) the well-documented phenomenon of bureaucratic inertia means organizations tend to remain or expand even if they've outlived their usefulness, (2) politicians are tempted often to add to the numbers because of the need to maintain lucrative dumping grounds for colleagues who are proving tiresome but can't otherwise be disposed of or (3) if a problem can be solved only by electorally unpopular measures, it's a good trick to create or afforce a quango onto which things can be dumped.  

Trans

Trans (pronounced trans or tranz)

(1) A person who identifies as transgender (though now the polite use seems to be as a modifier (trans-man, trans-woman, trans-gender and not always hyphenated), the prefix denoting “on the other side of,” referring to the misalignment of one’s gender identity with one's sex assigned at birth.

(2) As an offensive slur, a historic term for a transsexual (itself a now less common term) and often used as “trannie” (which tended to be non-offensive if used within the transsexual community).  As a slur, both trans and trannie are sometimes used (often technically incorrectly) as expressions of general disapprobation of anybody perceived as maintaining an identity outside traditionally constructed gender norms.

(3) In chemistry, in (or constituting, forming, or describing) a double bond in which the greater radical on both ends is on the opposite side of the bond.

(4) In chemistry, in (or constituting, forming, or describing) a coordination compound in which the two instances of a particular ligand are on opposite sides of the central atom (eg the trans effect is the labilization of ligands which are trans to certain other ligands).

(5) In cytology, of the side of the Golgi apparatus farther from the endoplasmic reticulum.

(6) In the slang of mechanics and certain mechanical engineers, a shorting of “transmission” (an intermediate input/output device between a power unit and its eventual delivery), sometimes also truncated as “tranny” (both dating back at least decades).

Mid-late twentieth century: Transsexual appears in the literature in 1953 but then it had the meaning "intense desire to change one's sexual status, including the anatomical structure" but as early as 1941 “transsexuality” was being used to describe both "homosexuality & bisexuality".  In the current sense it has existed since 1955 but for decades the older uses overlapped.  The prefix trans- is from the Latin trāns (adverb and preposition) (across, beyond, through) from the Proto-Italic trānts, from the primitive Indo-European tr̥h-n̥ts, from terh- (through, throughout, over).  It was cognate with the English through, the Scots throch (through), the West Frisian troch (through), the Dutch door (through), the German durch (through), the Gothic þairh (through), the Albanian tërthor (through, around) and the Welsh tra (through).  Trans is a noun and adjective, the noun plural historically was transes but as trans has become a notable component of identity politics, trans is now often used, especially collectively.  The noun transness is a recent coining and although they’re still non-standard forms, (sometimes jocular) creations such as transbionic & transnessness) have and will continue to be created but it doesn’t seem that transitivity (either (1) the rule in formal grammar which defines the degree in which any one verb can take/govern objects or (2) in mathematics and formal logic, the property of being transitive) has yet in this context been re-purposed. 

The prefix trans- most occurs in loanwords from the Latin (transcend; transfix) and the model imparts meanings related to “across,” “beyond,” “through,” “changing thoroughly,” “transverse,” in combination with elements of any origin: transubstantiation; trans-Siberian; transempirical etc.  In chemistry, the prefix indicating that a chemical compound has a molecular structure in which two groups or atoms are on opposite sides of a double bond trans-butadiene and there does seem to be a widely followed convention in chemistry that trans is written in italics.  In astronomy the prefix denotes something farther from the sun (than a given planet), thus the terms trans-Martian; trans-Neptunian etc.  In genetics, it refers to having two genes, each carrying a mutation, located on opposite chromosomes of a homologous pair.  Transylvania (literally "beyond the forest) was from the Medieval Latin, the construct being trans- + sylva (the geographical area referenced); it was so-called in reference to the wooded mountains that surround it.  The pop-culture associations with vampires make the place famous.  The title of Giuseppe Verdi's (1813–1901) 1853 Opera La traviata (literally “the woman led astray”) but usually translated as “The Fallen Woman” is from traviata ("to lead beyond the way”) from tra- (across, beyond), from the Latin trāns.  English has many words either influenced by or which trans is a part including Trans-Atlantic, trans-oceanic, transnational, transsexual, translocation, transpontine, transliteration, transept, transect, transducer, transmit, transfer, transit, transmute, translucent, transform, transverse, transfuse, transitive, transcribe, transubstantiation, transplant, transcend, transfigure, transgress, transfix, transact, transmutation, transpire, transient, transfusion, transparent, transport, travesty, transpose, transgression, translate, transmigration, transaction & trajectory.

The state commonly called Jordan (الأردن in the the Arabic (Al-ʾUrdunn)) is officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  In one of the classic colonial fixes at which the British (through long practice) used to be really good, the Emirate of Transjordan was created in 1921 as a British protectorate, independence granted in 1946 as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, renamed in 1949 to its present name to celebrate the capture of the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, held as annexed territory until lost in the six-day war in 1967, the claim not renounced until 1988 as part of a peace treaty with the state of Israel.  The name of Jordan is from the Jordan River which forms much of its northwestern border, the name though derived from the Hebrew ירד (Yarad) (one who descends), a reference to the waterway’s physical geography.  The name “Transjordan” wasn’t actually an invention of the British Colonial Office but an adoption of a geographical expression in use for centuries meaning “across the Jordan” and used, historically, to denote the lands east of the river.

The trans wars

The terms transgender and trans (in this context) are technically interchangeable but so fraught are the politics of identity that some may have objections to either and the general rule is to conform to whichever preference is expressed.  The developments have been so rapid in the early twenty-first century that trans has attracted the interest of the linguistics community and its been noted there are transgender people who prefer writing trans compounds as two words (ie trans man, trans woman, trans person), and when used as an open compound with a space, trans functions as an adjective modifying a noun.  Although to many it may seem a fine distinction, spelling these words as closed or hyphenated compounds (transmale, trans-woman etc) loses the distinction between trans as a descriptive adjective and man, woman, or person as a human being and on that basis cis male and cis female would be preferred although there’s no evidence of concern from the CIS community except those who assert the concept is unnecessary and add nothing to male & female.

There is also trans+, dating from 2003, which doesn’t as such add a new category to gender fluidity but instead acts (mostly adjectively) as an expression of inclusiveness, an all-encompassing blanket term covering all specific gender identities which are not cisgender and (more controversially), is used by some even to include "allies" (in the sense of the "A" in LGBTQQIAAOP) from the among the CIS.  The emergence of the concept of trans+ may have been political, a desire to avoid the internal divisions which have been documented between the LGBTQQIAAOP factions although the extent to which another constructed (and by some perhaps imposed) label can be effective in limiting the fissiparousness which may to some extent have been at least encouraged by the dictatorial implications of the label LGBTQQIAAOP is debatable.

What trans+ does is add to the (narrowly defined ) trans community (the range of gender identities including transgender, genderqueer, gender-fluid etc) the genderless, the agender, the subgender, the postgender, the bigender, the varigender and (presumably) whatever other flavors may emerge from the seemingly expanding spectrum(s) among the non-cisgender.  Another intriguing innovation, noted first in 2017 was the appending of the asterisk, presumably as a wildcard as used (since circa 1969) when handling the searching of computer file systems but linguistically, trans*, trans+* & trans*+ don’t appear in any way to change the meaning of trans+ and should probably be thought of as a strengthening of the denotation of inclusiveness.  That said, within any community (however defined), there will always be those who long for (an exclusionary) exclusivity for their faction so it’s not impossible that trans+ may yet fracture.  Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated every 31 March, the day set aside to advocate for and celebrate the accomplishments of transgender persons, one right wing US politician who made no secret of their transphobia opining that if it has to exist, it should be moved to 29 February.

TERF but not teal: The photogenic Katherine Deves for whom green is green and  blue is blue and never the twain shall meet.

Unexpectedly, transphobia emerged as an issue in the 2022 Australian general election.  Ms Katherine Deves (b 1978; lawyer and candidate (Liberal) for the division of Warringah (NSW)), the personal selection (“captain’s pick” in the sporting parlance borrowed by politics) as candidate by Prime Minister Scott Morrison (b 1968; prime-minister since 2018) excited controversy firstly by expressing a view that trans-women should not be allowed to compete in sporting competition against cis-women because of the advantages in strength she said their origins as cis-men inherently conferred, regardless of any subsequent treatment.  That was enough to excite a reaction on twitter but things really erupted when historic social media posts were leaked, including “half of all males with trans identities are sex offenders”, referring to (gay) surrogacy as “prostitution”, suggesting a link between “transvestism and serial killers”, claiming trans teenagers were “surgically mutilated” and describing a gay magazine as “… just a mouthpiece for misogynists and the Rainbow Reich.”  Given comparing anything to the Nazis is best left to consenting historians behind closed doors, that might have been expected to trigger another twitterstorm but reaction was untypically subdued, the issue of transphobia seemingly drowning out everything else.  The US president had also caught her eye.  Disturbed by his pro-trans position, she posted that she didn't "...believe Biden is capable of thinking much at all, he’s clearly showing signs of dementia’’ although she refused to accept his views were sincere and he was forced by political necessity to pander to the “very powerful and incredibly dangerous” transgender activists within the Democratic Party.

Demonstration in the Warringah electorate by the Community Action for Rainbow Rights to protest the Liberal Party’s endorsement of Ms Deves as their candidate.

Ms Deves, a self-described TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) issued a statement in which she acknowledged that “…trying to prosecute arguments about complex, nuanced and difficult subjects ... should not take place on a platform that propagates offence and division and hurt.” “Going forward…” she added, “I will be conducting myself in a dignified and respectful fashion”, noting that twitter “…was not the appropriate platform to do so.”  “I have removed myself from that platform, and I will not be going back there again.”  “With this issue, we have a collision of rights and thus far the voices of women and girls have not been heard. And when we have a collision of rights in liberal democracies, we debate them in a reasonable, measured fashion – that's what should have taken place here.”

It wasn’t a difficult statement to deconstruct, Ms Deves, who previously had also condemned surrogacy as a “human rights violation” not retreating from or recanting her expressed opinions, just saying they’d no longer appear on twitter.  Mr Morrison, not previously noted for any contribution to feminist thought, seemed grateful finally to have stumbled on such a champion of women’s rights and declared “She is a woman standing up for women and girls and their access to fair sport in this country”, adding “I am not going to allow her to be silenced.”

Nor it seems, shortly, will twitter.  Ms Deves may be joyful about libertarian Elon Musk's (b 1971) plans to overthrow the censorious ancien régime at twitter and may yet return to the platform but it may be a moot point whether her advocacy in the matter of women’s sport is anyway an example of transphobia.  That discussion is solely about participation in sporting competitions restricted to “women”, there being no debate about the right of trans-persons to enter events restricted to “men”.  The issue therefore is not one of a generalized transphobia but rather "transwomanphobia" although that does seem no less objectionable.  However, regardless of the syntax, it’s not something which is going to go away soon because the medical and legal devices adopted by sporting codes and the anti-doping agencies have not satisfied everybody and it may be no such solution exists.  The dispute remains afoot.

The Warringah electorate has existed in essentially its present form since a 1922 redistribution (re-districting) and has been associated with some notable characters in political history.  The member (as an independent and for the Liberal Party and its predecessors) between 1937-1951 was Sir Percy Spender (1897–1985; foreign minister 1949-1951; Ambassador to the United States 1951–1958; member of the International Court of Justice 1958–1967 (president 1964-1967)).  Sir Percy was the grandfather of Allegra Spender (b 1978), a Sydney business identity & heiress who is standing as one of the so-called “teal independents” (teal presumably the idea of mixing a “blue-blood” establishment background with a “green” environmental consciousness) targeting those Liberal-held seats thought vulnerable because the voters’ profile tends to a more progressive agenda.  Throughout his career at the bar, in politics and on the bench, Sir Percy was noted, though not always praised, for his independence of mind and one suspects he might have approved of his grand-daughter’s designs on his old seat.

Sunday at Clontarf Beach (1979), oil on canvas, by Salvatore Zofrea (b 1946).

Edward (Ted) St John (1916-1994; a practicing QC) (confusingly pronounced sin-gin in one of the historic quirks of Anglo-French) held the seat for three turbulent years between 1966-1969, during which he managed to upset two prime-ministers and not a few others repelled by his moralizing although, despite his prudish and puritanical reputation, he was a doughty defender of free speech and appeared for the defense in the Oz and Thurunka obscenity cases (which saw him, bizarrely, labeled as "a pornographer") and would later in his legal chambers hang Salvatore Zofrea’s Sunday at Clontarf Beach, something a little more explicit than what usually adored the walls of the Sydney bar.  His memoir (A Time to Speak (1969)) was uncompromising but well-written.

Less impressive was the tenure of Michael MacKellar (1938–2015) who kept the plum seat in his grasp between 1969-1994.  Due more to the effluxion of time than any obvious talent, he served as an undistinguished member of the Fraser government (1975-1983) but is now remembered only for an attempt to evade duty on imported goods, an event blamed, as is traditional, on a mistake by a member of staff apparently employed by the taxpayer also to attend to the minister’s personal paperwork.  In an example of how cover-ups tend to be worse than the original indiscretions, a fellow Minister, John Moore (b 1936; MP 1975-2001, minister in the Fraser and Howard governments), attempted a cover-up, the consequence being they both were compelled to resign their offices.  Whatever might be the criticisms of Malcolm Fraser (1930–2015; prime-minister 1975-1983), he did maintain high standards of ministerial propriety which have for some time, essentially ceased to exist and the decline in the enforcement of those standards does mean subsequently there have been plenty of second and third acts in Australian politics.  Although he never again held office, Mr Mackellar did return to serve on the opposition bench and thrice unsuccessfully sought the deputy leadership of the Liberal Party.

Mr Moore’s story was even more amusing.  In opposition between 1983-1996, he served in the shadow cabinet while also making a few unsuccessful attempts to become deputy leader but his most notable contribution was as one of a triumvirate of malcontents who (quite competently it must be admitted) in 1989 arranged the knifing in the back of John Howard’s (b 1939; prime-minister 1996-2007) leadership and the re-installation of (the previously and subsequently) unsuccessful Andrew Peacock (1939–2021; leader of the opposition 1983–1985 & 1989–1990).  Mr Howard proved remarkably forgiving (or just desperate to afforce his team with some experience, none except him, Moore and one other ever having served in a cabinet), appointing Mr Moore to cabinet in 1996 and even (in a sign of the declining standards which have since further been eroded) not sacking him when he was found to have breached the ministerial code of conduct.  His usefulness to Mr Howard over by 2001, he was dropped from cabinet and Mr Moore resigned his seat at a point when the party’s fortunes were at a low ebb, the subsequent by-election delivering to the Labor Party what had hitherto been a safe Liberal seat.  In 2015, in what came to be known as the “snouts in the trough” case, Mr Moore and three other former MPs took to the High Court the claim that some (slight) limits placed on some taxpayer-funded allowances (to which they claimed they were for life entitled) were unconstitutional.  They lost.

MacKellar’s successor was Tony Abbott (b 1957; prime-minister 2013-2015) who held Warringah between 1994-2019, always for the Liberal Party although his views seemed more often to reflect those of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP or "Vatican down-under" as it's better understood) which many assumed was his true spiritual home.  Mr Abbott, in what may prove either an aberration or emblematic of something of a shift in political alignments, in 2019 lost the seat to Zali Steggall (b 1974; lawyer and former Winter Olympian) who stood as an independent on a platform which focused on the matter of climate change (the scientific validity of which Mr Abbott once famously dismissed as "crap").  Ms Steggal will in the 2022 poll be re-contesting Warringah, joining Ms Spender as one of the “teal independents”.

The Trans-Am

Trans-Am racing 1969: Porsche 911Rs and Alfa-Romeo GTA.

The Trans-Am Series is a motorsport competition in North America (thus the name trans- (across) + America(s)).  Sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).  It was first held in 1966, its classic years between 1966-1970, an era in which many of the US manufacturers provided factory backing to the participating teams and there was a symbiotic relationship with the SCCA which came to adjust the rules to suit the available machinery, a reversal of the original model in which the regulations were laid down and the cars were required to conform.

Trans-Am racing 1969: Chevrolet Camaro Z/28s and Ford Boss Mustangs.

Popular from the start, the rules were designed to attract the interest of the baby boomers who were buying versions of the cars raced, and it was originally a series for FIA Group 2 Touring Cars, (slightly) modified standard production vehicles within certain size constraints and built in a certain volume in two capacity classes (122 cubic inches (2.0 litre) and 305 cubic inches (5.0 litre)), both running together on the track.  As intended, it attracted the entries of the US "pony cars" (Plymouth Barracuda, Ford Mustang and their imitators) and the high-performance versions of the European machinery sold in the US.  Bizarrely as it now sounds, the latter class included the then two-litre Porsche 911 because the Germans had prevailed on the SCCA to classify it as a "sedan" but it was then a different sort of vehicle and, cognizant of its evolution, it was later re-classified as a "sports car".  The two litre class was interesting and fiercely contested but it was the noise and fury of the V8 powered pony cars which attracted sponsorship and crowds.

Trans-Am racing 1970: Ford Boss Mustang and Plymouth T/A Cuda.

The series is remembered for the competition between pony cars such as the Ford Mustang, Mercury Cougar, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda & AMC Javelin but it didn't long last as something for the typical cars bought from showrooms in the tens of thousands.  The victory of the Mustang in the first two years of the championship had done much for Ford's image and in response, with a pot of money in one hand and a copy of the SCCA rule-book in the other, Chevrolet built a special version of their new pony car, the Camaro Z/28 which featured a unique 302 cubic inch version of the small-block V8 which, highly strung and noisy, obviously wasn’t intended for anywhere but a race track.  To this, Ford responded.  They had enlarged their mainstream small-block V8 to 302 cubic inches but it wasn't race-ready like the Z/28 so what was concocted was one of the wilder power-plants of the era, the tunnel-port 302 although, despite the company's assurances, it was never produced in sufficient numbers to conform with the SCCA's rules but of greater concern was the way it was prone to blowing up.  What Ford had done was to take a technique which had proved successful on the bigger FE engine, which in 427 cubic inch (7.0 litre) form had been reliable enough twice to win the Le Mans twenty-four classic, solving a problem inherent to pushrod engines; the limitations imposed on intake port size by the need to provide a passage for the pushrod tube.  A tunnel-port was, as the name implied, a tunnel for the pushrod which passed directly through the port which could now be made as large as possible.  Surprisingly, the tubular tunnels proved to have no adverse effect on gas flow, the tunnel-port 302s producing prodigious power and, satisfied what they'd seen on the dynamometer was indicative of a race-winning engine, Ford went racing.  Unfortunately, those big ports which guaranteed the stunning top-end power actually inhibited low and mid-range torque and that was what was required on the twisty road courses and street circuits where the Trans-Am cars ran and the high-revving tunnel ports, away from the static environment of the dynamometer test rig, generated much stress and components began frequently to break.  Chevrolet won the next two Trans-Am titles.  Ford came up with a better idea the next year, the Boss 302 sacrificing some of the tunnel-port's intoxicating high range response but delivering its power over a range actually usable by race drivers and Ford duly won the 1970 championship.

Trans-Am racing 1968: Pontiac Firebird.

The writing however was on the wall for the practice of putting race-engines in road cars.  The world was changing and the manufacturers were being forced to divert resources away from motorsport to more prosaic pursuits like safety and emission control, racing budgets shrinking or evaporating.  In response, the SCCA changed the rules so that it was no longer necessary for manufacturers to produce and sell a specified number of the sometimes cantankerous race-bred mills, instead allowing them to modify just what was used in the race-cars, even increasing or reducing capacity as required.  Thus the exotic 302s (and Pontiac's stillborn 303) were retired and Chrysler was encouraged to enter the fray, the race teams de-stroking their LA 340 cubic inch (5.5 litre) V8 to meet the limit.  The pragmatic approach sustained interest for another couple of years but by 1973 the manufacturers had withdrawn support to concentrate on things more essential and the first oil shock that year guaranteed the corporate gaze would remain averted from the circuits.  The Trans-Am series however, under a variety of names, continued and is still run although it's never again captured the imagination the way it did in that first half-decade.

The Pontiac Trans Am

1969 Pontiac Trans Am.

Over four generations, the Pontiac Firebird was produced between 1967-2002 but is best remembered for the Trans Am versions, introduced in 1969.  The original intention had been that like Chevrolet’s Camaro Z/28, the Firebird Trans Am would be a genuine race-ready package, the centrepiece of which would be a short-stroke, 303 cubic inch V8.  Unfortunately, development of the 303 was delayed and by the time a reputed twenty-five odd had been installed in pre-production vehicles, the SCCA had changed the rules and the special race engines were no longer required but, having invested so much already in the other parts, Pontiac decided anyway to proceed which meant (1) the true Trans Am never actually took part in the series after which it was named and (2) the production version was really just a Firebird which looked like a racing car.  Fortunately, it transpired that was exactly what the market really wanted and for decades the Trans Am was usually Pontiac’s most profitable range, the bottom like dented only slightly by the US$5.00 per unit paid to the SCCA as a licensing fee for the use of the name (although Pontiac deleted the hyphen).

1973 Pontiac Trans Am SD-455.

Perhaps the most famous of the Trans Ams were those produced in 1973-1974 and fitted with the SD-455 engine (455 cubic inches (7.5 litre)), an unexpected throwback to high-performance in an era when outputs were in decline and it was thought both the industry and buyers had lost interest in such things.  Resurrecting the SD (Super-Duty) moniker which Pontiac had used as a high-performance designator in the early 1960s, the SD-455 is infamous for the trick with which Pontiac tried to fool the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) inspectors, a primitive version of dieselgate which in the twenty-first century would cost Volkswagen and others (all also guilty as sin) billions.  Pontiac’s engineers had studied the parameters of the EPA’s tailpipe-emission test cycle and, noting it ran for fifty seconds, devised an ingenious system which after 53 seconds deactivated the critical anti-emission plumbing.  Under this regime, the SD-455 was able to produce the 310 horsepower which was by then the top rating in the industry while still receiving the vital EPA certification required legally to sell the thing.  Unfortunately, the EPA’s engineers turned out to be just as clever and detected the ruse, a more impressive performance than that of the later eurocrats who “caught” Volkswagen only because Mercedes-Benz snitched on them in exchange for immunity from prosecution.  Those were more forgiving times and instead of being pursued through the courts, Pontiac was required only to follow the rules and although the SD-455 had to be detuned a little, the resulting 290 horsepower was still more than anyone else could manage in those years.

High Performance Cars Magazine, April 1973.

SD-455 production numbers were low, 295 in 1973 (252 in Trans Ams & 43 in Firebird Formulas) and 1001 in 1974 (943 Trans Ams & 58 Formulas) and after the troubles with the EPA, plans to offer the engine in other models were abandoned although not until after some pre-production (310 horsepower) Trans Ams and one GTO (a larger, four-seat coupé) had been given to the press for testing and publicity.  The SD-455 Trans Am’s reputation is thus probably a little inflated because many of the performance numbers quoted come from the early tests of the machines with the anti-EPA cheat gear attached but more embarrassing was that Hi-Performance Cars magazine, impressed with the SD-455 GTO they'd tested, announced it as the winner of their 1973 Car of The Year Award, the magazine hitting the news-stands just the decision was taken not to produce the thing.