… "The listeners are getting antsy. Yeah, ok, more antsy, thank you so much. They don’t believe Phoebe actually got a degree. Yes, I know we made Roy mention it, but that seems to have been ‘too little, too late’. Some of them maintain she sounds phoeble-minded and not splendid half-working-class, assumption-busting Oxbridge product at all. Which was our brief - upstairs are rather keen on that message coming across. So let’s have a bit of a brainstem-storming session in groups, eh, and reconvene after coffee and some of those rather lovely little almond pastry thingies.’
‘Oh, bravo. Yes, one of the Ps in PPE is philosophy, and you reckon a well-known philosophical tag chucked in to their discussions will cement her intellectual leadership over Rex and Pip? Always remember, though, Pip is the dynamism and charisma behind the project; it would all be impossible without her because she is The Future. Yes, do write that down, if you don’t mind. Read and inwardly digest. No, I have no idea about outward digestion. Oh, fungi do it, do they? Fascinating. But hardly relevant, I feel. Now, revenons à nos moutons - yes, we have parked Hassett Hills pro tem, thank you -
Now, about this Occam’s Razor - the Thick Middle will have heard of it, you say? Oh, that’s splendid. Will they understand it? Perhaps you’d just like to run that by us. Oh, perfect. ‘Simple is Good’, yes? Don’t overcomplicate things? Yes, I think the target audience can cope with that one.
So the simplest thing is for the rewilders to ask Borsetshire Land to let them have a big parcel of adjoining acres, and Phoebe can wheedle Grandad into pulling strings, all because of Occam’s Razor? Perfect. The audience will really feel that value-add from Oxford in their gut. An excellent morning’s work. I suggest we adjourn for lunch.’
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of needless multiplication of entities, Occam’s Razor should have been taken to Adam’s bits about a year ago, possibly longer: can’t remember when he provided the sample, but Zander (the pikey baby?) is definitely an entity too many.