THE AYES HAVE IT

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This is my contribution to this month's new virtual symposium on 'Eyes' - see NVS10 November 2025.

I had several ideas about this month's virtual symposium contribution, but I struggled what idea to settle on. First, hence the title, was a take on eyes with a reference to how the British House of Commons votes. Ayes are 'yes' votes, and nays are 'no votes'. When the ayes have it, the motion has been passed. It's all a bit arcane.

My next ideas were three songs with eyes in their title or lyrics. There's Kim Carnes hit song, Bette Davis Eyes; The Adverts classic punk song, Gary Gilmore's Eyes, written after the convicted two-time murderer wanted to be executed and, I believe, chose not to wear a blindfold before being executed by firing squad in the American state of Utah; and New Order's Temptation song which contains the inane lyrics, "Oh, you've got green eyes, Oh, you've got blue eyes, Oh, you've got grey eyes."

I even thought of blogging about my blue eyes, which over time have earned me lots of compliments. But I decided that was too narcissistic, though I'm enough of a narcissist to mention my thought and to post two images of 'me' with blue eyes!

In slight desperation I thought I'd write about eyes being the least reliable of all our senses. Regarding sight, our brain does most of the work. Eyes are lazy! Linked to this idea, I thought I'd blog about how humans trust in what they see so much that it determines what they believe - I had a good quotation from Dennis Palumbo on policy evaluation lined up but I decided it would bore people. Though I may be a so-called policy wonk, many others aren't.

My last thought was to run with "The eyes are the window to your soul" quote that's widely attributed to William Shakespeare. It seems he never wrote those words. The closest Shakespeare came to writing these words was in his play, Richard III, written at the end of the sixteenth century when he wrote: "To thee I do commend my watchful soul, Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes." It's a great quote though. And just to satisfy those who think this is just a sex site, I love looking at a woman's eyes when fucking!

Because I was stuck with what to blog about, I thought I'd reflect on what I thought I'd blog about. In academic circles, this is called reflexive methodology. Now I'm being a wonker again!

For those who want to join the New Virtual Symposium group, please click The New Virtual Symposium. And for those who want to suggest a topic for a future virtual symposium, please post your suggestion or suggestions on The New Virtual Symposium's Got a Suggestion? group post.

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