Okay so sometimes in life I can be a score-keeper - someone who keeps track of what he gives and what he gets in return. An annoying quality to say the least and I'm sure my wife has your sympathy but it's made me highly attuned to when and where credit is due.

It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears it seems are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.