Cartoon eyes, a BBC sandwich-stealing scandal and Trump on the couch

This week's All in the Mind marked the programme's 30th anniversary. The dulcet tones of the late Anthony Clare were heard again before its current presenter Claudia Hammond told us how she got involved in the programme. And it can be a very interesting programme, where you learn things like this: 

That if you draw some eyes on something and give people a sense that they are being watched they're less likely to behave badly and more likely to behave well. I think I already knew that, but I certainly didn't know that some hospitals put a couple of cartoon eyes on hand sanitisers as people are more likely to use them than if they haven't got any eyes on. And then Claudia noted that packed lunches were being stolen from fridges at the BBC, so she drew eyes on the paper bags she kept her sandwiches in and no one ever stole them again. (Note for any passing Daily Mail journalists, there may be a story about a sandwich-stealing scandal at the BBC. And you're welcome to it if you want to 'scoop' it!). 

And then it was onto a feature about whether politeness or incivility works best for politicians, and I bet you'll guess who was the almost exclusive focus of this segment? Yep. Except for one mention of ' basket of deplorables' (unattributed), it was the Donald in the dock, or on the psychiatrist's couch, all the way.

The psychologist behind the research, Dr Jeremy Frimer, said he'd actually cried on hearing that Donald Trump had been elected because of his incivility as he feared the Donald's election marked the end of a culture. He's found, however, that politeness pays. Nearly everyone - except a tiny fringe - dislikes President Trump's insulting tweets and name-calling and his popularity with his voters exists despite not because of his incivility, and he'd gain another 2% in the polls if he cut it out. Or so says Dr Frimer.

Happy anniversary, All in the Mind! (he says, politely).