Competition time

摘要

As a student I once had a summer job at a decidedly ropey market research organisation in suburban London. In an ill-lit industrial unit with a bunch of other chancers, I'd sift through reams of bank customer service questionnaires, noting down the answers for profiling by a team of 'crack' researchers. The one thing I took from the whole sorry experience was the firm's inquisition-like mantra, emblazoned on a giant wall banner: 'Torture the data for long enough and it will eventually confess.' There seems to be a lot of that going on at the moment; the RIBA's competition for the refit of 76 Portland Place which saw some members claiming that after studying the PQQ they believed the entry criteria and qualification maths precluded smaller practices. Shame about the changed terms- it might have been a blessing in disguise.