I think Luke Houghton has a point - that SH was not the entirely cold
analytical machine he is often cast to be but able to make intuitive leaps,
though in truth he may have refuted this. Nevertheless, there are
situations where you can start to come to conclusions and then another fact
turns up and you have to hare off in a new direction, and then perhaps a
further fact comes up and again wrecks the scenario you had begun to
develop. A few years ago I attended a seminar at the Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard, led by the UK's eminent politician Shirley Williams. I
was in the room as an invited observer but the other 15 people were very
high-ranking politicians or political advisers from around the world -
Russia, Singapore, Uganda etc. The evening before the seminar we were all
given a scenario to read. In it, the President of the Philippines was about
to go on a much-needed two-week holiday, to escape the hourly heavy
pressures of the job. Just as he is about to go, the news arrives that a
Philippino maid has been murdered by her employer in Saudi Arabia. The
question is, should the President still go on his holiday?

Most of the class first said he should, because this was a matter for the
police in Saudi Arabia.

Then we were informed by Shirley Williams that the Philippines newspapers
had discovered that more than 60 Philippino maids working worldwide had been
killed in the past year, mainly in the Arabian Peninsular and Gulf States,
and what was the President going to do about this.

The Philippine newspapers and the Opposition started to run with the story.
More facts kept pouring in on us in the lecture room. Philippino maids
returned several billion much-needed dollars annually to their home country.
However, not one of the murders had resulted in a conviction of the employer
anywhere in the Middle East. But breaking off diplomatic relations could
endanger the much-needed trade between the Gulf and the Philippines.

And so on.


_____

From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of sumalsn
Sent: 04 September 2007 08:15
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: [sherlock holmes society of india] Was t heSherlock Holmes Method
flawed?



Dear Holmesians,
I came across a blog which makes for interesting read. It may interest
members immensely. Here goes the link,
http://lukehoughton
<http://lukehoughton.com/2007/09/02/why-the-sherlock-holmes-approach-to->
.com/2007/09/02/why-the-sherlock-holmes-approach-to-
problem-solving-is-wrong/
I am keen to know whether members agree with him or not?
Sumalsn






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