Tonight’s quiz could have gone worse, but it could have gone better too, and having a depressing self-critical streak I know where I went wrong.

I think the questions were better suited to an event where they could be given time.  A lot were ones you probably wouldn’t know, but could have a good guess at if you had the time to think about it – and time was the thing most at a premium tonight with a room booked only for a limited period, a guest of honour who had to catch a train back to London, and the Labour party’s natural inclination towards long speeches.

Maybe I would have been better sticking to basic pub quiz questions like “who won the FA Cup in 1985?”, “Who had a hit with “Three Times a Lady?” and “Who is the patron saint of France?” but that wouldn’t have been too interesting.  Or would it?

Given that the winners had a score of just under 50% it was obviously pitched wrong and too difficult.   My own slightly logical, dry and mathematical opinion is that it is the relative score that matters, but I guess there is satisfaction in getting answers right and many people would feel happier coming last with 80% than winning with 50%.

MInd you, we don’t want to be accused of dumbing down the exam questions do we?

To be fair, I did throw in a few questions with 50-50 answers, giving everyone an even chance of getting a point and a couple that everyone should get – but the need to rush probably made people trip over some of them.

Anyway…  Hazel Blears was a delight.  I know that a lot of the more active members, being of a left-wing slant, might have preferred McDonnell, Cruddas, or Diane Abbot or Ed Balls but none of the other MPs who were invited were able to come, many not even replying.  Hazel did reply, did come, and said some good things.

And of course, we have to remember that the majority of members may not feel the same way as the far fewer active members – and there were a few members not seen for ages who turned up for a big name who might not have turned up for John McDonnell.  I think Hazel Blears made some friends tonight and set a good example coming out to visit Tory strongholds and not just go out to key marginals and safe seats.

Most importantly, the evening raised (I hope) a lot of money for the party.  OK, we still have a fraction of the resources available to other local parties but at least we can compete a bit now and get printing lots of newsletters and stuff.

Maybe I should publish a few of the questions here and see what my limited readership thinks of them?  See if I am being too hard on myself, or not hard enough.