Doodle Dandy?

There’s been much palaver about the analysis of Tony Blair’s doodles in the papers and BBC today. Except, of course, they weren’t his. So red faces all round for the graphologists. According to the BBC’s article, employers are starting to use this faux science to filter out potential recruits. It is a perception that neat handwriting is a sign of a neat and tidy mind – someone who understands the rules, their place and knows how to stick to both. Or something like that. (Although as I understand it, this is not necessarily how a graphologist would analyse it).

Neither applies to me – I am rebellious, strong willed, ambitious and prepared to stick to my guns when I know I’m right. My mind is anything but tidy, having a tendency to take lateral leaps when problem solving. I also have appalling handwriting. There is simple explanation for this. My hand has difficulty keeping up with my brain – so as my thoughts race away, the pen is gainfully struggling to keep up with the end product looking as if a spider crawled across the page following a riotous night on the town. It says absolutely nothing about my personality. Indeed, if I was asked at an interview to submit to one of these tests, I would walk out. A company that is prepared to judge its prospective employees on the basis of “science” that is about as scientific as astrology is not a company I would want to work for.

While graphology may be a bit of fun as a leisure pursuit, on the whole, I treat it with the same degree of scepticism as the Telegraph.