It is no great surprise that on the morning after the sentencing in Germany of Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky to a lengthy prison term for accepting a bribe in the sale process of the Formula One group – and the obvious questions that arise from that verdict – there is a story in the English newspapers, led by The Times, that there will be a Grand Prix on the streets of London.

Magicians achieve much of their magic by using distractive techniques to draw the audience’s attention away from whatever it is they are up to. Emphatic gestures, a drum roll and a crash of cymbals, or a flash-bang with smoke. The magician orchestrates his words and actions so that the spectators are looking at what he wants them to look at, rather than what he does not want them to see.

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