I have always been drawn to a good analogy. Recently, a very simple analogy was related to me which can be adapted to just about every walk of life. The analogy tells of a man standing on the banks of a river fishing dead bodies out as they float downstream. Another man comes along and instead walks upstream to try and find where they are coming from. Like all truly great analogies it is beautiful in its simplicity and easy to follow. I applied it in several contexts as I am sure you will already have done. In their wisdom (and if I was inclined to a mere slither of cynicism), the Welsh Government have once again sought to emulate their Scottish cousins by proposing a minimum pricing on alcohol. They claim that a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol might save the Welsh economy £1 billion annually. That is quite a claim. This is apparently based on research assessing crime, illness and workplace absence over the last 20 years. So why not just introduce this measure (no pun intend
Already, people on both sides of the pond are citing 2016 as a ground-breaking year. Thus far, we can still console ourselves of a few certainties regardless of how the outcomes compared with our own views. For one thing, election polls are just that - a straw poll of opinion. The reason why the EU Referendum poll and the recent American election both seemingly defied the expert pollsters is actually quite simple. The relationship between a member of the public and the ballot box is, rightly, a deeply personal and private affair. They are not (and nor should they be) obliged to divulge their true intention to anyone. It is entirely a matter for themselves and rightly so. Much has been made of the support for Donald Trump coming from the less educated members of American society. Perhaps so but their votes are worth just as much as anyone else's. In the end, a vote is one person's say and we are all entitled to our say. I have seldom witnessed such an avalanche of self-righteo