A penny a mile

A comment heard decades ago, one I’ve always remembered –

“They only need to put a penny a mile on Terylene fibre.”

I heard the comment at an informal meeting in the early years of what I like to think of as my career. The speaker was a manager several layers above my lowly position, loudly chatting about increased charges being levied on ICI for wastewater discharges into the sewer system.

Even in those days I knew it was one of those throwaway comments. In future I was to hear many more. It was one of those airy overview perspectives with little to support it. They somehow manage to float above the tedious grind of acquiring worthwhile information and stitching it together.

Yet there are rarer people with the ability to pick out a sound overview on complex issues and do it successfully. They seem to grasp the essential information while brushing aside the inessential. Like a chess grandmaster, they see where the strengths and weaknesses are from a quick overview of any position.

Following this line of thought, sceptics seem to have no trouble spotting dubious overviews of the “penny a mile” type. Sceptics may not have that rarer ability to grasp the essentials, but they easily spot the charlatans who can’t do it either.