Rishi Sunak trying to win back public support reminds me of the economist stranded on a desert island with a chemist and physicist. A tin of beans washes ashore and an argument breaks out over how to access the contents. The physicist suggests using spectacles to focus the sun’s rays into a penetrating beam. The chemist suggests using sea salt to corrode the seal. “It’s OK, I’ve got this,” says the economist. “First, we assume a tin opener …”
It’s a joke with many variations but always about the kind of person who has a clever theoretical model to explain how the world would work if only everyone behaved according to the model, which they don’t.
