Every so often a plan arrives that everyone agrees is bold, urgent and obviously right.
Crossbencher · 03 August 2026
Every so often a plan arrives that everyone agrees is bold, urgent and obviously right. The room fills with confident voices. Nobody is quite sure who checked it. That's the moment worth being frightened of, and there's a very old story about why.
In 415 BC the Athenians voted to send their finest fleet across the sea to attack Sicily. They were rich, they were at peace, and they had just signed a treaty. One young man wanted the war and argued for it brilliantly. An older general said it was a mistake. The assembly listened to both and chose the adventure - and then put the man who had argued against it in charge of carrying it out.
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