Enjoy the flutter - Living in hope

THE Lotto has had a series of exceptionally large jackpots over the last while and people who might normally resist the plunge, modest as it usually is, have been tempted by the prospect of palmy beaches and the time and money to enjoy them.

Today we report that one in five people believe that they have a chance of winning the Lotto.

This great optimism has a lot more to do with the wishful thinking at the root of all lotteries than it has to do with rational thought.

But then, if we were to apply rational thought to all of our pleasures it would be a dull and dreary world; who would follow a golf ball or cast a fly for a fish?

One of humanity’s redeeming features is our ability to retreat into a world of make-believe to amuse ourselves and restore our energies.

The Lotto will certainly not make one in five of us rich but surely the fun is in imagining that it might?