Salmon farms broke the rules: Whose side is the minister on?

A person need not be a wet-behind-the-ears idealist to be disheartened by how the relationship between government and citizen is ever more strained. Less than inspiring responses to any number of issues feeds disappointment, which leads to disengagement and a dangerous vacuum.

It is unrealistic to expect government to provide, almost on demand, one solution after another to one crisis after another, yet the sticking-plaster responses to so many of our difficulties — health, housing, climate change, data piracy, and regulating the banks — seems more like moving history’s famous deckchairs than the change needed. A tweak here, a nudge there, but all within the confines of convention.