Beware the law of unintended consequences in the trans debate |
Columnist Carlos Alba argues that while nurse Sandie Peggie’s tribunal victory over NHS Fife is to be welcomed, it is partial and pyrrhic
There’s a famous story of how British authorities in colonial Delhi offered a bounty on dead cobras to reduce the number of fatal snake bites. While initially successful, the policy backfired when locals began breeding cobras to claim the reward. After officials discovered the scam and cancelled the rewards, breeders released their now-worthless snakes into the city, leaving it with far more wild cobras than before.
Meanwhile in Mexico City, the municipal government sought to curb air pollution and traffic by restricting cars with specific number plates from driving on certain days. Rather than reducing vehicle use, the ban prompted some wealthier residents to buy second cars with different plates. Unfortunately, they were also older and more polluting, resulting in an increase in the total number of vehicles on city streets, worsening both traffic and emissions.
Both are examples of the law of unintended consequences – a phenomenon that has bedevilled policymakers since the dawn of civic society.
Every family has a voluble, self-appointed armchair legislator, for whom the world is an inherently straightforward place. For these quick fix merchants, the ills and spills of society could be easily eradicated with the application of a dose of common sense – if only politicians stopped complicating things.
Read more by Carlos Alba
The problem for such people, is that they rarely think beyond the binary, two-dimensional confines of the issue........