“Have you ever, in
listening to a debate among adult and presumably responsible people, been
fretted by the extraordinary inability of the average debater to speak to the
question, or to meet and refute the arguments of speakers on the other side? Or
have you ever pondered upon the extremely high incidence of irrelevant matter
which crops up at committee meetings, and upon the very great rarity of persons
capable of acting as chairmen of committees? And when you think of this, and
think that most of our public affairs are settled by debates and committees,
have you ever felt a certain sinking of the heart?”
-
Dorothy Sayers, "The Lost Tools of
Learning" [1948]