Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

How oneupmanship wrecks things for everyone

You can’t just have people round for a pie and booze now; you have to mess about with ramekins. Thanks for nothing, Delia

"A peacock is a wankified pheasant" [Getty Images/iStockphoto] 
issue 16 August 2014

‘There’s a little bit of a fascist in all of us. For some, the tragedy of human want may provoke an impatient urge to expropriate and centralise economic resources. Others, alarmed at the world’s exploding population, may be attracted by calls for a programme of mass compulsory sterilisation.

But for me it’s letter boxes and street numbering.

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