Is Merv in charge of the NHS, too?

Doctors appointment this morning. A Text arrived at 4pm yesterday confirming it. Wow! The NHS is arriving in the twenty first century, thought I.

I was wrong, of course.

This morning the receptionist told me they'd been trying to contact me all yesterday to say the appointment was cancelled.

Err, No, says I. You confirmed the appointment by SMS late yesterday afternoon.

They squeezed me in, I'm glad to say, but the learning point was missed: confidence in their systems had taken another little knock.

In a complex society, if people don't have confidence in the mechanisms that keep it going - monetary systems, justice systems, health systems, taxation systems, defence systems etc. - then they won't abide by those mechanisms, and those who do will quickly become disadvantaged.

It's like with money, Merv. If you just print it whenever it suits you then people will lose confidence in it. It will become increasingly worthless.

Confidence. It matters. It really matters.