The ability to believe something in the face of overwhelming facts to the contrary

The ability to believe something in the face of overwhelming facts to the contrary is the key to explaining many of the decisions taken on our behalf. Governments and quangos just know that something is right and then take evidence, consider it but give the verdict that they were always going to give.

Here's a prime example, earlier this year the Competition Commission ruled that supermarkets posed no threat to independent retailers. This seems somewhat at odds with common sense economics and also the facts. Common sense tells you that for a new supermarket store to have any customers come through its doors they must have been shopping somewhere else before . Common sense also tells you that they cannot all have been shopping at other supermarkets. The facts show that 2,700 butchers and fishmongers have closed since 2001 and that 3,000 greengrocers have closed since 1997.

Ah but supermarkets are cheaper and more convenient say the supermarket lobby. Not true, recent research by the Daily Telegraph showed that a basket of six fruit and five vegetables from Tesco and Sainsburys cost £37.20 compared with £21.01 from four independent greengrocers. As for convenient, I walk to my local greengrocer and fishmonger but would need to drive to a supermarket and this is still the case for many people; it would be the case for many more had not so many independent shops not already have been forced to close.