Nigel, can I put in my two cents for option 11.?
You might like the following:-
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to
generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. In government however, a whole range of far more advanced strategies is often employed, such as: 1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Threatening the horse with termination.
4. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
5. Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses.
6. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
7. Re-classifying the dead horse as "living-impaired".
8. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
9. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed.
10.Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance.
11. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse's performance.
12. Declaring that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
13. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
14. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
Allan
_________________________
The problem is not the problem...The problem is your attitude to the problem.