O what joy to participate in a thoroughly agreeable cabinet meeting when the alternative to an enthusiastic yes vote is ... a thunderously enthusiastic yes vote

Cabinet meetings are fun. Everyone votes yes to everything regardless of content or contradiction. Contradictory consensus characterise cabinets colleagues. Ministers are unconstrained by a guiding philosophy, a policy paradigm or identifiable principles. If votes are automatically yes, contradictions and anomalies become blissfully harmonious. When the energy minister proposes privatising future power plants, everyone votes yes. And when the communications minister proposes nationalising future telecommunication infrastructure, everyone votes yes. No one spoils the fun by asking, "Isn’t there a contradiction there? Don’t our last two votes contradict each other?" When the public enterprises minister proposes throwing billions of rands at such catastrophic state owned enterprises as South African Airways (SAA), they all vote yes. When the education minister proposes not throwing billions at rioting university students, they all vote yes. When the trade and industry minister proposes...

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