Flexing my independence muscles

They sat huddled around a small fire, wearing animal skins, faces daubed with azurite and cadmium pigment. The ancient cave walls dripped and rippled in the fire light. On the agenda was an issue that had been causing the tribe some discomfiture of late. The discussion was led by the chieftain who wore a bone and tooth necklace to signify his status. 'Right chaps the first thing is a resource issue' there were moans of bearded disapproval. 'We only have a finite amount of resources and we can't be in two places at once; we can either fish or hunt but we can't do both, I think there needs to be a sideways shift of resources, a bespoke solution.' Their eyes looked blank. 'What we need is blue sky thinking, any suggestions?' There was an uncomfortable stone-age silence followed by the sound of an empty gurgling stomach. 'Look, put it this way lads, fishing rods cost a lot and take a lot of time to make, in the time it takes to make one of those damn things we could have made up to fifty clubs!''What about the safety aspect' someone bravely asked, 'I hold my hands up and admit that clubbing things does take a lot more effort and is generally a lot riskier!', there were a few nods 'What we need is a sustainable cradle to grave approach.' Sadly, and not surprisingly (given that the discussion involved a man who used the term 'going forward' without even a hint of embarrassment), no conclusions were drawn. There were of course the 'fishists' and the 'meatists' all wanting a share, whilst at the same time neglecting their communal cooking pot which sat empty and unloved in the corner. Instead of feasting, the tribe went to bed, cold, hungry and frustrated. One million years later an NHS steering group sat huddled around a projector, their leader holding an official health service clipboard to signify her status. She introduces the topic of resource allocation and there are muffled groans of derision. Kev