Ministers will generally accept proposals which contain the words:
simple,
quick,
popular, and
cheap.
Ministers will generally thow out proposals which contain the words
complicated, lengthy, expensive, and
controversial.
Above all, if you wish to describe a proposal in a way that guarantees
that a minister will reject it, describe it as courageous.
('Controversial' only means 'this will lose you votes.' 'Courageous'
means 'this will lose you the election.')
-- Jonathan Lynn
and Antony Jay. The Complete 'Yes Minister' -- Diaries of
a Cabinet Minister, by the Right Hon. James Hacker MP.
First published by the British Broadcasting Corporation, c. 1981,
1982, 1983, 1984. First published in the United States, Topsfield MA:
Salem House Publishers, 1987. "The Right to Know." p.141-142.