The urge to mergeSometimes when things go wrong one is within one’s rights to claim the bad outcome was simply a matter of bad luck; when the reasoning process leading up to a decision is intrinsically sound one can hardly be blamed if heavenly whim goes against you. I have used this defence on many occasions myself, perhaps most commonly after persuading friends or relatives to back one of my dead cert racing tips. On the other hand, there are decisions that just don’t look good from the outset and about which it might be suggested that a...