Dear Editor,

I refer to Dr Ian McDonald’s column ‘Planning for the good life’ (SN, 4.5.08). Dr McDonald in his opening paragraph writes that “having retired after 52 years in the sugar industry, including working closely with governments and regional institutions along the way, if there is one thing I have learned it is the extreme frailty of all grand plans.”

This revelation by Dr McDonald bore a striking similarity to that of the Biblical King Solomon, believed to be the wisest man who ever lived before Christ. As King Solomon, on summing up all the grand achievements of his life declared, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)……